7-Opinion
Opinion
Wednesday, September 2, 2020 — 9
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
O
ver the next couple
of weeks, universities
across
the
United
States
will
welcome
back
faculty, staff and students
in the midst of the recent
and
sustained
national
surge in COVID-19 cases.
The
University
of
North
Carolina, University of Notre
Dame, North Carolina State
University
and
University
of Alabama showed us the
dangers of bringing students
back in this environment.
Over 100 students have tested
positive for COVID-19 within
the first week of classes at all
four universities. Like Notre
Dame and NC State, UNC
responded to the growing
public-health crisis by going
fully remote for this semester.
Faculty, staff and students
had
made
this
demand
for
months,
vociferously
opposing UNC’s reopening
plan and condemning the
administration’s
initial
responses to early COVID-19
outbreaks on campus.
Here in Ann Arbor, the
University
of
Michigan
continues
to
plan
for
in-person, hybrid and remote
courses. University Housing
aims to fill residences at about
75 percent capacity while
requiring only one COVID-
19 test before move-in, as
well as an opt-in surveillance
testing scheme for residents.
In a town hall, University
President Mark Schlissel told
the community, “I wish you
could see the scientific basis
of our decisions” about the
reopening plans. His Ethics
and
Privacy
Committee
Report said the University
“has a substantial obligation
to help students, students’
families, faculty, and staff
be aware of (i) the actual,
evolving health risks … and
(iii) our actual and projected
levels of success, as best we
can gauge them.”
The Graduate Employees’
Organization,
Lecturers’
Employee
Organization,
tenure track faculty and staff
have all requested access to
the
modeling
and
reports
that informed the Fall plans.
Yet,
U-M
administrators
still refuse to release them.
The University has chosen
not to enter any meaningful
dialogue with its workers
and students by excluding
them
from
the
decision-
making process and hiding
information from them about
the risks we are walking into
in a few weeks.
Since May, GEO has been
asking
to
be
included
in
decisions, starting with an
open letter signed by over
1,800 members of the U-M
community. For over four
months, U-M failed to address
any
of
the
demands
and
actually withheld information
on reopening from the entire
community until late June.
In response, faculty members
petitioned for the ability to
opt-out of in-person teaching
without penalties. At the time
of publication, they gained 612
signatures. Shortly thereafter,
staff circulated a petition,
gaining
261
signatures,
requesting that “all staff … be
given equal opportunity and
full autonomy to determine
whether
they
return
to
campus or continue to work
remotely.”
The
University
has not publicly responded.
Despite
the
calls
for
transparency, inclusion and
choice in the reopening plans,
the University continues to
ignore its entire community.
This blatant disregard for
public health and people’s
lives has led all spheres of
the U-M community to come
together in opposition to the
University’s reopening plan.
Our calls for remote teaching,
increased
testing
capacity
and
overall
transparency
are designed to
ensure the safety
of
the
entire
U-M community,
including
the
year-round
residents of Ann
Arbor,
Flint
and
Dearborn.
Instead,
the
University’s
poor
leadership
has resulted in
departments
—
like the Stamps
School of Art &
Design — forcing
new
students
to
commit
to
being
in-person,
and
assigning mostly lecturers,
several of them new to the
school, to teach those classes
regardless of the instructors’
preferences.
Lecturers
are
both being put at high risk
for contracting COVID-19 and
are being laid off in alarming
frequency — 41 percent of
lecturers on the University
of
Michigan-Flint
campus
were laid off this summer.
The University has made the
conscious decision to force
in-person classes down the
throats of the communities
it serves in a haphazard and
secretive manner.
In
addition,
University
Housing forced all residents
to sign an amendment that
gives
the
University
the
authority to evict positive
COVID-19
residents
and
protects the University from
any liability at the same time.
If that weren’t enough, the
University’s Board of Regents
approved a 1.9
percent tuition
increase
at
Ann
Arbor
and
Dearborn
campuses
and
a
3.9
percent tuition
increase
for
Flint
campus,
as well as a $50
COVID-19
fee
for all enrolled
students.
The
reality
remains
that
universities
knew
about
COVID-
19
for
over
five
months
before they released their
reopening
plans.
There
was time to engage with
GEO,
LEO,
faculty,
staff,
students
and
parents
in
a
transparent
manner.
In
particular,
President
Schlissel
called
testing
the entire U-M community
“science fiction,” which he
justified by reiterating an old,
homophobic and inaccurate
claim about HIV testing —
we
shouldn’t
test
people
because “testing can give you
a false sense of security. That
happened in the HIV epidemic
when people got a negative
test
and
presented
it
to
their sex partner and spread
(the)
disease
nonetheless.”
Contrary to this statement,
regular
and
asymptomatic
testing is an essential part of
HIV public health.
COVID-19 remains fairly
controlled
in
Michigan
compared
to
other
parts
of
the
country.
But
the
University’s reopening plan
could quickly undo that, as
the Ann Arbor Public School
Board
noted
when
they
decided to go fully online
because of the University’s
reckless reopening plan. Not
only is the reopening plan
unsafe and unjust, but it is
dangerous, potentially deadly
and puts all residents of Ann
Arbor, Dearborn and Flint
at risk. This is yet another
strain on the not always rosy
relationship between the U-M
community and the permanent
residents of Ann Arbor: City
Councilmember Julie Grand
noted the increased tension
the
University’s
decisions
have
created
within
this
relationship, stating, “I don’t
like that this (reopening plan)
pits students against people
living in the community.”
