While 
many 
University 
of 
Michigan students use the sum-
mer months to gain experience 
from internships and jobs, others 
engage in various research proj-
ects across campus to gain criti-
cal skills for career development. 
But in a matter of weeks, those 
plans to participate in cutting-
edge research at the No. 1 public 
research university in the U.S. 
were halted as the COVID-19 pan-
demic shut down all non-essential 
in-person research activity.
Since then, the University has 
started ramping up non-essential 
research. Furthermore, members 
of the research community have 
begun to resume in-person lab 
work in phases, while following 
procedures to protect the health 
and safety of researchers. How-
ever, undergraduate students, who 
are heavily involved in many labs 
across campus, are still restrict-
ed from returning to labs under 
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s current 
guidelines, which classifies under-
graduate students as “non-essen-
tial in-person visitors.” 
LSA 
sophomore 
Kylie 
Sch-
ache, a UROP student during the 
school year, said she was planning 
on working in a lab that studies 
Alzheimer’s disease for the sum-
mer. The lab work was a full-time 
paying position in which she would 
work 40 to 50 hours per week. 
These plans, however, came to 
a halt when COVID-19 prevented 
undergraduates from returning to 
labs –– and it doesn’t seem like this 
will change anytime soon, Sch-
ache said. As a result, Schache said 
she is considering taking a semes-
ter off to gain additional research 
experience at the University in 
hopes of preparing her for a career 
in research.
“I’m actually considering that 
I might need to take a gap semes-
ter,” Schache said. “The fact that 
the University of Michigan is the 
number one public research uni-
versity is the primary reason why 

I chose to attend there and really 
the definitive reason why I’m will-
ing to attend the most expensive 
public university in the United 
States. So the loss of research 
opportunities kind of called into 
question whether attending the 
University merits the cost at this 
point. I can take the classes and I 
can get the degrees, but ultimate-
ly what’s going to prepare me for 
what I want to do with my career 
— which I want to do a career in 
research — it’s the research oppor-
tunities that are most important.”
University spokeswoman Kim 
Broekhuizen reaffirmed in an 
email to The Daily that under-
graduates are unable to partici-
pate in laboratory research at 
this time due to Whitmer’s latest 
executive order. Broekhuizen also 
noted the University’s efforts to 
develop principles to protect the 
health and safety of researchers 
as they begin to resume work amid 
COVID-19. 
“The university must adhere to 
state regulations, and so we will 
closely monitor any updates to 
the governor’s executive order as 
it relates to laboratory research,” 
Broekhuizen wrote.
As of June 26, the University 
completed the laboratory research 
re-engagement waves, and more 
than 95 percent of the University’s 
lab workforce is now re-engaged, 
according to an update from 
Rebeccca Cunningham, vice presi-
dent for research. While research-
ers continue to resume in-person 
activity, labs are to remain operat-
ing at about 30 percent capacity at 
any given shift.
Gary Luker, professor of radiolo-
gy, biomedical engineering, micro-
biology and immunology, conducts 
research focusing on molecular 
imaging of cell signaling in can-
cer. Over the course of his entire 
time working in the lab, Luker has 
had roughly 35 to 40 undergradu-
ate students participate in their 
research.

3

Thursday, July 2, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com NEWS

A proposal to increase tuition 
by 1.9 percent for the 2020-2021 
school year and add an additional 
$50 COVID-19 student fee failed to 
pass at the University of Michigan 
Board of Regents meeting Thurs-
day morning. The decision was 
widely talked about by students 
on social media, with many saying 
they were shocked by the Univer-
sity’s attempt to raise tuition, espe-
cially since the majority of students 
in a representative survey of the 
student body said they expected a 
tuition discount.
University 
spokesman 
Rick 
Fitzgerald described the motiva-
tion behind the proposed 1.9 per-
cent increase in tuition in an email 
to The Daily. 
“The administration proposed 
a 1.9 percent tuition increase on 
the Ann Arbor campus to balance 
the budget, provide higher levels 
of financial aid, and adapt to the 
COVID-19 pandemic,” Fitzgerald 
wrote. “The budget also included 
continuing the Go Blue Guaran-
tee and contained a 5.6 percent 
increase in undergraduate finan-
cial aid. That additional $12.8 mil-
lion increase in aid would have 
meant most in-state undergradu-
ates receiving need-based grant 
aid would have seen no increase in 
tuition costs in the coming year.”
University tuition and fees have 
increased 42.05 percent for the last 
10 years, including the same 1.9 
percent last year for in-state under-

