The
Daily
sat
down
with
University of Michigan President
Mark Schlissel to discuss the
University’s plans for the fall
semester
during
the
COVID-
19 pandemic and the release of
WilmerHale’s report on allegations
of
sexual
misconduct
against
former Provost Martin Philbert.
This interview has been edited
and condensed for clarity.
Mark Schlissel: I wanted to
start out if it’s OK with you by
reiterating an apology that I’ve
offered to a number of individuals,
and then to a group as a whole
that wrote me a letter — I want
to get their name correct — the
Queer Advocacy Coalition … I was
making comments in one of the
town halls around the logic behind
our surveillance testing and the
pluses and minuses of testing
asymptomatic students in an
effort to diminish transmission of
the disease. And one of the things
I said is a fear that if a student
learns they’re negative, that might
diminish their incentive to follow
masking and distancing and the
like. And I made what turned out
to be a very bad and insensitive
analogy with HIV disease — AIDS,
and it was really hurtful to a lot of
people. It was incorrect with the
history. I feel very badly about it. So
I just wanted another opportunity
to say sorry, to promise to be more
careful and to express my empathy
with that group for any pain or
discomfort that I caused with
some remarks that just shouldn’t
have been offered.
The
Michigan
Daily:
Universities
that
originally
planned
for
some
forms
of
in-person classes, like University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
reversed their decisions and went
entirely online after only about
a week of classes. Meanwhile,
Michigan State announced an
all online semester and Eastern
Michigan delayed move-in. So
why is the University of Michigan
any different?
MS: Well, we may prove not
to be, but I think that we are
different. We’ve planned and
worked very hard on getting
things as optimal as we can. I have
confidence in our students. But
in reality, if you think about what
the difference is between a remote
semester and what we’re talking
about now, as of now 77 percent of
our student credit hours are being
offered remotely.
… Every young person I talked
to, well, they’re always being
honest. They say that they’d rather
be with their friends. They’d
rather not live at home some more.
So, going fully remote is a pretty
incremental
difference
from
where we are right now. And it
wouldn’t have left people at home.
We’d still have lots of students in
Ann Arbor, and we’d still have the
challenge of working with students
to help everybody understand
what it takes to be safe from being
infected and from transmitting
the disease … I’ve been in
pretty close contact with other
campuses around the country,
including UNC and including
Notre Dame and including many
of my colleagues in the Big Ten,
asking them what’s worked for
them, what hasn’t worked, what’s
the most surprising. And so far,
the campuses that have run into
difficulty trace it to off-campus
student life … So it could turn out
that we prove to be like everybody
else. I always try to be better.
TMD: On that note, Chief
Health Officer Preeti Malani told
The Daily that one big party could
shut the whole semester down. So
then, if that’s the case and we’re
seeing students at other schools
and the University of Michigan
already starting to party, why
bring everyone back to then
potentially send them home?
MS: I don’t bring everyone back
and I don’t send everybody home.
Many of the students who are
living here in Ann Arbor are gonna
continue living in Ann Arbor in
their private residences under
their leases — not everybody of
course, but many. I also think
Dr. Malani was exercising a bit
of hyperbole by saying one big
party is all it’s gonna take. I hope
we don’t have one big party with
a super-spreader event, but there
will be spreading events. There
were spreading events when you
all were living at home … so there
will be spread of the disease. It’s
not the students’ fault. It’s not
the University’s fault. It’s the
pandemic’s fault. So it’s up to us
to protect ourselves as best we
can and to protect one another.
Although there is a chance that
there’ll be too many episodes
where folks let their guard down,
and too many people become
infected and there’s too much
spread for us to keep up with
with testing, contact tracing and
quarantine, then we would have
to go fully remote. But recognize
that doesn’t mean people are
going home … The students in
the dormitories, we can certainly
encourage them to leave. There
are a fraction of students in our
dorms that don’t have other safe
places to live, so I wouldn’t want
to throw them (out) … it’s not as
simple as saying “let’s go remote,”
and then there’s no more risk.
TMD: In a similar vein, schools
like Tulane, for example, have
banned gatherings of more than 15
people and threatened expulsion
for students who did not follow
the mandate. Will the University
of Michigan consider similar
academic
repercussions
for
violating social distancing rules?
