The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Monday, August 31, 2020 — 3

In
the
main
hallway
of

Markley Residence Hall is a
selection of large blue move-in
bins. Standing next to the bins is
a portable whiteboard sign with
a hand-written message: “Please
wipe before & after use!” On the
floor lies a tube of disinfectant
wipes, empty.

This
week,
thousands
of

students
are
moving
into

University of Michigan residence
halls.
Students
still
have

roommates, highly contaminable
areas like bathrooms are still
cleaned twice a day and social
distancing is difficult to regulate
in the narrow hallways.

Even
on
paper,
the

University has taken a less
aggressive approach than other
universities.
By
opening
at

about 70 percent capacity while
closing all shared spaces, the
measures that the University is
taking puts its residential plan in
the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention’s “more risk”
category.

Bowdoin College has reduced

its capacity down to 40% and is
requiring residents to be tested
every other day during move-in
and twice per week throughout
the semester. Harvard University
has
instituted
a
phased

introduction to campus for its
residents that requires students
to have three negative tests. The
University of California Berkeley
has converted all of its rooms to
single occupancy. Michigan State
University has told students they
shouldn’t return to campus.

In practice, many of the

measures that the University
says it’s taking are not being
enforced, leaving some students
confused and concerned.

Amir
Baghdadchi,

senior
associate
director

of
the
University
Housing

Administration, said spacing out
time slots for students to move
in is the most important change
Housing is taking compared
to previous years. Baghdadchi
said time slots were assigned
to ensure that roommates are
not moving in at the same time
to minimize contact between
families.

“Instead of moving about

7,000 students in two and a half
days, we’ll be moving thousands
of students over seven days,”
Baghdadchi said. “Then we used

what we use every year: time
slots. This actually allows us
to really regulate the number
of people that will be arriving
up to the curb and going into a
building at one time.”

The University’s new policy

allows only one guest at a
time to accompany a resident
inside residence halls, which
Baghdadchi
said
will
limit

congestion
in
spaces
like

elevators.

“We’re really thinking about

one family at a time, one student
at a time, one helper at a time,”
Baghdadchi said.

But The Daily — and freshmen

moving in such as Business
freshman Anupama Yetukuri
—
saw
multiple
parents,

siblings and other relatives all
accompany students.

“We definitely saw lots of

people who just had their whole
families,” Yetukuri said.

LSA freshman Ashna Mehra

said she moved into her residence
hall room at the same time as her
roommates and their families.

Regarding the rule of only two

people in an elevator at once, LSA
freshmen Meghan Dodaballapur
and Josie McCarthy said this
isn’t being enforced either.

Yetukuri said it seems to

her that compliance with the
University’s move-in policies is a
matter of choice.

“If you choose to do it, you’re

doing it,” Yetukuri said.

LSA freshman Laura Topf

agreed: “There’s just no follow-
through.”

This includes the University’s

mask requirement. The Daily
saw students and guests in East
Quad, South Quad, Markley and
Oxford residence halls walking
around hallways and sitting in
common spaces maskless, even
with Housing staff nearby.

The University’s testing plan,

which
has
faced
skepticism

from public health experts for
not being extensive enough,
requires that all residents test
negative
before
coming
to

campus. However, Topf said
that requirement is also loosely
enforced.

“We took tests, and they said

to print it out and have it with us,
but they never asked me for my
test results,” Topf said.

Baghdadchi said students are

encouraged to “stop by” other
students’ rooms and “drop into
the doorway.” However, he said
that “socializing needs to be

socially distant, really outside
the room.”

Baghdadchi
suggested

students meet in the common
areas within the residence halls.
However, the University has
closed these common areas.

Baghdadchi said students are

encouraged to meet outdoors,
which, as he noted, would put
them outside the purview of
Michigan Housing. According to
Baghdadchi, as long as residents
are socially distanced, they are
encouraged to explore campus as
they would any other year.

“We imagine a lot of students

will be doing what students do
every single year,” Baghdadchi
said. “Move-in comes around
— it’s at a ripe moment in the
summer — and the first thing
students do is they go out on
campus and explore it, which
is what they exactly should do.
Going out and experiencing
campus outdoors is a low-risk
activity.”

The days surrounding move-

in, which students refer to as
“Welcome Week,” are usually
chock-full of round-the-clock
parties and extravagant social
events. While Welcome Week
may be toned down this year,
some
off-campus
parties

continue.

Residents are required to

adhere to all Ann Arbor city and
University
guidelines,
which

includes a 25-person limit on
outdoor gatherings. When asked
what the University is doing to
prevent residents from attending
parties, Baghdadchi said it is
up to students to adhere to the
Housing contract.

“Ultimately, students have to

make choices,” Baghdadchi said.
“When you choose to live with
us, you’re choosing to follow
the standards. And if you’re
not interested in following the
standards, then you’re also not
interested in living in Michigan
Housing.”

Baghdadchi
said
students

understand
that
exercising

caution is central to the success
of the University’s in-residence
semester.

“I think they fundamentally

understand there is a connection
between what they do outside
the residence hall and whether
we can have a residence hall,” he
said.

But once a student is dropped

off, the University has little
control over residents’ behavior.

For some residents, this is a
cause for confusion and fear. For
others, it’s an invitation to act
freely.

For example, LSA freshman

Ryan Mulliken, who moved in on
Tuesday, said he would be open
to attending fraternity parties.
Mulliken said he contracted
COVID-19
in
March,
and

therefore “I wouldn’t say that
I’m worried, because again, I’ve
had it.”

