“It already did in those two
examples (of hospital and bus
troubles), but we know that when
people gather that way without
masks — they were in close
proximity, they were touching one
another — that’s how COVID-19
spreads. The sad irony here is that
the protest was that they don’t like
being in this stay-home order and
they may have just created a need
to lengthen it, which is something
that we’re trying to avoid at all
costs.”
On the Capitol lawn, Art &
Design
sophomore
Mckenzie
Balaka,
fundraising
chair
for
College Republicans, took part in
the protest with her mom. When
asked about the apparent lack of
social distancing, she said she was
not worried.
“I
think
based
on
what
they’ve said to us, if you’re
immunocompromised you need to
wear a mask and probably shouldn’t
come out today,” Balaka said. “Like,
my uncle has asthma. But if you’re
not immunocompromised, we’re
all fine. I think we’re all okay.”
Immunocompromised
people
are at heightened risk of coming
down with severe cases of COVID-
19.
However,
people
without
any underlying conditions may
contract
more
mild
versions
of the disease and could act as
asymptomatic carriers.
Not everyone gathered at the
Capitol
Wednesday
opposed
Whitmer’s
orders.
Christian
Bartolo, a student at Grand Rapids
Community College, held a sign on
the Capitol lawn that read, “You
weren’t this angry @ Snyder 4
Poisoning Flint.”
Bartolo said he’s keeping his
social distance and trying to stay
six feet away from people, but
noticed others were not holding
themselves to the same standard.
“They’re all shaking hands,
they’re all hugging each other, like,
this is how coronavirus spreads,”
Bartolo said. “I think that your
boating rights, being able to fish
while on a boat, being able to buy
mulch and buy planks of wood is
less important than keeping people
safe from COVID-19.”
As cars rumbled over nearby
Michigan Avenue en route to the
Capitol, a man sat alone along the
banks of the Grand River, taking in
the sounds of “Operation Gridlock”
from a distance. Dan Walker, in his
58 years, never thought the world
would come to anything like the
COVID-19 pandemic. He said he
doesn’t trust a lot of government
systems, no matter the country.
“Some people say it’s gonna get
better, some people say it’s gonna
get worse,” Walker said. “I’m just
sitting back and watching and
listening.”
However, he said the orders are
in place to keep people safe.
“All those people up there are
probably spreading the virus,”
Walker said. “They’re spreading
it, so what is it really helping?
I don’t know, man. It’s got me
perplexed.”
Reporter Calder Lewis can be
reached at calderll@umich.edu.
Thursday, April 16, 2020 — 3
News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
“As a (University of) Michigan
student, I was like, ‘OK, this is such a
great app, let’s bring this to as many
stores as possible and as many stores
that people really like,’” Haimovici
said. “At the end of the day, this is for
the users and we want to have the
right restaurants for them.”
Since its launch, Snackpass has
partnered with more than 30 Ann
Arbor businesses, including Wild
Poké and Zingerman’s Delicatessen.
Haimovici said the app distinguishes
itself from other ordering apps like
Uber Eats and DoorDash with the
app’s Venmo-like social feed. The
feed allows users to gain rewards for
visiting restaurants and send them
to friends.
Haimovici also said the app
doesn’t
deliver
food,
which
eliminates commission fees and
forces users to interact with the
business.
“College
campuses
are
just
more condensed areas, and people
are always going back and forth,
whether it’s back to the library or
on the way to class, and so a lot of
people just don’t have enough time
to wait in line or sit down to grab a
meal, so it’s the perfect way to order
ahead,” Haimovici said. “(The feed
is) really fun and huge for the college
environment because people are so
into social media and looking at what
everyone else is doing.”
LSA sophomore Emma Wong
downloaded the app last March
after seeing flyers around campus
advertising
the
app.
She
said
ordering is more convenient with the
app, adding that the feed makes the
process more fun.
“I like Snackpass because you
could order in advance and then
when you go to pick it up, it’s already
ready, so it’s definitely nice,” Wong
said. “I think (the feed is) kind of
a fun feature of the app as well
because when I go to restaurants a
lot of times, I get a reward. I think
things like that definitely make the
app a lot more fun and gives people
a reason to use it.”