MS: Well, I think as a very last
resort, the Student Statement
of Rights and Responsibilities
does give the University the
opportunity to do things of the
type that you’re mentioning. Those
aren’t first resorts. They’re last
resorts. But I think people do have
to recognize — particularly on
our campus in our classrooms, in
our dormitories, but also with one
another in town — that they have
to live up to the Student Statement
of Rights and Responsibilities and
then be subject to the downstream
consequences of behavior that
doesn’t live up to our aspirations.
TMD:
Some
community
members have called for more
transparency
with
opening
plans, models used and analysis
done,
and
just
more
details
about containment plans as we
approach the beginning of the
semester. Why has the University
not provided such details to the
members of the community who
have to make important decisions
about their safety and the safety of
those around them, based on these
plans?
MS: With respect to those
raising
the
question
or
the
criticism, it’s always possible to
provide more information. But if
you look back on the number of
communications that have come
from me and other campus leaders
in the last several months, it’s
actually been an overwhelming
number in very long and great
detail — multiple town halls
with different groups, dedicated
and regularly updated Maize
and Blueprint website, data on
COVID-19
on
campus
that’s
now up there and live. So there’s
been a lot of communication. In
particular, when we talk about
what we would have to see in order
to change our plans, everyone’s
looking for a magic formula that
if you have a certain number
— like Dr. Malani said “one big
party,” — we’d all go home. That’s
not a complete statement. We’re
tracking things like the rate of
infection on campus, how many
new cases per day. We’re looking
at the distribution of where those
cases are. Are they in clusters of
events? Can we contact trace and
quarantine downstream of those
or does it exceed our capacity?
… The difficulty for most folks is
understanding that there’s not
a magic formula. What there
is is judgment in looking at the
numbers and trends of a bunch of
markers and taking advantage of
our public health experts that are
doing the same thing on behalf of
the governor of the state.
TMD:
Students
and
administrators across the country
have publicly battled over who’s
responsible
for
COVID-19
outbreaks on campus. For example,
a Syracuse official called students
attending large gatherings “selfish
and reckless.” On the other hand,
an editorial from UNC’s student
newspaper argued “it was the
University’s
responsibility
to
disincentivize such gatherings by
reconsidering its plans to operate
in-person earlier on.” So who
takes responsibility if there are
large outbreaks on campus at the
University of Michigan this fall?
MS:
I
put
responsibility
squarely on the virus. So this
is a pandemic. The virus isn’t
prejudiced. It infects people when
they’re susceptible and available
for infection. I don’t think any
of us wants to get sick. I don’t
think anybody, no matter what
their behavior is, wants to get
sick. My job as a campus leader,
working with our Student Life
people and our academic leaders
and our safety people, is to try to
create an environment that allows
students to be educated about the
virus, to take responsibility for
themselves, to make their own
decisions as adults — as young
adults, but adults — in how to
keep themselves, their friends and
their families safe. And my job is
to provide the education and the
environment, and then the backup
and support for you to be able to do
this, all the while making sure that
this pandemic doesn’t trash your
ability to have college … I don’t
hold students responsible, I don’t
hold Student Life responsible, I
don’t hold myself — in that sense
— responsible. It’s the virus. We’re
all humans. We’re all capable
of outstanding behavior. We’re
all very obviously capable of
momentary lapses in behavior…
TMD: So then you feel like
the University is as prepared as it
possibly could be?
MS: I think every day we
become better at what we do.
So I would of course not say
that we’re optimally prepared,
because none of us have ever been
through this before … We’re all
trying to make our way through
a complicated and completely
novel set of circumstances. For
example, there’s been a lot of
attention focused on this issue of
testing. And there’s a notion that
if we could simply test everybody
all the time, nobody would get
sick. And that’s an exaggerated
statement, so I don’t want to get in
trouble making more exaggerated
statements, but testing detects
if you’re already sick. It doesn’t
prevent you from being sick. The
whole state of Michigan right now
is averaging around 25,000 tests a
day — the whole state … If we were
to test everybody twice a week,
we would dramatically exceed
the testing done in our 10 million
person state. What we are doing is
we’re recognizing that surveillance
testing is an important part of
keeping the community safe. … The
way you work on these problems is
you do as much sort of theoretical
thinking in advance as you can,
and then you have the flexibility to
modify and change as you actually
implement and try to make things
better every day. So I don’t feel
optimally prepared. I argue that
nobody in the country probably
feels globally prepared. Our nation
was not optimally prepared and it’s
struggling to get to that level, but
we’ll get better at this every day.
