On Friday, March 13, two days
after the University of Michigan
canceled in-person classes and
moved to online instruction for the
rest of the semester, Kathy Roos,
the owner of RoosRoast Coffee
on East Liberty Street, removed
half of the chairs from the cafe’s
seating area. The change was
meant to promote social distancing
— a phrase that has, in the past few
weeks, come to epitomize the self-
isolation needed to slow the spread
of the rapidly growing COVID-19
pandemic.
“We were ahead of the game,”
Roos said. “We did that because
we were very aware of what was
happening.”
Now,
with
Gov.
Gretchen
Whitmer’s Stay Home, Stay Safe
Executive Order mandating the
closure
of
all
“non-essential
businesses,” RoosRoast remains
reliant on a curbside to-go business
operating out of their Rosewood
Street location. Even with these
kinds of services, Roos said she
is not sure Ann Arbor’s small
businesses will survive prolonged
shutdowns.
“This could destroy the local
economy,” Roos said. “That’s a
really strong word. But when
is this going to end? How long
can businesses remain closed?
And all the amazing, deep local,
idiosyncratic
Ann
Arbor
local
businesses — they can’t survive.
They’re not going to be able to
survive being closed for too long.”
The coronavirus pandemic hit
when rising rent prices and an
increase in development across
the city were already putting a
strain on local businesses. In 2018,
18 businesses closed, with most
closures affecting businesses that
had been open for more than 25
years. Rent prices also soared in the
past year, leaving business owners
struggling to pay their employees
at rates that would allow them to
reside within city limits.
But the pandemic and subsequent
executive orders have placed local
businesses in a unique situation,
leaving many to rely on community
support in order to meet their rent
and pay employees.
Literati
Bookstore,
a
staple
bookshop on East Washington
Street, raised more than $115,000
through a GoFundMe campaign
last month. Literati’s owners, Mike
and Hilary Gustafson, met their
goal of $100,000 just days after the
fundraiser opened on March 23.
Many stores and restaurants have
followed suit, hoping community
donations will be able to sustain
their businesses until the pandemic
subsides and the city reopens.
See ECONOMY, Page 2
On March 16, the day the
University of Michigan officially
began online classes in response to
the novel coronavirus outbreak, a
student, who will be referred to in
this article as Jane, had two exams.
One of her exams was canceled
while the other was open for three
days to accommodate students’
schedules.
According to Jane, one of her
friends asked for her assistance in
taking the exam. Jane has requested
anonymity for fear of retaliation
from the University. To protect
Jane from retaliation, The Daily has
decided not to publish the name of
the course.
Jane said she agreed to help her
friend cheat by taking her friend’s
exam, but she said she took her own
exam separately.
“I helped somebody take their
exam, and then I took mine because
there’s no browser lock or anything
(and) they’re not using the camera,”
Jane said. “I did that, so then I knew
what was on it.”
Jane said she did not think the
exam was that difficult but did
believe helping her friend made
her more prepared. After taking
the exam, Jane said she was really
nervous
about
getting
caught.
However, once she talked to more
people, she said she realized many
others had also used some form of
assistance on their exam.
“I was talking to my friends
after … and they were like, ‘If (the
instructional team) checks if people
open the textbook, if they enforce
that, then the average score would
be zero because everyone is going to
do it,’” Jane said.
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Monday, April 6, 2020
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
‘I helped somebody take their exam’: University
faculty, students discuss academic integrity
After transition to
online classes, unclear
whether honor codes
are being adhered to
Design by Cara Jhang
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INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 99
©2020 The Michigan Daily
N E W S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
MICHIGAN IN COLOR ................ 3
O P I N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
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CAMPUS LIFE
The 49th annual Hash Bash,
Ann Arbor’s annual cannabis
rights
event,
took
place
online Saturday afternoon via
livestream due to the state of
Michigan’s stay-at-home order
amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Michigan’s statewide COVID-
19 cases surpassed 14,000 by
Saturday. Nick Zettell, co-founder
of MI Legalize and leader of
the Hash Bash Committee, said
the group quickly searched for
alternative platforms to host the
event as the spread of the virus
increased in the past few weeks.
Annual gathering occurs
online, draws speakers
A2 businesses worry about futures
Stay Home, Stay Order impacts local economy, results in closures for an extended period of time
DOMINICK SOKOTOFF/Daily
Ian Shackelford, assistant distiller at the Ann Arbor Distilling Company, mized ingredients
together to make hand sanitizer in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
DESIGN BY LIZZY RUEPPEL
Hash Bash
goes virtual
in 49th event
FRANCESCA DUONG
Daily Staff Reporter
See CHEATING, Page 2
BARBARA COLLINS &
LIAT WEINSTEIN
Daily News Editors
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
CHRIS SULLIVAN
Daily Staff Reporter