Solomon Rajput decided to 

put medical school on hold in 
September 2019 and run for 
U.S. 
Congress 
in 
Michigan’s 

12th district against incumbent 
Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, 
D-Mich. After losing the primary 
election in August, Rajput went 
back to medical school and started 
Done Waiting, an organization 
working to get other progressive 
candidates elected. 

“That night of the election and 

the day after we were thinking, 
‘You know what, we found a 
really cool model here,’” Rajput 
said. “For progressive campaigns 
like ours, the only way that we 
can possibly compete with the 
establishment is through people 
power. We can’t out-raise the 
establishment. … And they’ve got 
all this name recognition, so how 
can we possibly compete? Well, 
we can compete with the power of 
people.”

Done Waiting’s website lists 27 

progressive causes the organization 
is prioritizing, including the Green 
New Deal and Medicare for All. 
They plan to endorse and offer 
support and resources to various 
progressive candidates, both in 
primary and general elections, 
across the country. Currently, the 
only candidate the organization 
has endorsed is Adam Christensen, 

a progressive running in the 
general election for Florida’s 3rd 
congressional district.

In the Aug. 4 primary election, 

Dingell received more than 70% 
of the vote. Though Dingell was 
initially elected in 2014, she, her 
late husband and his father have 
collectively 
held 
a 
Michigan 

congressional seat for almost 87 
years.

Alex Dumont, communications 

director for Done Waiting and 
LSA sophomore, began working 
for Rajput during the campaign. 
He said it can be difficult for 
new progressive candidates to 
run against more established 
candidates like Dingell. 

“When running for Congress, 

it’s really hard to come out of 
nowhere and run right away,” 
Dumont 
said. 
“That’s 
what 

Solomon did and, of course, that’s 
the only way to do it. … So, I think 
we all knew what we were getting 
into in the campaign. We realized 
the uphill battle ahead of us, but we 
really thought it was important to 
do it anyways.” 

Despite the election outcome, 

Rajput said he is still proud of many 
parts of his campaign. 

“Although we didn’t win, we 

won the hearts of 25,000 voters 
across the district. I’m just really 
proud of that,” Rajput said. 
“We created one of the biggest 
campaigns in the country, to our 
knowledge, in terms of manpower. 

I think that we’re actually the 
biggest in the entire country for 
a primary challenger. We hit a 
couple hundred interns and fellows 
from across the country spending 
eight to 15 hours every single week 
working on our campaign.”

Going into the primary, Dingell 

had received more than $1.14 
million in total contributions, 
with over $495,000 cash on hand, 
while Rajput’s total contributions 
amounted to around $116,000. He 
reported a little less than $40,000 
in cash on hand, according to 
documents filed with the Federal 
Election Commission.

Done Waiting has pledged 

not to take any corporate money. 
According to their website, if a 
candidate they have endorsed 
supports a “corporate” Democrat 
over a more progressive opponent, 
they will publicly rescind their 
endorsement and may mobilize 
against 
the 
candidate 
they 

previously endorsed. 

Nick Schuler, vice chair of the 

University’s chapter of College 
Republicans and LSA sophomore, 
said he disagrees with the policies 
supported by Rajput and Done 
Waiting. However, he said support 
for candidates outside of the 
traditional party establishment 
is beneficial, whether in the 
Democratic or Republican parties. 

The University of Michigan 

Board of Regents held their 
first 
meeting 
of 
the 
fall 

semester Thursday afternoon 
over Zoom amid the turmoil 
over the reopening plan and 
following 
a 
recent 
Faculty 

Senate vote of no confidence 
in University President Mark 
Schlissel.

The meeting began with 

remarks from Schlissel, who 
addressed 
the 
WilmerHale 

report published in response 
to allegations of misconduct 
made against former Provost 
Martin Philbert.

Schlissel said misconduct 

reports 
of 
senior 

administration officials will be 
directed to the executive vice 
president and chief financial 
officer instead of the provost, 
and the University’s policy 
on consensual relationships 
will be updated as well. These 
policy changes comply with 
recommendations 
in 
the 

WilmerHale report and are 
designed to avoid a situation 
such as the one where Philbert 
was tasked with overseeing 
the department charged with 
investigating him. 

