All dining halls began
serving
takeout
meals
only on Monday night. On
Tuesday morning, students
were told they must leave
the residence halls unless
they fill out a petition
to stay by Wednesday 8
a.m., causing widespread
confusion and stress as
many rearranged move-out
plans at the last minute.
In the email sent by
University
Housing
on
Tuesday, students were told
the push to leave campus
was made necessary by the
rapidly evolving situation.
“New developments in
the
COVID-19
pandemic
make it clear that now is
the time to return home,”
the email reads. “...While
University
Housing
will
ensure
that
we
have
sufficient housing available
for
students
who
truly
have no other alternatives,
we cannot promise that
you will be able to remain
in your current housing
assignment.”
There
are
currently
14
confirmed
cases
in
Washtenaw
County.
The
University
moved
all
classes online on March 11,
the day after Gov. Gretchen
Whitmer
announced
the
first two cases in Michigan.
Three people in Michigan
have died from coronavirus,
the first a man in his 50’s
who died on Wednesday
morning.
Cases of COVID-19 have
also been confirmed in
two
student
apartment
buildings Vic Village and
ArborBLU.
The Centers for Disease
Control
and
Prevention
recommends people wash
their hands often and avoid
touching their eyes, nose
and mouth. People are also
encouraged
to
practice
social
distancing,
or
to
avoid unnecessary social
interaction, and to maintain
a six-foot distance between
one another. The White
House and CDC recommend
social gatherings of less
than 10 people.
In
an
email
to
The
Daily,
Susan
Ringler-
Cerniglia,
Washtenaw
County Health Department
communications and health
promotion
administrator,
emphasized the importance
of
social
distancing
and
other
preventative
measures.
“Good
adherence
to
the
community
mitigation
orders
and
recommendations is critical
to
slowing
the
spread
of
illness
–
and
much
less
about
any
specific
or
identified
locations,”
Ringler-Cerniglia
wrote.
“We
all
need
to
take
precautions
and
assume
the possibility of lower-
risk community exposures
when we are out.”
Symptoms of coronavirus
include fever, cough and
shortness of breath. Anyone
who believes they have
been exposed to COVID-19
should call their primary
care physician. Individuals
can also contact their local
health department, which
in Washtenaw County can
be reached at 734-544-
6700.
Daily News Editor Claire
Hao can be reached at
cmhao@umich.edu.
Friday, March 20, 2020 — 3
News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
DINING
From Page 1
This forced the campaigns
seeking to win seats in next
week’s
CSG
election
—
which traditionally brings
campaigners to the Diag
and posters plastered on
campus walls — to adjust
their outreach strategies.
Several candidates told
The Daily that the shift to
students going off-campus
has affected the upcoming
elections as they are unable
to spread the word about
the
elections
through
campaigning on campus.
Campaigning online, they
said, can also be difficult
since parties cannot send
emails on listservs — a rule
written into the election
code.
Members of the three
parties campaigning in next
week’s election said they
are now reliant on social
media platforms to reach
out to students and have
their messages heard.
Rackham
student
Austin Glass, Change At
Michigan’s
presidential
candidate, said that while
the party is still reaching
out to voters through social
media, the executive ticket
has decided to suspend the
party’s broader campaign
activities in light of COVID-
19 and limit campaigning to
friends and those they had
already been in touch with
previously.
“Ultimately, we made the
executive decision at the
top of the ticket to put off
campaign efforts other than
those with people who had
already reached out to us
and to whom we had already
reached out just to try and
give people their space,”
Glass said. “Obviously, this
has been a huge disruption
on all of our lives. We’ve
tried to make sure that
the folks involved in the
campaign don’t feel like
CSG elections are one more
thing that they have got to
worry about.”
Glass said Change At
Michigan’s
campaign
strategy
would
rely
on
social
networks
like
Facebook,
sending
texts
to friends and group chats
— platforms that, unlike
emails, are not restricted by
the election code.
“The biggest challenge
that we face is connecting
with
students
we
don’t
already know,” Glass said.
“We can’t just go out and
stand on the Diag, we can’t
post flyers in buildings
that students are walking
though because they are
not walking through those
buildings anymore.”
Public
Policy
junior
Amanda Kaplan, Mobilize’s
presidential
candidate,
said
the
suspension
of
in-person classes will not
significantly impact their
campaign strategy. Kaplan
said
most
of
Mobilize’s
campaigning
has
been
through social media, as
it helped their campaign
avoid using paper on flyers
and posters and was in line
with their emphasis on
sustainability.
“Usually
people
use
flyers,
and
that
was
a
commitment that Sav and
I made at the beginning —
that we weren’t going to
print any flyers even if we
were on campus because we
wanted to be paper-free,”
Kaplan said. “We have been
focusing on social media
and using networks, so I
think for (Mobilize), it’s
just making sure that those
networks are being used up
to their potential so that
as many students can be
engaged as possible in the
process.”
LSA
sophomore
Sam
Braden, who is running
for
re-election
as
an
LSA
representative
with
Represent Michigan, also
said the move to online
classes will not affect his
party’s campaign strategy
much.
“Oftentimes,
people
haven’t really put a lot of
effort into (platforms) as
they focus on telling people
to vote for them,” Braden
said. “Represent Michigan
started with coming up
with a comprehensive good
platform. A lot of our focus
has been just to make the
platforms high quality.”
Kaplan also emphasized
how important each student
vote is now that there
has been an outbreak of
COVID-19 on campus and
the University is grappling
with its effects.