Mulliken acknowledged that

his antibodies do not guarantee
immunity. He said he would be
careful because he’s worried
about the fate of the semester but
that he’s still hoping to go out.

Topf said it’s unclear what

students are and are not allowed
to do.

“They never went over the

rules,” Topf said. “There’s no one
in the halls making sure people
don’t go into other people’s
rooms. There’s a big group of
freshmen sitting in a circle close
to each other with no masks on.”

Yetukuri said she is concerned

about
students
socializing

unsafely. She said enforcement
from the University is ineffective
in preventing her and her peers
from partying.

“The only reason I wouldn’t go

is because I don’t want (COVID-
19),” Yetukuri said.

When
Resident
Advisors

pushed administration to give
them more testing in a town hall
with the Housing and Student
Life
offices,
Robert
Ernst,

director of University Health
Service, said, “Having a test
doesn’t prevent you from getting
COVID.” Ernst’s comments on
testing, as well as University
President
Mark
Schlissel’s,

have been questioned by several
public health experts.

Topf said she had hoped

she could count on University
officials and staff, but her
experience with move-in has
shown her she can’t.

“I wish I wouldn’t have to

depend on other 17-year-olds
to be safe and that I could trust
teachers will help us and other
adults, but it’s just not the case,”
Topf said.

After
speaking
with
The

Daily
Tuesday,
Baghdadchi

wrote in an email to The Daily
Wednesday
that
Michigan

Housing is “recalibrating some
of the policies.”

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Precautions go unenforced as
students move into residence halls

‘There’s just no follow-through’: Health protocols subject to lax oversight
as new occupants fill dorms across University of Michigan campus

Most University of Michigan

students have yet to move back to
Ann Arbor, but some were already
partying Sunday through Tuesday
as the pandemic rages on.

These parties do not bode well

for Friday and Saturday night, the
two busiest going-out nights on
campus and when most students
who plan on returning will have
moved in.

The
Daily’s
reporters
saw

multiple parties near campus and
many maskless groups walking
around dressed for a night out
Sunday and Monday. With classes
set to begin in less than a week,
the issue of off-campus parties
has turned students against one
another, prompting heated debates
on social media and in group chats
of University students.

Out of almost 1,800 incoming

freshmen surveyed anonymously
by The Daily mid-August, 31.7
percent said they’d be very
comfortable
to
somewhat

comfortable going to a house party
despite COVID-19.

Even if the vast majority of

students refrained from partying,
unsafe gatherings can account for

a significant chunk of the student
body. Out of the University’s
roughly 30,000 undergraduates,
even if only 1 percent chose to
party, that would still total 300
students.

Viral Party Photograph
A photo of an outdoor party

Sunday night with the banner
“You can’t eat ASS with a mask
on” sparked much conversation
on social media. Many said in
replies to the original tweet that
they were disappointed but not
surprised.

Information graduate student

Daniella Raz captured the viral
photograph while she was walking
home. She said she saw the party at
about 9:30 p.m. Sunday night.

She said the banner proves some

students don’t plan on following
public health guidelines.

“The big banner (makes) light

of a pandemic that has killed so
many Americans,” Raz said. “This
behavior was inevitable after the
University’s decision to bring
students back to campus, and the
administration should reconsider
their course of action.”

Another banner in the photo

referenced
Phi
Kappa
Psi,

prompting speculation that the
party was fraternity-affiliated.
University
spokeswoman
Kim

Broekhuizen said Phi Kappa Psi

was not involved in the gathering.

In an email to The Daily,

Broekhuizen said the gathering
“was of individuals who are
believed to be members of the
same household. Their socializing
behavior would be in alignment
with public health guidance as
well as within the 25 person limit
for outdoor gatherings.”

She
wrote
that
Michigan

Ambassadors
have
“provided

education” to students gathered at
the home.

“While the content of the

banners does not reflect positively
on the residents, the university
or our public-health efforts, it is
speech that is protected by the
first amendment,” Broekhuizen
wrote. “The banner was removed
immediately
by
the
house

occupants. The university is in
the process of doing additional
followup and education with the
students involved.”

Broekhuizen
wrote
that

the
University
“thoroughly

condemns”
those
who
are

harassing and threatening the
students at this party.

Rackham student Joe Meadows

said the photo of a party happening
on campus represents a lack of
empathy overall.

“If
people
haven’t
been

personally affected by this, then

they don’t seem to take it too
seriously,” Meadows said. “And for
me personally, as someone who’s
lost a couple friends to this since
March, that just smacks of apathy
of other people’s experiences.”

Regulation
of
off-campus

behavior

In its efforts to regulate student

behavior, the University has rolled
out a program in which teams of
students, faculty, staff and police
officers walk around campus daily
from noon to midnight to remind
students to adhere to public health
guidelines and to break up unsafe
gatherings.

The
program,
known
as

Michigan
Ambassadors,
has

drawn backlash for its perceived
lack of enforcement mechanisms
and for working with local
police,
though
Broekhuizen

and University President Mark
Schlissel have said it is designed
to
reduce
reliance
on
law

enforcement.

The University also updated its

Statement of Students Rights and
Responsibilities, which Schlissel
said could be used to give students
a citation and a fine after multiple
warnings.

CLAIRE HAO & JASMIN

LEE

Daily News Editor &

As students return to Ann Arbor,
parties are held on off-campus

Nearly a third of freshman surveyed said they would be very comfortable
to somewhat comfortable going to a house party, TMD survey says

Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
A group of girls dressed for a night out on Monday night.

DOMINICK SOKOTOFF/DAILY