“This change removed the 

possibility of a conflict or 
hesitancy in reporting due 
to our Office of Institutional 
Equity 
being 
overseen 
by 

the Provost,” Schlissel said. 
“It 
follows 
WilmerHale’s 

recommendations 
that 
we 

follow alternative oversight for 
sexual misconduct allegations 
involving 
members 
of 
the 

Provost’s 
Office, 
which 
is 

ordinarily 
responsible 
for 

overseeing 
the 
Office 
of 

Institutional Equity.”

Provost Susan Collins then 

addressed what she referred to 
as “false statements” regarding 
the agreement the University 
reached with the Graduate 
Employees’ Organization on 
Wednesday after more than a 
week of striking. Collins stated 
the University never pursued 
criminal or monetary action 
against grad students. In its 
court filing, the University 
did threaten to pursue these 
actions if GEO continued its 
strike.

University Regent Denise 

Ilitch (D) read a statement of 
support for the administration 
and the University’s reopening 
plans on behalf of the board. 
She said the board knows 
the 
University 
needs 
to 

communicate better with the 
broader community, but they 
are committed to improving.

During the Central Student 

Government 
report, 
CSG 

President Amanda Kaplan, an 
LSA senior, addressed the Big 
Ten Conference’s Wednesday 
vote to restart the football 
season. Kaplan said CSG was 
unhappy with the recently 
announced plan to play this 
fall.

“We want to express our 

deep 
disappointment 
upon 

learning that we voted to 
reinstate 
college 
football,” 

Kaplan said. “Personally, I 
am a huge football fan. But 
as Student Body President, I 
know that this symbolically 
signaled 
to 
our 
campus 

community that ‘we are doing 
fine.’ A sentiment which will, 
without a doubt, enable larger 
student parties on the cusp of 
Halloween, already one of the 
most notorious party weekends 
at Michigan.”

Kaplan also addressed the 

inequity some students feel 
with 
athletes 
being 
given 

priority for COVID-19 testing. 

“With the backdrop of all 

of the advocacy on campus, 
it also signals a profound 
favoritism to athletes who will 
be getting safety testing over 
GSIs, R.A.s, DPEs (Diversity 
Peer Educators), and other 
University 
Employees 
who 

have been fighting to be getting 
any testing at all,” Kaplan said. 

Schlissel commented on the 

testing for student athletes, 
saying it is provided by the Big 
Ten and will not “affect our 
campus testing capacity.”

Public 
Health 
professor 

Emily Martin then shared a 
presentation about the COVID-
19 
Sampling 
and 
Tracking 

Program and announced a 
partnership with the Centers 
for 
Disease 
Control 
and 

Prevention and the Department 
of Health and Human Services. 
Martin said the University 
had 
previously 
worked 
on 

widespread influenza tracing 
before COVID-19 and they used 
the skills from that program to 
work on the new surveillance 

program.

“It’s possible that everything 

we’re doing to prevent COVID 
could also prevent influenza,” 
Martin said. “That would be a 
great situation, but I think we 
need to prepare for the next 
phase of the pandemic.”

During the U-M Flint campus 

report, 
Flint 
Chancellor 

Debasish 
Dutta 
expressed 

his satisfaction that the Flint 
campus will participate in 
a pilot to bring telehealth 
services 
to 
its 
residential 

students in conjunction with 
University 
Health 
Services. 

The pilot would also bring 
Student Legal Services to Flint 
for the first time.

“We heard from our students 

as well as our faculty that 
student health services and 
student legal services need 
to be made available to U of 
M-Flint students,” Dutta said. 
“...We are able to provide a pilot 
at this point in time in the fall 
semester to give the telehealth 
services to our students in 
residence halls. We will work 
and see how best to make it 
available to all students next 
year… We are (also) pleased to 
report that all students at U 
of M-Flint now have access to 
Student Legal Services.”