graduates and 3.7 percent for out-
of-state undergraduates. University 
President Mark Schlissel has noted 
this trend in rising tuition is to 
maintain the University’s commit-
ment to academic excellence, espe-
cially as inadequate state funding 
for higher education continues to 
decrease. This year, as Michigan 
struggles with coronavirus, state 
appropriations are likely to be fur-
ther reduced as the state faces a 
$3.2 billion budget deficit. 
“The university has long been 
committed 
to 
affordability,” 
Fitzgerald wrote. “Significant uni-
versity 
resources 
are 
directed 
toward financial aid. Last fiscal 
year, we provided $344 million in 
grant and scholarship support for 
students. Only 1 percent of that 
support was directly funded by the 
state, 10 percent by federal sources, 
and 6 percent by private sources. 
The remaining 83 percent was from 
university 
resources, 
including 
general fund, endowment support 
and athletics.”
Though students have lamented 
tuition increases in the past, this 
year’s strong opposition centers 
around students hesitant to pay 
increased tuition without receiv-
ing the full benefits of in-person 
instruction. Though the Univer-
sity’s recently released decision 
describes their plan as an “in-res-
idence, public-health informed” 
fall semester, all classes of over 50 
people will be held online, and each 
department and school will make 
the final determination.
Last month, some students filed 
a lawsuit seeking compensation for 
the move to online classes in March. 
The University said they do not 
owe students money for switching 
formats due to academic freedom 
principles that give the University 
alone the power to decide mode of 

instruction.
Additionally, LSA sophomore 
Becca Stachel told The Daily that 
tuition is already a huge obstacle 
for many students attending the 
University. Stachel finds it difficult 
to justify paying the same tuition 
for online classes in the fall, espe-
cially for students impacted most 
by COVID-19.
“A lot of people aren’t financially 
stable (after the pandemic) and 
tuition is a huge burden on a lot of 
students,” Stachel said. “So, to have 
a lesser quality of education, but 
still have to pay the same amount 
of money when you likely also took 
pay cuts because of the pandemic, 
seems unfair to me.”
In early June, Central Student 
Government members Public Poli-
cy senior Damian Chessare, Rack-
ham student Hayden Jackson and 
Architecture student Lauren Con-
roy put together a survey gauging 
student sentiment on tuition and 
enrollment in light of the COVID-
19 pandemic. Their report found 
the majority of students surveyed 
expected a tuition discount of just 
under 20 percent to be acceptable if 
classes were in a hybrid format. 
59.4 percent of the students 
surveyed said a discount decision 
would affect their enrollment deci-
sions at least a moderate amount. 
Over 40 percent projected that 
their future financial circumstanc-
es were either “very insecure” or 
“somewhat insecure.” 
LSA junior Annie Mintun, a LSA 
representative to CSG, created a 
petition calling for the University 
to decrease tuition after Thurs-
day’s Regents meeting. As of Friday 
afternoon, the petition has over 
2700 signatures. 

Students criticize 2020-2021 
tuition increase, added fees

CLAIRE HAO AND
 MEGAN SHOHFI
Daily News Editor and 
Daily Staff Reporter

Design by Hibah Chughtai

New guidelines still 
New guidelines still 
restrict research
restrict research

KRISTINA ZHENG
Summer News Editor

Read more at michigandaily.com
Read more at michigandaily.com

Undergraduates deemed ‘non-essential 
in-person visitors’ in labs, cannot participate 

Survey data shows a 
majority expected a 
discount