22 | AUGUST 20 • 2020
Campus
Challenges
Michigan colleges, and their Jewish student
organizations, navigate an unusual fall semester.
DANNY SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER
W
ith a new school year on the
horizon, universities across the
country are preparing for a fall
semester the likes of which no one has ever
seen.
Michigan universities with notable
Jewish presences, such as the University
of Michigan, Michigan State University,
Oakland University and Wayne State
University, are all taking similar precautions
against COVID-19.
For U-M, classes will be delivered in
a variety of formats including in-person,
remote and a hybrid mix of both.
In an Aug. 6 email to U-M alumni and
donors, university President Mark Schlissel
wrote that “about 70 percent of credit hours
for undergraduates will be taken fully
remotely this fall, while courses that can
only or best be offered in person, like lab
and studio courses, will be offered in per-
son.
” Students whose classes are available
remotely may choose to remain at home.
Sarah Pomerantz, an incoming junior
and the chair of U-M Hillel’
s
governing board, is interested
in what professors are expecting
out of their students in these
unique circumstances.
“It’
s difficult because you
understand the risks that there
are, and you understand the
reasoning for virtual classes, yet it’
s still
hard to adapt,
” Pomerantz said. “I’
m taking
Hebrew, and it’
s difficult to take language
classes online, so I’
m interested to see how
much the academic rigor continues.
”
Face coverings are required while on U-M
property, including when inside buildings,
outdoors and on U-M transportation.
Students planning to move into U-M hous-
ing are expected to be tested for COVID-19,
and cleared, prior to campus arrival.
U-M is partnering with Quest Diagnostics
to provide testing kits directly to students
and is offering testing for students who are
symptomatic or who meet specific criteria
through University Health Service.
For Oakland University, classes will be
offered in-person, online with recorded lec-
tures, through livestream courses, as well as
hybrid courses.
OU has adopted a daily health screening
process to prevent faculty, staff, students
and guests from coming to campus if they
are experiencing symptoms consistent with
COVID-19 or have had contact with a per-
son with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis.
In addition to answering self-screening
questions online, campus community mem-
bers are asked to take the Honor Pledge,
which is designed to limit the spread of
infection through the use of facial coverings,
social distancing and practice of other infec-
tion-prevention behaviors.
Wayne State’
s campus must also take a
daily campus screener, which must be com-
pleted every day, beginning 48 hours before
one’
s return to campus and continuing each
day on campus.
WSU anticipates the proportion of each
type of course instruction to be 20% tradi-
tional, 46% remote and online, 2% hybrid
and 32% individually arranged. For cam-
pus housing, all residents will be tested for
COVID-19 as part of the move-in process
and will be periodically re-tested over the
course of the semester. Face coverings are
required in public as well as 6-foot social
distancing between residents.
For Michigan State, about half of classes
will be online, a quarter of classes will be in
hybrid mode of instruction, and the remain-
ing classes will be in-person, in larger rooms
to allow for 6-foot social distancing.
Any student showing symptoms will have
access to testing through MSU’
s Olin Health
Center and other sites on campus.
MSU will also be doing a COVID-19
Community Detection Program, collecting
saliva samples from thousands of faculty,
staff and student volunteers throughout the
semester to analyze and identify the pres-
ence of the virus in people who are asymp-
tomatic. The technique allows MSU to “pro-
cess a large volume of samples, identifying
carriers of the virus before outbreaks occur.
”
Jules Levy, the president of MSU’
s Jewish
Student Union, is one of many incoming
seniors knowing their final
year of college is under less
than ideal circumstances, but
she’
s hoping to roll with the
punches.
“I think it’
s going to be really
tough to make this a fun year,
”
she said. “But my goal going into it is to
really make the best of it, get a lot of fresh-
men involved in Hillel and keep going with
what we’
ve been doing before, but changing
it to work with the new guidelines.
”
S.POMERANTZ
Sarah
Pomerantz
Michigan State sign
BRANISLAV ONDRASIK VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Oakland
University
COURTESY OF OAKLAND UNIVERSITY
University
of Michigan
COURTESY OF ISTOCK
LINKEDIN
Jules Levy
Jews in the D
back to school