The 
One 
University 

Campaign 
and 
others 
had 

previously 
engaged 
in 
a 

campaign for these services to 
be extended to the U-M Flint 
and U-M Dearborn campuses. 
In a press release about the 
pilot program, the campaign 
expressed excitement at the 
addition of health services, 
while 
urging 
the 
campus 

to extend a program to its 
non-resident 
students 
as 

well. 
The 
statement 
and 

several 
commenters 
also 

demonstrated 
frustration 

with the board and Dearborn 
Chancellor Domenico Grasso 
for not implementing a similar 
program there.

During the public comment 

portion of the meeting, 15 
community 
members 
spoke 

to 
the 
board, 
addressing 

issues including testing on 
campus, the fall opening plan, 
divestment from fossil fuels 
and the GEO strike.

The seasons are changing 

on the University of Michigan 
campus, but many fall staples 
aren’t on the calendar this 
year.

Events 
that 
usually 

characterize a fall at the 
University have been put on 
hold due to the COVID-19 
pandemic, leaving students 
feeling less social compared 
to previous fall semesters.

LSA senior Raquel Powers, 

who is on the cross country 
and track teams, said her 
team couldn’t continue the 
usual traditions that marked 
each fall, such as their annual 
camping trip in northern 
Michigan. 
These 
events 

usually 
allowed 
the 
new 

freshmen on the team to bond 
with the other teammates, 
she said. 

“(The 
freshmen) 
don’t 

know what the normal is yet, 
and they don’t know what the 
team traditions are and that 
we could be closer than how 
we actually are right now,” 
Powers said. “All the previous 
years, especially with the 
camp, we get to know our 
teammates very well. But this 
year we just have practice 
and then everyone just goes 
and does their own thing.”

Powers 
said 
other 

restrictions, 
such 
as 

maximum capacities in the 
training room and locker 
rooms, 
also 
affect 
social 

interactions with her team. 

“Like the pre- and post-

work that you used to do in 
the training room and locker 
room, where you’d really 
chit-chat with your friends 
and chit-chat with the trainer 
as you get treatment, you just 
don’t get that time anymore 
with the people you used to,” 
Powers said. 

Rackham student Holden 

Greene 
said 
he 
enjoyed 

playing 
intramural 
sports 

in his previous years at the 
University, even refereeing 
for flag football. Without 
sports this fall, he said his 
days felt a lot less engaging. 

“Like 
every 
Monday 

or every Wednesday, you 
(would) have that sport to 
look forward to playing and 
it’s an otherwise nice break 
from classwork or especially 
if you were having a slow 
day,” Greene said. “In some 
ways, my days (now) feel 
more regimental, like, I do 
this one thing and then I go 
to sleep. It feels like every day 
is the same routine.”

LSA senior Lauren Croxton 

said not being able to draw 
her energy from pre-planned 
events such as football games 
or her business fraternity’s 
events 
makes 
being 
on 

campus for her last year feel 

very different. Though Big 
Ten has since announced 
the return of football, no 
fans will be allowed in the 
stadium. 

“I know the way I drive a 

lot of my own happiness is 
being able to look forward 
to events like that,” Croxton 
said. “I need to start making 
that happen for myself again. 
Like I need to set up events 
that I can look forward to on 
my own because there’s no 
one organizing that for me 
anymore.”

Social life at the University 

has 
also 
been 
shaped 

by 
Washtenaw 
County 

guidelines, 
which 
limit 

outdoor 
gatherings 
to 
a 

maximum 
of 
25 
people, 

including 
those 
in 
off-

campus houses. Fraternities 
and sororities have agreed 
not to host social events this 
semester.

Engineering 
senior 

Josh 
Goldstein 
said 
he 

was excited about football 
season and to go to bars like 
Rick’s American Cafe and 
Scorekeepers 
Sports 
Grill 

and Pub. But even if the bars 
open, he said they won’t feel 
the same.