“As students are being
worried about what the
future of the University
is going to look like and
what is the purpose of CSG
elections in the midst of all
this craziness, I think it’s
important to ground people
and recognize that this vote
is now more important than
ever because these (elected
representatives) are going
to be leading the University
through such a tumultuous
time in confronting the
effects
of
COVID-19
now and throughout the
following
year,”
Kaplan
said.
LSA
junior
Mary
McKillop, CSG’s elections
director and LSA Student
Government vice president,
said the elections team
was working hard to reach
out to students through
online
resources,
such
as Canvas and Facebook,
to keep voter turnout up.
McKillop
also
said
the
team
planned
on
using
the
previously
allocated
$500 for campaigning on
targeted
advertising
on
CSG’s Facebook account.
Students can vote online
March 25 to 26 at vote.
umich.edu.
Daily
Staff
Reporter
Navya Gupta can be reached
at itznavya@umich.edu.
ELECTIONS
From Page 1
“On the one hand, I
would really appreciate
getting a bit of a break
because
it
has
been
stressful having to leave
suddenly
and
in
the
middle of classes,” Tuckel
said. “But I’m thinking
about applying to Ford
and grad school and I’m
very worried … that if I
come into that with a ‘P’
and I’m applying against
someone
that
has
an
‘A’ that I’m going to be
looked down upon for
that.”
LSA
freshman
Dominic
Coletti
was
also concerned about the
impact of Pass/Fail on his
future plans. According
to
the
LSA
Newnan
Advising Center, courses
for majors and minors
cannot be taken Pass/
Fail. Currently, Coletti
said he was taking a lot
of
major
prerequisite
classes and is concerned
Pass/Fail would not be
beneficial in his case.
“If majors don’t change
their policies on that,
this semester is kind of
a (loss) for me because
I have to take all these
classes again on a graded
basis,” Coletti said. “If the
University can negotiate
a way for these courses to
still count under a Pass/
Fail system, I think Pass/
Fail would be a really
good option that would
help me, as well as other
people, to alleviate a lot
of the stresses that come
with this really uncertain
time.”
Coletti
noted
the
Pass/Fail option would
be beneficial not only
because students do not
have access to the same
resources they normally
have, but also because the
option would help level
the disparities between
the way professors are
adjusting their classes.
“While some professors
are making changes to
their
grading
system,
some
really
haven’t
changed
their
classes
all
that
much
from
when we were meeting
in-person,” Coletti said.
“They
haven’t
really
accommodated students,
and so for the University
to change the grading
basis would really help
students who are feeling
pressure
from
those
classes to feel better and
learn the best they can
while not being punished
for not having access to
resources.”
Regarding
students
still on campus, Coletti
believes making classes
Pass/Fail
could
help
alleviate
the
stress
as
a
result
of
the
developments of COVID-
19. On Tuesday morning,
an email to dining hall
staff confirmed that a
cook at East Quad tested
positive for the virus.
“I
still
live
in
on-campus housing and
one of the things with
that is that it’s a situation
that changes every single
day,” Coletti said. “I don’t
think I’ve gone a full day
of just being able to focus
on class because I (get) a
new email from housing,
or a new email from
dining explaining really
broad, sweeping changes
to my living situation.”
LSA
sophomore
Alexandra Windle, who
signed the petition to
move classes to a Pass/
Fail grading system, said
she hoped the University
would move to a Pass/
Fail system in order to
accommodate
students
who are still adapting to
the rigor of University
classes.
Windle
said
that
because
this
is
her
first
semester
at
the University, she has
had to adapt to both an
unfamiliar campus and
now a new teaching style.
“My perspective as a
nontraditional
student
is something that the
University doesn’t really
take
into
account,”
Windle said. “For me
personally,
it’s
been
spending so much time
getting to the University
through my community
college and making sure
that I’m a good applicant
for transferring. And now
I feel like the University
has kind of abandoned
us.”
Windle
said
as
a
nontraditional
student
who
transferred
from
a
smaller
community
college
this
semester,
moving
to
Pass/Fail
would allow her to better
acclimate to University
classes while taking them
online.
“It seemed like every
week
I
was
learning
something new, I was
switching
something
up in my schedule. I
was never on a routine
because I’m trying to
catch up with everyone
that’s been here since
they’ve been a freshman,”
Windle said. “I feel like
I was kind of hit with a
curveball trying to learn
this material and trying
to be a student just in
general. So I was starting
to get the hang of things
and now I feel like I’ve
been knocked down a peg
and I’m being switched to
this style of learning that
I’ve never done before.”
Engineering
senior
Howard Zhang said he
understood why a Pass/
Fail system would be a
good option for many
students, but said that
for others trying to raise
their GPA, it could be
harmful. Zhang said he
needs a certain GPA to
accept a job offer for next
year and is very close to
reaching it. However, he
noted he may not be able
to accept the offer if he is
forced to make all of his
classes Pass/Fail.
“If
the
University
makes pass/fail not an
option,
but
rather
it
forces this pass/fail onto
everybody, then I’m not
going to be able to take
this job anymore because
I wouldn’t be able to boost
my GPA,” Zhang said. “I
don’t think I’m the only
one in this situation, in
fact I’ve talked to other
students who had rough
times in the past couple
of years … a lot of students
try their best to work
harder, try their best to
turn their GPA around.
… This just makes it so
that students don’t have
the option to do that this
semester.”
Daily
Staff
Reporter
Hannah
Mackay
contributed reporting.
Daily
News
Editor
Alex Harring and Liat
Weinstein can be reached
at
harring@umich.edu
and
weinsl@umich.edu.
Daily
Staff
Reporter
Francesca
Duong
can
be reached at fduong@
umich.edu.
GRADING
From Page 2