Third-year 
Medical 
student 

Paris Rollins was in the middle 

of clinical rotations at Henry 

Ford Hospital, working 9-hour 

shifts in the Emergency Medicine 

Department, when she found out 

that the University of Michigan’s 

Medical School would be pulling 

all students out of rotations.

“I felt this dread in the pit 

of my stomach,” Rollins said. 

“(The 
announcement) 
felt 

unprecedented 
in 
what 
could 

happen next.”

Two 
days 
after 
the 

announcement, 
Rollins’ 

classmates were already looking 

for ways to get involved with the 

response to fight COVID-19. She 

received an email detailing that 

the Detroit Health Department 

would be rolling out massive 

numbers of tests through a drive-

thru at the State Fairgrounds and 

would need volunteers to call 

patients with their test results. 

“Medical students don’t like 

to be idle for very long,” Rollins 

joked. “It seemed like an awesome 

opportunity to speak with people 

when they are getting this big 

relief, 
or 
potentially 
stressful 

news and I thought that is how I 

want to be able to help people.”

Though Rollins had learned 

how to deliver bad news to patients 

in medical school, giving people 

their results was a difficult task.

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tuesday, April 21, 2020

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

U-M medical students help 
hospitals with COVID-19 crisis

‘U’ projects $400 million to $1 billion in losses

IULIA DOBRIN
Daily Staff Reporter

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INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 110
©2020 The Michigan Daily

N E W S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

O P I N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
michigandaily.com

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Despite transitioning to online learning, campus 
organizations carry on with end-of-year projects

Virtual platforms provide space for members to hold groups meetings, plan events, execute goals

“Was supposed to” seems to have 

become one of the most commonly 

used phrases of this semester. 

The 
Prison 
Creative 
Arts 

Project was supposed to put on 

an exhibition of prisoner art from 

mid-March to early April. Shift, 

a creator space for University of 

Michigan students, was supposed 

to have a project showcase. The 

Michigan Journal of International 

Affairs was supposed to print and 

distribute their journal.

Yet in spite of a global pandemic 

and unprecedented changes to 

daily life, all three of these student 

organizations, along with other 

groups across campus, found ways 

to modify their plans to finish out 

the semester. 

PCAP Interim Director Nora 

Krinitsky oversees all of PCAP’s 

programs, which include weekly 

creative 
art 
workshops 
inside 

prisons and the final performances 

put on by those workshops, which 

range from theater performances 

to literary reviews. 

In early March, the Michigan 

Department 
of 
Corrections 

suspended all in-person volunteer 

programs. This meant the end of 

weekly workshops and forced the 

cancellation of PCAP’s annual art 

exhibition. According to Krinitsky, 

this exhibition is the largest 

curated show of prisoner art in the 

world.

Until they are able to host the 

live exhibition, PCAP created an 

online preview of the art show, 

where people can view some of the 

art slated to be in the exhibition 

and leave feedback for the artists.

“We felt that creating an online 

preview 
would 
enable 
us 
to 

fulfill our mission of community 

outreach and prisoner support and 

engagement, even though we can’t 

do our normal programming right 

now,” Krinitsky said.

Many students contribute as volunteers at testing, health facilities

University freezes 
faculty salary, hiring

See COVID-19, Page 3
See FINANCE, Page 3

Mark 
Schlissel, 
president 

of the University of Michigan, 

released a statement regarding 

the 
University’s 
financial 

situation. According to Schlissel, 

the University is expected to 

lose between $400 million and 

$1 billion due to the COVID-19 

pandemic. 

The 
University 
is 
taking 

immediate action to this expected 

loss in revenue by restricting pay in 

nonessential University business. 

These financial restrictions apply 

to all three University campuses 

and Michigan Medicine. 

“We must work to preserve 

financial resources wherever we 

can,” Schlissel said. “Some of the 

actions below are amplifications 

of previously announced plans, or 

they draw a clearer line for how 

we will proceed in the coming 

months. These actions apply to 

all three campuses and Michigan 

Medicine.”

In response to the expected 

loss of revenue, the University is 

freezing new hires, faculty and 

staff salaries and reducing hours. 

The University is also going to 

begin 
implementing 
voluntary 

furlough programs for “regular 

staff in non-critical operations.” 

Research and employment critical 

to COVID-19 relief will continue 

to be funded by the University. 

University 
leaders 
are 
also 

cutting their own salaries, with 

Schlissel, U-M Flint Chancellor 

Debasish 
Dutta 
and 
U-M 

Dearborn Chancellor Domenico 

Grasso to receive a 10 percent pay 

cut to their monthly income. Other 

members of University leadership 

are cutting their salary by 5 

percent. 

Campus construction projects 

will 
also 
be 
discontinued. 

According to Schlissel, financial 

changes 
will 
determine 
the 

continuation of these projects in 

the future. 

University 
spokesman 
Rick 

Fitgerald told The Daily in an email 

they had no additional information 

and urged those interested to look 

at the University’s FAQ section 

about COVID-19 for more details 

on the University’s response.

Schlissel said the University 

may 
have 
to 
take 
additional 

measures in the future to secure 

the safety of its students, faculty 

and staff, but nothing is confirmed 

as of Monday.

JASMIN LEE

Daily Staff Reporter

DESIGN BY TAYLOR SCHOTT

VARSHA VEDAPUDI

Daily Staff Reporter

DESIGN BY MICHELLE FAN

See ORGANIZATION, Page 3