Goldstein 
is 
glad 
he 

can 
at 
least 
spend 
time 

with his friends in small 
groups, 
though 
it 
affects 

his relationship with other 
friends he’s not as close with. 

“I am upset about that, but 

I’m also happy to be here,” 
Goldstein 
said. 
“And 
it’s 

nice to not be stuck at home. 
It’s nice to be able to be on 
campus and still see people 
I know … you get really close 
with the people you live with, 
but a con is you probably get 
a little less closer with your 
best friends and the circle 
gets a little smaller, which for 
some people, could be a good 
thing.”

Music, Theatre & Dance 

sophomore Kliment Milanov 
said 
he 
and 
his 
friends 

usually supplemented their 
music education experience 
by performing in gigs and 
theatrical 
performances. 

However, 
with 
COVID-19, 

many of his usual gigs no 
longer take place.

“It sucks because I don’t 

feel like I’m getting a great 
performance 
education,” 

Milanov said. “There’s just 
no more ability for (gigs) in 
terms of employment and 
performance, and that’s just 
something we’re not getting 
trained in and not getting 
experienced in.”

Croxton, who still lives 

with some of the girls she 
met and joined a business 
fraternity with her freshman 
year, said she understands 
how difficult this year must 
be for freshmen, who are still 

new to the campus and trying 
to make friends and be a part 
of organizations. 

“I think that every part 

of my life (now), while it 
looks very different today 
than it did freshman year, 
in some way, goes back to 
some connection or some 
experience I had freshman 
year,” Croxton said.

LSA 
freshman 
Shruti 

Swaminathan 
said 
she 

expected 
more 
socially-

distanced activities to be put 
on by the University when 
she first moved into Mary 
Markley 
Residence 
Hall. 

Making friends has been 
difficult given COVID-19’s 
impact on social life, she said.

“When 
I 
came 
onto 

campus, there weren’t many 
activities planned for us, and 
everyone was just on their 
own about how to spend their 
first 
week,” 
Swaminathan 

said. “I think making friends 
is going to be really different 
from 
past 
years 
… 
But 

everyone is on the same boat, 
so it makes it a little more 
easy and comforting.”

Students 
living 
off 

campus have had to start 
new 
conversations 
among 

roommates 
about 
their 

expectations for each other.

Croxton said she and her 

housemates held a meeting to 
come to an agreement on how 
they would keep each other 
and their community safe 
during COVID-19. She said 
this plays a role in missing 
out on time with other groups 
of friends.

“Obviously the future is 

very dynamic and changing 
so we didn’t put any long-
term rules in place,” Croxton 
said. “I think a lot of other 
houses 
have 
had 
similar 

discussions so people are 
definitely sticking with the 
people inside their house 
… So you may miss out on 
friends and being involved in 
those activities you normally 
would have gone to.”

Goldstein said he and his 

housemates had a similar 
discussion. Some off-campus 
houses may have roommates 
with 
varying 
levels 
of 

reactions to the virus, he 
said. 

“I think it would be a lot 

different if you live with 
some people who take it very 
seriously and some people 
who don’t take it seriously 
at all,” Goldstein said. “It’s 
also hard to keep track of 
how other people are being 
precautionary so it’s hard to 
tell who would be down to see 
people and who wouldn’t.”

Daily Staff Reporter Saini 

Kethireddy can be reached at 
skethi@umich.edu.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
 4 — Wednesday, September 23, 2020 

During hybrid semester, 
students see impacts on 
life outside academics

MADELINE HINKLEY /Daily

Studying outdoors with masks is a new norm for students this semester.

SAINI KETHIREDDY

Daily Staff Reporter

‘U’ admin discusses testing 
plan at Regents meeting

Attending school on campus during a pandemic prompts 
new conversations, circumstances for social lives of many

Commenters unhappy with protocol for reopening campus

After loss, Solomon Rajput 
looks to other progressives

Medical student founds organization following primary election

EMMA RUBERG
Daily Staff Reporter

DOMINIC COLETTI 

& JASMIN LEE

Daily Staff Reporters

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

