Schlissel said all schools and

colleges at the University should

work to ensure that students

are able to meet graduation

requirements despite classes

being
moved
to
an
online

format.
He
noted
certain

programs cannot be delivered

adequately online and may have

to be canceled for the spring and

summer terms.

“This decision aligns with

our ongoing efforts to respond

to the pandemic, by maintaining

this critical part of our mission

while
encouraging
social

distancing,” Schlissel wrote. “In

conjunction with our provost’s

offices, I ask schools and

colleges to prioritize offering

programs and coursework that

allows current students to keep

working toward their degrees

and not fall behind.”

Schlissel said the University

will
continue
to
provide

services like dining hall take-

out meals to those who remain

on-campus
or
in
residence

halls.

The decision to cancel spring

and summer term classes comes

after the University ordered all

research laboratories to “ramp

down” research projects that

are not related to COVID-19.

With the “Stay Home, Stay

Safe”
order,
all
University

employees
are
required
to

work from home unless their

on-campus work is considered

essential to the University’s

mission to slow the spread of

the virus.

At
a
press
conference

Monday, Whitmer said the

order was enacted to promote

responsible social distancing as

confirmed cases of COVID-19

continue to grow. The executive

order, which asks that Michigan

residents not leave their homes

unless absolutely necessary, is

planned to remain in place for

at least three weeks.

“Please know that even with

today’s action, the number

of cases will go up yet today,

tomorrow and the days ahead.

It will take some time for

us to impact this,” Whitmer

said. “We will be continually

evaluating the science, the data,

the impact on your health. It is

going to take greater testing.

We made strides, but we must

do more so we can understand

the challenges that we are

confronting. So we can draw

based on data.”

Currently, there are over

1,000
diagnosed
cases
of

COVID-19 in Michigan and 15

confirmed deaths. On Sunday,

the first death in Washtenaw

County
was
recorded
at

Michigan Medicine.

Symptoms of the coronavirus

include
fever,
cough
and

shortness of breath. People who

believe they have been exposed

to coronavirus should call their

health care providers or the

nearest hospital. Individuals

can also contact their local

health department, which in

Washtenaw County can be

reached at 734-544-6700.

Daily
News
Editor
Liat

Weinstein can be reached at

weinsl@umich.edu.

Tuesday, March 24, 2020 — 3
News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

RESEARCH,
From Page 1

ONLINE
From Page 1

HOUSING
From Page 2

“The order will not significantly

alter
the
university’s
research

operations, as we moved last Friday to

ramp down all noncritical laboratory

research activities,” Schlissel wrote.

LSA
junior
Chayton
Fivecoat

works in a neurobiology lab and is

planning on pursuing an honors

thesis in Molecular, Cellular and

Developmental
Biology.
Fivecoat,

who works with mice in what he

described as a “hands-on” lab, said

his work for this year is completed

because his research cannot be done

remotely.

“Before classes kind of went to the

wayside, I was in there about 10 hours

a week,” Fivecoat said. “(Now) for me,

it was completely shut down. I know

a lot of my other friends, they can do

some stuff remotely, but a lot of my

stuff was ... doing benchwork. So my

portion of the lab, I can’t do anything.

I’m almost powerless to do anything.”

Much of Fivecoat’s work was

done in preparation for his honors

thesis, which most students begin

in junior year and finish a month

before their graduation date. Fivecoat

said he is still planning on being able

to complete his thesis on time but

worries the shutdown of research

may slow the process down.

“I think it will slow down my

ability to write a thesis just because a

lot of the data collection was going to

be happening this semester,” Fivecoat

said. “But in terms of my projection as

a(n) (MCDB) major and as a student,

I think I’d be still pretty much on

track.”

LSA
freshman
Saad
Shami

also worked in a lab as part of

the
Undergraduate
Research

Opportunity Program this year.

Shami worked with Qiong Yang,

assistant professor of biophysics, on

a project relating to the cell cycle

and the mechanisms behind it in an

effort to create a biosensor. Shami

said because he worked in a wet

lab, meaning he handled different

chemicals or substances, he cannot do

any work remotely.

“Not being able to work in a lab

until next semester in sophomore

year, it’s not the greatest and I feel like

I’m not getting the full experience of

UROP,” Shami said. “Shutting down a

lot of research projects, it’s definitely

the right thing, especially if they

want to enforce social distancing.

But for the projects themselves, it

impacts them because we were still

in the early stages of our project. We

were trying to spend as much time

as possible in the lab, trying to figure

out what protein was best to make the

biosensor. So it limits us.”

Shami said after classes moved

online, the whole lab received an email

from Yang asking if supplies could be

donated to Michigan Medicine to help

protect healthcare workers treating

COVID-19 patients. On March 18, Teri

Grieb, senior director for research

at the Medical School, sent an email

to all research faculty asking labs to

donate unopened supplies including

N95 masks, face shields and hand

alcohol.

On Friday, March 20, Michigan

Medicine published a press release

asking
the
greater
community

to
donate
protective
gear
and

announcing the creation of a drop-off

donation site at the North Campus

Research Complex. Janet Abbruzzese,

director of supply chain management

for Michigan Medicine, expressed

her gratitude for the community’s

support in the press release.

