The
University
of
Michigan’s

transition to online classes has

presented
unique
obstacles
for

fine arts students, who have had

their recitals impacted, face issues

obtaining necessary materials and

experience difficulty practicing their

disciplines remotely.

The University announced plans

to move to online classes on March

11 amid an outbreak of coronavirus

in the state. As students transition

to attending lectures, discussions,

office hours and lab meetings on

online teaching programs such as

Zoom and BlueJeans, students in the

School of Art & Design and the School

of Music, Theatre & Dance said their

departments have been particularly

impacted by the end of in-person

learning and events.

Music, Theatre & Dance senior

Cole Abod said the change has added

further uncertainty to students in his

program.

“There’s just a lot of instability

being piled on top of an already

uncertain field where you’re jumping

from freelance job to freelance job,”

Abod said. “It is just an incredibly

unfortunate situation no matter how

you slice it.”

Abod said he was unable to

perform his senior recital in-person

because of the outbreak.

“I’m losing out on a senior recital

and a premiere of an original

theatrical work that I wrote,” Abod

said. “The senior recital is required

for me to get my degree, and I think

the handling of that was not ideal

— originally, we were all told that

we had to hold our degree recitals

throughout
this
while
central

administration was telling students

to go home … My department has

given us the flexibility to hold live

stream recitals or create some other

senior project.”

Music, Theatre & Dance senior

Johanna Kepler noted that with

a
physical
discipline,
virtual

instruction is a significant change

of pace, but noted that the dance

department has kept its students

informed during this period of

uncertainty.

“It’s been a big challenge,” Kepler

said. “We do such a physical daily

practice and taking a dance class

online is nothing like being in a room

with other dancers.”

In an email to The Daily, Music,

Theatre & Dance Dean Mark Clague

outlined how the administration

planned to mitigate the disruption

and noted things are going better

than expected. He said the school

is constantly searching for ways to

adapt to remote learning.

“We’ve had a sequence of faculty

conference calls to share ideas, tips and

discoveries about how to make remote

instruction in the arts successful

and we’ve shared online resources

and provided technical support to

individual faculty,” Clague wrote.

Each month, The Michigan Daily

sits down with the University of

Michigan President Mark Schlissel

to discuss important questions about

University policy, commitments and

challenges. This month, the interview

was
conducted
virtually.
Topics

discussed in this month’s interview

included COVID-19, sexual misconduct

allegations against faculty and GEO

bargaining.

This interview has been edited and

condensed for clarity.

President
Schlissel
started
off

the interview by emphasizing the

importance of the census and urged all

University students to fill it out.

Mark Schlissel: You know, one is a

reminder to students about the census.

Every 10 years — and it happens to be

this year — we’re doing this nationwide

census. It’s in the constitution, it is

important to determine the distribution

of all kinds of federal benefits and also

how many Congresspeople represent

each part of each state. So it’s a really

big deal. And if you live in the dorm,

you’re automatically counted, but if

you live off campus or no longer on or

near campus, you should use your off

campus address and go ahead and file

for the census.

The Michigan Daily: Have you or

any other members of the University of

Michigan administration been tested

for COVID-19?

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Monday, March 30, 2020

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Schlissel discusses ‘U’
response to COVID-19

Ann Arbor stores to lose out on revenue

ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily

University President Mark Schlissel virtually sits down with the Daily to discuss Unviersity policy, comittments and challenges.

SARAH PAYNE
Daily Staff Reporter

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

INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 94
©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

Fine arts students struggle with online classes

Transition to remote learning, digital coursework proves difficult for School of Art & Design, SMTD

DESIGN BY CARA JHENG

Read more at
MichiganDaily.com

University of Michigan President: ‘We’ve adapted pretty darn fast’

Cancellation of
March Madness
hurts local business

While some local Ann Arbor

businesses have continued operations

amid the COVID-19 pandemic, many

are struggling to maintain profits. A

new study from data and technology

company Womply shows businesses

may lose even more revenue due to

the cancellation of the NCAA March

Madness basketball tournament.

Brad
Plothow,
vice
president

of brand and communications at

Womply, said major sporting events

like the tournament typically bring

in a significant amount of business,

especially in a college city.

“Not only are businesses missing

out on general revenue because

people aren’t leaving their homes

right now, but they’re also missing

out on the major increase in revenue

that they would typically see during

this time of year because of the

NCAA tournament,” Plothow said.

“College towns are especially prone

to the economic consequences of

something like this because the

universities are shut down and so a

lot of students have gone home.”

According
to
Plothow,
local

restaurants saw a consumer spending

increase of 7 percent during the

tournament last year. Plothow noted

the largest spike in sales occurred

during
the
championship
game

when spending was up 36 percent.

His team used data from 36,000

restaurants across the United States

to find out what business owners

could have expected for 2020

before the COVID-19 outbreak. He

said some of the data came from

Womply’s customers, but most of it

was from non-affiliated businesses.

“I think our point of view is that

public health is the most important

thing, but the question is, ‘How

do you contain the impact of the

pandemic so that you also contain

the impact on small businesses?’”

Plothow said. “This data is for small

businesses so that they could see

what the seasonality of their business

might look like so that they can make

better decisions about how they

think about staffing or promotions.”

Plothow
estimates
U.S.

restaurants may lose up to $1.1

billion due to the cancellation of the

tournament. He added retail stores

may not be as affected because they

don’t have fixed costs or perishable

items.

EMMA STEIN
Daily News Editor

MICHAL RUPRECHT

Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at
MichiganDaily.com

Read more at
MichiganDaily.com