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