“It’s truly incredible what we

have heard from local residents and

businesses, and people all over the

state, in recent days. We’ve received

offers of supplies that they know

are needed to care for COVID-19

patients, and our team has ramped

up quickly to be able to accept them,”

Abbruzzese said. “We have already

had an amazing outpouring of

supplies from scientific laboratories

across the university, and now we are

turning to the broader community.”

In an email to the Daily, Kara Gavin,

spokesperson for Michigan Medicine,

said the hospital has already received

donations since opening on Saturday.

“In just the first day, less than 24

hours after we announced the drive,

we had 224 cars, plus two people on

bikes and 5 walkers,” Gavin wrote.

Daily News Editor Liat Weinstein

can be reached at weinsl@umich.edu

First-year
Law
student

Jessica
Paduganan
created

a petition titled, “Petition

for
Clarification
and

Representation
Regarding

Plans
for
the
Lawyers

Club” Tuesday, because she

was anxious and confused

about the effect Tuesday’s

University Housing email had

on the Lawyers Club Graduate

Residence. The petition had

over 50 law student signatures

as of Tuesday afternoon when

Paduganan sent it to the Law

School administration.

“We have asked the Lawyers

Club administration to clarify

the email, but to our surprise

and dismay, they were also

unaware of this email or

what it could possibly mean

for us,” Paduganan wrote.

“We understand that these

decisions are being made at

another level, but the lack of

clarifying information, which

should be sent after these

central
University
emails,

leads us to think that there

is no one from Law School

Housing who is participating

in, and advocating for us in

these meetings.”

Paduganan said Tuesday’s

University Housing email put

graduate students in a hard

position because many haven’t

lived with their parents for

years and don’t have a place to

return to.

“There’s a whole variety

of reasons why ‘going home’

is not an option for people,”

Paduganan said. “I don’t think

that the University understood

that saying ‘go home’ felt like

we were being pushed out,

that we were not welcome

here and that the University of

Michigan was not home to us.”

Paduganan
has
since

spoken
with
the
Lawyers

Club administration, and she

appreciated
Wednesday’s

follow-up email and University

Housing’s $1,200 refund to

all students who move out of

residence halls and University

apartments by March 25.

“I think some of the steps

the University is taking is

moving in the right direction,

like starting to offer some

refunds,
clarifying
the

situation, apologizing for the

tone and some of the anxiety

they’ve caused,” Paduganan

said.

LSA
freshman
Lindsey

Haughton,
an
out-of-state

student, initially planned on

staying
in
Mosher-Jordan

Residence Hall long-term after

the move to online classes. She

said Tuesday’s housing email

quickly changed those plans,

and
an
exam
Wednesday

morning and a paper due

Wednesday night added to her

stress.

“It
was
just
really

overwhelming
and
chaotic,

especially because the days

that they had given us off were

last week when it seemed like

people could stick around,”

Haughton said. “And so, to

have all those assignments

looming
during
this
time

when we did actually have to

move out of the dorms was

really stressful.”

Haughton appreciated the

effort by her professors to

accommodate her move back

home to New York Wednesday.

“I reached out to my English

teacher, for example, and had

a paper deadline moved for

that day. But teachers seemed

to be primarily unaware that

this was going on, which I

think added to the stress,”

Haughton said. “I was lucky

that I had a relationship with

mine and she trusted that this

chaos was going on.”

Daily Staff Reporter Calder

Lewis
can
be
reached
at

calderll@umich.edu.

All
parties
have
expressed

support for the One University

campaign,
and
Mobilize
and

Represent Michigan advocate for

extending the Go Blue Guarantee

to all three campuses. Mobilize

and Change at Michigan have also

both expressed support for the

University to subsidize food costs

via meal plans for food-insecure

students.

Mobilize:

•
Pilot a winter coat drive

and winter wear closet for

students.

•
Work with the Office of

Financial Aid to produce

a
resource
guide
that

specifies
campus-wide

grants
and
scholarships

available
to
need-based

students throughout their

tenure at the University.

•
Create
a
plan
to
have

MDining meal swipes roll

over between semesters.

Change:

•
Research
implementation

of a Free Course Guarantee

program
at
U-M
that

creates
degree
maps

that show students what

courses they need to take

to allow them to complete

a bachelor’s degree within

four academic years, and

if students follow their

mapped-out plan but are

unable to enroll in a required

course in a given semester,

the University would be

required to provide the

course for free in a future

semester unless they can

provide the student with

a revised degree map that

still enables the student to

graduate within four years.

•
Reduce textbook costs for

students by creating a CSG

program
that
provides

course pack replacement

and
direct
textbook

subsidies to students in

need.

•
Advocate for the University

to subsidize meal plans for

students who are not on

financial aid but who are

food insecure.

Represent:

•
Expand
transportation

including Blue Buses on

weekend nights between

North and South campuses,

fund
transportation
for

Nursing
students
who

have clinicals in Detroit/

Pickney, and compensate

Nursing
students
for

hospital parking.

•
Expand food accessibility

by
requiring
on-campus

vendors
to
accept
Blue

Bucks,
subsidize
an

on-campus grocery store

and end charges for allergy

substitutes
like
almond

milk
and
gluten-free

products
for
on-campus

vendors.

•
Decrease
school
supply

costs
by
Laptop
Loan

program to all University

students,
increase

individual
printing

budgets and set individual

department
caps
on

textbook costs.

CSG,
From Page 1

Read more at
MichiganDaily.com