Brian Kung, co-owner and general
manager at Wild Poké on East Huron
Street, said his business began a
partnership with the app last March.
He said he hasn’t seen an effect on
his business yet, but he hopes the app
will lead to more foot traffic.
“We are always trying to find
services to attract more foot traffic
to our location, and we like that
Snackpass is not a delivery service,
so customers have to come to our
store,” Kung said. “The social feature
of the app is also interesting, but we
haven’t seen any direct impact from
that part of the service.”
Jennifer Hall, assistant to the
managing partner at Zingerman’s
Delicatessen in Kerrytown, wrote
in an email to The Daily that her
company began a partnership with
the app last September and it has
helped her off-campus business get
more student traffic.
“We know that we are off the
beaten path for many students,”
Hall wrote. “We’re always looking
for ways to make our delicious
reubens
and
other
sandwiches
more accessible to the campus
population. Snackpass helped bring
our restaurant closer to students
by making us more visible to them
through their app. We’re really
thoughtful about the companies we
choose to work with, and Snackpass
is a good fit for us as they share
many of our same values.”
Wong said she has tried new
restaurants like Snap Custom Pizza
and plans to visit restaurants farther
from campus in the future. She said
she doesn’t think the distance to
off-campus restaurants will pose an
obstacle.
“People
love
getting
food
delivered
to
their
house
or
apartment, but Snackpass, I feel
like, just makes the ordering a little
bit more expedited … when you
want to pick something up, and I
don’t really mind that it doesn’t
have a delivery option,” Wong said.
“I think maybe in the future I will
try some of the other restaurants
that are further away.”
Haimovici said the app also
provides users with promotions and
discounts. She said this strategy
brings in new customers when they
hear about discounts from friends
or learn about new menu items.
“Those kinds of discounts are
really meant to get people talking,”
Haimovici said. “Because it’s so big
and, in general, it’s going to bring
a lot of new customers into that
restaurant.”
Haimovici said the app has
provided prospective partners with
free online ordering services during
the COVID-19 pandemic. She added
that the company’s cultural mission
has been affected.
“Culturally, it’s impacted us in
that a lot of college students have
left campus, so obviously that
kind of (changed) our marketing
strategy,” Haimovici said. “One
thing we are working on is really
spreading local outreach because
we want Ann Arbor locals to use our
platform, not just college students.”
Since classes moved online, Wong
said she hasn’t used Snackpass in
about a month since she left campus
as her hometown doesn’t have any
partner businesses.
Hall and Kung also said they’ve
seen a decrease in business. Hall
added that though there isn’t as
much
activity,
her
company’s
partnership with the app has helped
them adapt to the situation.
“I would say that our partnership
with Snackpass has been incredibly
helpful during this pandemic,” Hall
wrote. “Since all of our ordering and
paying is happening with no contact
right now, that means that more
people are ordering online. We are
glad we already had this system in
place before we were required to
close for in-house dining.”
Haimovici said the app will
continue to support businesses
during
the
pandemic.
She
highlighted
her
company
isn’t
collecting
commissions
from
partner businesses, unlike the app’s
competitors.
“100 percent of the orders are
going to go to the restaurants right
now,” Haimovici said. “It’s just
a really good way to support our
businesses during this time.”
Reporter Michal Ruprecht can be
reached
at
mrup@michigandaily.
com.
SNACKPASS
From Page 1
“It’s kind of always in the back of my
mind that I’m competing against other
students who probably will unmask
their grades,” Shohfi said. “So, it seems
almost pointless to have the option to
pass/fail it or unmask it, because I have
to do everything I can to boost my GPA
for these programs I’m applying to.”
LSA freshman Lizzy Peppercorn
said she will be applying to the Public
Policy School and is in favor of the
current grading scale to accommodate
the pandemic. Peppercorn said when
evaluating applications for all students
affected by the COVID-19 crisis,
institutions should continue to be
flexible.
“I like the way they’re doing it, so
long as these upper-level admission
programs keep in mind that there are
certain people that have advantages
with resources or are dealing with
stressful home lives,” Peppercorn said.