At
this
point
in
the
pandemic,
the
University
knows that COVID-19 will
kill faculty, staff, students
and
their
families
and
neighbors.
If
someone
survives the disease, there
remains about a 33 percent
chance of “prolonged illness
even
among
persons
with
milder
outpatient
illness,
including young adults.” All
of this led to Gov. Gretchen
Whitmer calling for all public
universities
to
not
bring
their students back in the
fall due to the pandemic and
likelihood
of
in-residence
semesters
spreading
the
virus throughout the state.
The University of Michigan’s
plans
for
the
fall
term
contradict
the
governor’s
advice, as well as that of
federal
and
state
public
health experts.
The University’s reopening
plan
is
eerily
similar
to
UNC’s plan — which has been
referred to as a “clusterfuck”
due
to
the
explosion
of
positive
COVID-19
cases
across the university. How
much
longer
before
the
University,
in
particular
President Schlissel, admits
that we cannot safely house
or
teach
in-person
this
semester?
Will
we
have
to
wait
for
hundreds
of
positive
COVID-19
cases
on campus within the first
week
of
classes,
as
the
UNC, Notre Dame, NC State
and UA communities have
experienced? Or will the plan
be to push forward to “make it
through the semester,” until
someone in our community
dies? And if that were to
happen, where the loss of life
acts as the tipping point for
the University — is the price
of an in-residence experience
worth the lives of service and
custodial workers and other
campus staff?
The authors are from the
Graduate Employees’ Organization
COVID-19 Caucus and the Lecturers’
Employee Organization and can be
reached at covidchair@geo3550.org
and communications@leounion.org,
respectively.
GEO AND LEO MEMBERS | OP-ED
U-M’s reopening plan — a Wolverine culture of carnage
It is dangerous,
potentially
deadly and puts
all residents
of Ann Arbor,
Dearborn and
Flint at risk.
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F
or my family, United
States road trips were
always
a
summer
staple. Each year brought new
adventures and experiences
as we traversed the country.
We visited small towns and
big cities. We drove through
Trump
country
and
saw
places where Democratic lawn
signs dot the landscape. From
Alaska to Florida, Hawaii to
Maine, I have visited all 50
states and seen not only the
differences in our nation but
also the similarities, such as
our use of the post office.
Anywhere you go in this
country, you will notice the
post office. From the blue
mailboxes
along
the
road
to the distinct white, cubed
postal trucks to the hundreds
of
thousands
of
dedicated
postal carriers working rain or
shine to deliver for us, the post
office is universal.
Over the past few months,
we have seen a coordinated
attack on the post office by
the
Trump
administration.
The head of the post office,
Postmaster
General
Louis
DeJoy, who was appointed by
President Donald Trump, has
been trying to gut the post
office. He has directed a major
overhaul of the post office,
including slashing overtime,
reducing business hours at
certain locations and removing
mail sorting machines.
These changes have resulted
in a major slowdown in the
delivery
of
mail,
a
major
concern given that millions
of voters are expected to
vote by mail in the November
election. This slowdown of
the post office is part of a
concerted effort by Trump
to disenfranchise voters and
prevent Democrats from voting.
Democrats
are
statistically
more likely to vote by mail,
so it makes sense that Trump
does not want these people
to vote. Recently, the postal
service confirmed these fears
by informing 46 states that
they won’t have the capacity to
deliver ballots on time.
Since these letters were
sent, there has been a major
outcry about the impact that
these changes will have on
the election. Twenty-one state
attorney generals, including
the Michigan Attorney General
Dana Nessel, threatened to
sue over the changes. Due to
this backlash, the postmaster
general reversed the plan until
after the election.
While
this
is
a
great
development, we cannot let
it distract us from the overall
attack on the post office by
Republicans.
For
decades,
Republicans have attempted
to dismantle and privatize
the post office — a downright
terrible idea. The post office
employs more than 600,000
Americans
who
serve
the
entire
country.
For
many
rural
communities,
private
companies
such
as
FedEx
and UPS do not serve them.
The U.S. Postal Service is
so important for delivering
medication and keeping people
connected, especially during
the pandemic.
There are many things we
can do to help protect the post
office. Buying stamps and
other items from the post office
can help to fund them. You can
also call your legislators to ask
them to support the post office
and continue to properly fund
this critical organization.
There is also a lot that
Michiganders can do to help
guarantee that we can safely
vote and ensure that our votes
are counted. Michigan is one
of the states that will likely see
record-breaking numbers of
voters casting absentee ballots.
Since the passage of Proposal
3 in 2018, any Michigan voters
can vote absentee without an
excuse. In the August primary
this year, 1.6 million voters cast
an absentee ballot — more than
any other in Michigan history.
The 2020 election is expected
to far surpass this, leading
to major concerns about the
capacity of the post office. In
the August primary, over 6,000
ballots were rejected because
they
were
received
after
Election Day. If you want to
avoid any issues with the post
office, there are a few options
that you can take to ensure
that your vote is counted if you
want to vote absentee.
You should request your
absentee ballot sooner rather
than later. Instead of mailing
back your ballot, you can
deliver directly to your clerk’s
office or leave it in an absentee
ballot dropbox. There is a
plan to have a dropbox put on
the University of Michigan’s
Central and North Campuses,
making it easier for students
to
deliver
their
absentee
ballots.
As we look to November
and beyond, we must remain
committed to protecting our
postal service in order to
protect not only our elections
but one of the most important
governmental organizations
that always delivers for all
of us.
ISABELLE SCHINDLER | COLUMNIST
Protect the post office
Isabelle Schindler can be reached
at ischind@umich.edu.
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