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

