Since the University of Michigan moved classes online March 11, both students and professors have had to adjust. For professors with families, teaching classes virtually and maintaining research projects has created unique and unprecedented situations when combined with childcare. Meghan Duffy, a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology who has three children under the age of 10, explained that the COVID- 19 outbreak and stay-at-home orders will affect all individuals and families uniquely. She said having children at home is one factor that impacts the experience immensely. “One thing that will be a huge factor in terms of how people experience this is whether they had kids at home, and there’s certainly a lot of variation within that,” Duffy said. Duffy elaborated on the variety in the work and home lives of professionals with families, which are now overlapping. She said in her current working and living situation distinct work hours are hard to come by. “There are people who are home with kids who are functioning more or less as they normally would in terms of their ability to get work done,” Duffy said. “There are some people who are getting nothing done and there’s a lot of variation. I do think having young kids at home, it just really limits the number of work hours I have in a day.” Allison Riccardi, professor of Spanish, is teaching her classes from home with three young children also at home all day since daycare services and primary schools have closed as of March 12. She said the initial transition period to online classes was strenuous, noting how taking care of her family while maintaining a full curriculum online can add stress. “It was challenging getting everything set up in just the two days that we had, and then having the kids at home is just an extra challenge,” Riccardi said. “It’s hard for them to understand that now I’m working and I can’t take care of you right now.” Riccardi said this unique situation has both pros and cons. “Just like anything, there are benefits and drawbacks,” Riccardi said. “So the benefit is, of course, more family time. The drawback would be sometimes when I’m in class they’ll just barge in and that’s a big interruption.” For some people, social distancing and working from home with a family has revealed the importance of downtime. Duffy highlighted her own experience with this, saying she finds herself with reduced working hours. “We’ve now worked out a system where if I’m ultra-focused during all of the child-free hours I have in a day, it’s five hours, so I have to be ultra-focused in that but also there’s no other down time,” Duffy said. “I didn’t realize how much biking to campus was really useful for getting the little time mentally to be thinking of nothing.” On April 1 and 2, LSA students voted between two tickets for LSA Student Government president and vice president: one with juniors Jordan Schuler and Sai Pamidighantam and the other with juniors Selena Bazzi and Josiah Walker. Two weeks later, the results of the election have not been certified and a winning ticket has not been announced. Bazzi and Walker won the election with 437 votes, 132 more than Schuler and Pamidighantam, according to a copy of the uncertified results shared with The Daily by co-Elections Director Tyler Ziel, an LSA senior. But a Central Student Judiciary appeal filed by Schuler over messages Bazzi sent in two GroupMe chats could lead to her ticket’s disqualification. LSA SG bylaws forbid campaigning during the voting period. Schuler and Pamidighantam have accused Bazzi of doing so on social media and demand her ticket’s disqualification. Bazzi and Walker say the social media posts in question were intended to increase voter turnout and cannot be considered campaigning. They add that Schuler and Pamidighantam made social media posts during the voting period that could be considered campaigning, but Bazzi and Walker didn’t report them because they did not want demerits to impact the outcome of the election. Demerits are issued to candidates when they are found to have violated the Elections Code. A single demerit knocks 3 percent off a ticket’s votes, and four or more demerits disqualify a candidate from the election. Election rules, specifically those related to online campaigning, are unclear and election directors have broad discretion to interpret them, co-Elections Director Natalie Suh, an LSA sophomore, said. The elections directors ruled that Bazzi’s posts constitute implicit rather than explicit campaigning and thus reduced her ticket’s votes by 6 percent, 3 percent for each demerit, instead of disqualifying her and Walker. Schuler and Pamidighantam argued this is an unfair application of the rules based on precedent and that Bazzi and Walker should be disqualified. michigandaily.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Monday, April 20, 2020 ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Weeks after polls close, dispute over campaign violations halts certification of LSA SG election Messages sent in group chat break rules, might disqualify candidates from victorious ticket GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail news@michigandaily.com and let us know. INDEX Vol. CXXIX, No. 109 ©2020 The Michigan Daily N E W S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 MICHIGAN IN COLOR ................4 O P I N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 michigandaily.com For more stories and coverage, visit Follow The Daily on Instagram, @michigandaily CAMPUS LIFE In light of the coronavirus outbreak, University of Michigan summer student orientation, which is mandatory for all first- year and transfer students, is moving online. As orientation is a chance to visit campus and meet other students before classes start, the switch to online orientation will affect the ability of students to do so. Incoming freshman Anagha Kodur said she was already concerned her introverted nature would make the transition difficult. With an online orientation, she’s worried it’ll be even more challenging. Freshmen, transfers will go through process remotely Faculty with kids struggle with balance Working from home, professors try to juggle looking after children with academic demands DESIGN BY LIZZY RUEPPEL New student orientation to be online JULIA RUBIN Daily Staff Reporter Read more at MichiganDaily.com SAINI KETHIREDDY Daily Staff Reporter HANNAH MACKAY Daily Staff Reporter Read more at MichiganDaily.com DESIGN BY ERIN RUARK See LSA, Page 3