TMD: Tuition from students is a
substantial part of the University’s
revenue, and according to a survey
conducted by Central Student
Government over the summer,
a majority of students surveyed
said they would consider changing
their plans and not enrolling full
time if courses were fully online.
If more funding were available
from the state of Michigan and the
federal government, would you
have been more comfortable with a
fully remote semester?
MS: More funding is always
welcome … But I think what we
would have endeavored to do,
regardless of resources, is provide
the courses in person that students
can only take in person, that they
need for their programs, they
need for licensure, they need to
progress to graduation, which is,
you know, pretty much, pretty
similar to what we’re doing now.
But the additional funding would
have allowed us to do this, passing
less of the burden onto students
and their families.
With less than one week
until the first day of classes,
some students, faculty and staff
have raised concerns about
how the University of Michigan
will contain possible COVID-
19
outbreaks.
Among
these
concerns is how students will
quarantine or isolate themselves
to prevent spreading the virus,
particularly those living in off-
campus housing.
The University says there are
600 rooms available for students
who need to quarantine, but
it remains unclear how and
to whom these rooms will
be
provided.
According
to
the
University’s
Maize
and
Blueprint website, the hub of
information related to various
COVID-19 policies, there will be
spaces identified for “any U-M
student who needs quarantine/
isolation.”
The page also specifies that
the Washtenaw County Health
Department,
in
coordination
with
the
University,
will
determine whether a student’s
off-campus living situation is
adequate to quarantine or isolate
them effectively.
In an email to The Daily,
University spokeswoman Kim
Broekhuizen
confirmed
off-
campus students could use the
quarantine housing, assuming
their situation meets certain
qualifications.
“The
university
isolation
and
quarantine
plan
does
allow for off-campus students
to be placed in the designated
isolation or quarantine space,”
Broekhuizen wrote. “(This is) if
the current living arrangement
is determined to be unsuitable
and the student is unable to go to
a permanent home.”
The Health Department will
evaluate each off-campus living
arrangement on a case-by-case
basis as people living there test
positive for COVID-19. If too
many off-campus students need
space to quarantine, however,
the Health Department may not
be able to quickly manage all of
those evaluations.
Susan
Ringler-Cerniglia,
public
information
officer
for
the
Washtenaw
County
Health Department, said the
department’s resources could
quickly
be
overwhelmed
if
cases spread due to students
congregating.
“All
these
factors
could
combine to mean that cases
spread
very,
very
quickly,”
Ringler-Cerniglia
said.
“So
we as a health department, of
course, have a limited capacity
and limited number of folks
that are able to follow up and
do that case investigation and
contact tracing. So if there’s all
of a sudden a very large number
of cases related to the reopening,
then yes, our resources could be
quickly overwhelmed.”
LSA junior Samuel Burnstein
said he believes the University’s
communication has been unclear
about how students living off-
campus should proceed if they
or someone they live with tests
positive for COVID-19 and needs
to quarantine.
“There’s been a barrage of
emails in the last two to three
months
about
changes
to
policies and updates to policies
and
revisions
to
policies,”
Burnstein said. “And it’s so hard
to discern what the current
(policy is), where to even find
that policy. It’s not something
that is easily Google-able. So if
I were to get sick on the third
day of school being open, I don’t
know immediately how to go
about finding testing and I’m
sure I’m not alone in that. And
that’s what is kind of very utterly
frustrating.”
Testing
for
symptomatic
students is offered through
University Health Services. In
addition to the standard advice
of limiting in-person contact,
cleaning surfaces often and
monitoring for symptoms of
COVID-19, there are certain
steps to take if someone in a
communal living arrangement
contracts the virus.
Students who test positive
after visiting a non-University
affiliated testing site are asked
to report their case here. For
non-symptomatic students who
want a test, the University has a
list of outside vendors.
According
to
guidance
from Michigan Medicine, it
is important to pick a “sick”
bedroom and bathroom the
infected person alone can use.
Their laundry should also be
kept
separate.
Roommates
can help them track changes
and ease their symptoms by
helping them to eat and hydrate
regularly. Visitors should be
limited and those who live there
should stay home.
