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

