As students leave campus at 

a rapid pace in accordance with 

University of Michigan guidelines, 

some are worrying about the last-

minute move-out costs as well as 

services from the University they 

have already paid for but will no 

longer be able to use.

University Housing sent an email 

on Friday announcing that students 

who move out of the campus dorms 

by March 25 will receive a refund 

of $1,200. A petition calling on 

the school to cover the costs of 

“unplanned 
travel 
and 
moving 

expenses” had more than 1,700 

signatures as of Wednesday night.

While the Friday email entails 

how to receive the refund, the 

question of refunds for student 

meal plans remained unanswered. 

However, Steve Mangan, senior 

director of MDining, wrote in an 

email to The Daily that the refund 

University Housing is offering for 

$1,200 includes the unlimited meal 

plan.

“All students living in Campus 

Housing, who have moved out and 

left campus, have been offered a 

$1200 refund for their Housing and 

Dining plan for the Winter semester,” 

Managan wrote. “Due to the variety 

of options for off-campus meal plans, 

refunds for students with Optional 

Meal Plans are being evaluated 

and we will be reaching out to each 

Optional Meal Plan holder in the 

near future.”

Students planning on receiving 

the 
University 
Housing 
refund 

should not expect to receive an 

additional refund from MDining. 

The email from University Housing 

states the refund will come from the 

University Housing contract, which 

includes a meal plan selection. 

LSA freshman Ari Richardson 

lived in East Quad Residence Hall, 

which reported a case of COVID-

19 among one of its cooks last week. 

Richardson said she was unaware 

the 
University 
Housing 
refund 

included the meal plan, adding that 

MDining should have given options 

to students regarding their meal plan 

due to the different circumstances of 

student housing. 

Since 
summer 
2019, 
Porter 

Hughes, 
LSA 
freshman 
and 

co-founder of Students for Bernie 

at the University of Michigan, has 

spent hours knocking on doors, 

phone banking and offering rides 

to and from local polling stations 

in support of the presidential 

campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders, 

I-Vt.

Hughes also helped organize 

Sanders’s rally in Ann Arbor in 

March. The event featured the 

senator and U.S. Rep. Alexandria 

Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY.

“I’ve been working on the 

campaign since August, but I 

started my training over the 

summer in July,” Hughes said. 

“Students for Bernie at UMich 

was started in September and has 

been working for the campaign 

since then as well. We worked 

to promote Bernie on campus by 

holding events such as canvasses, 

phone banks and the rally with 

Bernie and AOC.”

Other 
campus 
organizations 

supporting 
political 
campaigns 

— whether in support of national, 

state or local politicians — have also 

put in effort in trying to get their 

candidates elected by connecting 

to voters face-to-face. 

But now traditional methods of 

campaign mobilization have been 

either upended or called off due to 

the recent outbreaks of COVID-19, 

a pandemic sweeping the U.S. and 

the rest of the world. 

In the U.S., the number of 

individuals testing positive for 

COVID-19 has risen to more than 

59,000 cases and more than 300 

deaths as of Wednesday, making 

the U.S. third highest in number 

of confirmed cases, as of Sunday. 

More than 158 million Americans 

are 
now 
mandated 
by 
state 

governments to stay at home in 

an effort to slow the spread of the 

disease. 

In Michigan, the number of 

cases has spiked to more than 2,000 

across the state as of Wednesday. 

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Thursday, March 26, 2020

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Political campaigns adapt to coronavirus: 
‘It’s a completely different kind of strategy’

 DESIGN BY CAITLIN MARTENS

JASMIN LEE

Daily Staff Reporter

See CAMPAIGNS, Page 3

GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail 
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.

INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 92
©2020 The Michigan Daily

N E W S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

O P I N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
michigandaily.com

For more stories and coverage, visit
Follow The Daily 
on Instagram, 
@michigandaily

GOVERNMENT

Political activist Dr. Abdul 

El-Sayed said the outbreak 

of coronavirus proves the 

need for Medicare for All 

in an online Ford School of 

Public Policy discussion on 

Wednesday.

Health care — particularly 

Medicare for All and how 

to pay for it — has been a 

major issue throughout the 

Democratic 
presidential 

primary. 

Activist talks Medicare 
for All via BlueJeans

KARA WARNKE

For The Daily 

El-Sayed 
discusses 
health care

‘U’ refund includes some meal plans, not all

MDining still considering reimbursement for certain options, leaving students confused

JULIA FORREST
Daily Staff Reporter

DESIGN BY JONATHAN WALSH

See MDINING, Page 3

Student organizers 
adjust voter outreach 
methods in response to 
COVID-19 outbreak

See POLICY, Page 2