After
the
person
has
recovered, they should remain
quarantined
until
they
are
fever-free without medication
for three days, their respiratory
symptoms have improved and
10 days have passed since their
symptoms first appeared. Those
exposed should also stay home
for 14 days after they were
exposed. More information from
the University on quarnatining
can be found here.
LSA sophomore Saad Shami
said he expects the virus to
spread on campus, in part due to
the lack of testing for students
living in off-campus housing.
“With all the people living
off campus, none of them were
tested before they arrived on
campus,” Shami said. “So I think
it’s pretty likely that someone
off campus, maybe even in my
apartment complex, has COVID
at the moment. So yeah, I’m
definitely concerned about that
for sure.”
Ringler-Cerniglia
also
stressed
concerns
about
large,
off-campus
housing
arrangements, such as Fraternity
and Sorority Life housing, and
said those living there need to
take extra precautions.
“Certainly those situations
where there’s a large number
of people in direct contact
do present that possibility of
quickly
spreading,”
Ringler-
Cerniglia said. “It’s all the
more important for them to be
very conscious of additional
socializing.
Certainly,
that
would fall under the concerns we
have about congregate housing
and partying or socializing and
spreading cases even further.”
Parties at off-campus houses
were
seen
around
campus
Sunday through Tuesday by
multiple Daily reporters.
Even
if
the
Health
Department can sustain case-
by-case
investigations,
many
community
members
are
worried 600 rooms will not be
enough for everyone who tests
positive for COVID-19 or who
has ‘sustained personal contact’
with someone who tests positive
for the virus. As of fall 2019,
the University’s Ann Arbor
campus had a total enrollment of
approximately 48,000 students,
with approximately two-thirds
of undergraduates living off-
campus.
When asked about concerns
that 600 beds would not be
enough, Broekhuizen explained
how that number was generated.
“The
600
bed
capacity
was determined based upon
benchmark comparison with
similar-sized peer institutions,”
Broekhuizen said.
After one week of in-person
classes at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
there were only four rooms left
available in the dorm used to
quarantine students who were
close contacts of people who
tested positive for COVID-19.
Burnstein, who will be living
in a co-op this year, expressed
concern over how the virus will
spread through co-ops, similar
to how many have been worried
about the safety of FSL housing.
He said students in co-ops
have to do chores, and one of the
additional chores at his co-op is
sanitizing doorknobs. But “that’s
the extent of the changes that
are being made to the lifestyle of
those who are in the co-ops.”
“I really think that a lot
of attention will be paid to
Greek
life
but
not
nearly
enough attention will be paid
to co-ops,” Burnstein said. “In
my experience, at least in the
last couple of weeks, they’ve
signaled that they’ve done very,
very little to prepare the houses
and the students for you know,
COVID in the fall.”
Rackham student Paul Rizik
disagreed. He moved into a
co-op last week and lived in
Inter-Cooperative
Council
housing prior to the COVID-19
pandemic. He said there have
been
numerous
changes
to
procedures to protect students
from contracting the virus.
“We no longer have communal
meals (and) we have assigned
bathrooms to minimize people’s
exposure,” Rizik wrote in an
email to The Daily. “We have
a house policy dictating that
everyone has to wear masks
in public spaces until 2 weeks
into the semester, and every
cleaning chore I’ve done has
taken nearly twice the amount
of time it did before I left, since
people’s standards are so much
higher.”
According to Sarah Kathleen
Garcia, ICC’s vice president for
finance, the ICC has assembled
a COVID-19 task force to
meet weekly and discuss how
members can best be kept
safe. She added that houses
have taken various actions to
limit the spread of the virus,
including
quarantining
new
members and requiring masks
in common areas. Currently,
Garcia said, the ICC dictates
each house must discuss their
guest policy at a general meeting
as soon as possible and no guests
are allowed during the move-in
period.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
4 — Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Quarantining could be
difficult with roommates
ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Some students living in off-campus housing are unsure of how to keep their roommates safe if they have to quarantine at home.
EMMA RUBERG
Daily Staff Reporter
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
Schlissel: U-M could ‘prove
to be like everybody else’
EMMA STEIN &
CALDER LEWIS
Daily News Editor &
Daily Staff Reporter
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
Health procedures pose challenges for those living off-campus
University president discusses plans for hybrid fall semester