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

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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