Peppercorn noted it is important
students’ transcripts reflect their hard
work, but also some students may
have advantages over others due to
additional resources.
“I think it’s important that if you’ve
put all this work into this semester, it
should help your GPA,” Peppercorn
said. “But it shouldn’t hurt people who
don’t show their grades at all. … Also,
I think there is cheating going on, so I
think that people that are more social
can reach out to more friends and get
that help. There’s a lot more benefits
that people are getting.”
The Business School notes they
are closely monitoring the pandemic
and
will
make
accommodations
where needed. Organization Studies
said prerequisites with a “P” will be
accepted for the Winter 2020 semester
with more information being released
in the future.
In an email to The Daily, Elizabeth
Birr Moje, dean of the School of
Education,
provided
a
statement
regarding the evaluation of applicants.
“The
School
of
Education
understands that students applying
to our programs will have COVID-
affected grades and we will not
consider those grades a weakness in
any student’s application,” Moje wrote.
“Just as we have seen with the preK-
12 students and teachers with whom
we work, this crisis unequally affects
our population. We understand that
there are numerous reasons students
may not wish to unmask grades this
semester, and we are supportive of
the University’s decision to establish
grading as they have.”
Administrators
from
both
the
Pharmacy School and the Public
Policy School told The Daily they will
maintain flexibility and not make
negative inferences on this semester’s
grades.
Mark Nelson, assistant dean for
student services and admissions at
the Pharmacy School, said many
institutions are deciding how to handle
this semester.
“This conversation is happening
all across the country,” Nelson said.
“I’ve been on more webinars, I’ve been
on more conversations, I’ve received
dozens of emails from different schools
and hundreds of emails from students
asking all the same questions. The
tricky thing is that every organization is
going to do something different in how
they’re going to address how we reduce
the anxiety of our students during this
pandemic with something like grades.”
Beth Soboleski, associate director
of student and academic services at
the Public Policy School, said this is an
unprecedented time in history and the
administration is trying to be as fair as
they can.
“This is outside of all of our control,”
Soboleski said. “This situation is just
something that we’ve never had to deal
with before. Most times, students have
the option to make a class pass/fail,
but in this case, there are no options,
so it doesn’t make sense to … penalize
or make assumptions about that
situation.”
According to Soboleski, the Public
Policy School will look at students’
applications holistically and the option
of unmasking or masking grades rests in
the students’ hands.
“We’re totally leaving it up to the
students,” Soboleski said. “If a student
says, ‘I think I would like people to see
these grades,’ that is completely their
decision. But we’re not going to infer if
somebody chooses to not unmask that
it’s, in some way, a negative situation.
Our goal is to hold folks harmless as
much as we can.”
Despite these assurances from other
institutions and hoping others will
follow suit, Cao said there is no way to
fully know how their applications will
be evaluated.
“I feel like even though they say it, I
still fear they might take it a different
way because they might still wonder
why we decided not to unmask this
grade,” Cao said. “Even if they say it,
we don’t really know what the specific
school is thinking.”
Shohfi said knowing other applicants
might unmask all their grades still puts
pressure on her to do well and unmask,
even if admission policies say otherwise.
“Even though they say that having
a ‘Pass’ is fine, to me, just knowing
that a lot of students will have an A or
a B versus a ‘P’ on their transcript does
make a difference to me,” Shohfi said.
“It has influenced me to keep my grades
up at the end of the semester because
I’m going to reveal them.”
Nelson said he recognizes these
concerns and knows there still will
be anxiety surrounding applications.
He said he believes it is up to the
professional institutions to be clear
and consistent on their policies to
help alleviate stress and encourages
students to take advantage of the new
grading policy.
“You guys have the power to
manipulate your GPA, which is kind
of awesome,” Nelson said. “And what
the administration is saying, and I’m
hearing this loud and clear — trust
it. Just take it for what it is and don’t
spend time thinking about it. I hope
that many (other) schools will do that.
We certainly are.”
Reporter Francesca Duong can be
reached at fduong@umich.edu.
APPLICATIONS
From Page 1
PROTEST
From Page 2