Cities and local leaders 

across the country have faced 
economic and social turmoil 
throughout 
the 
COVID-19 

pandemic.

On Wednesday morning, 

the 
Taubman 
College 
of 

Architecture 
and 
Urban 

Planning welcomed mayors 
Jacob Frey of Minneapolis, 
Lori Lightfoot of Chicago, 
Libby 
Schaaf 
of 
Oakland, 

Calif. and Michael Tubbs of 
Stockton, Calif., to a panel 
titled “America’s Mayors on 
Crisis and Change.”

University 
President 

Mark Schlissel opened the 
event by describing cities as 
“laboratories for democracy.” 
He 
thanked 
the 
Poverty 

Solutions 
Initiative 
and 

Taubman for collaborating on 
hosting the event.

Taubman Dean Jonathan 

Massey 
introduced 
the 

panel’s members. He noted 
that Lightfoot is the first 
Black woman and first openly 
gay mayor of Chicago, while 
Tubbs 
is 
Stockton’s 
first 

Black mayor and the youngest 
mayor of any city with more 
than 100,000 residents.

Massey asked Tubbs and 

Schaaf about their Universal 
Basic 
Income 
initiatives, 

which 
would 
provide 
an 

“unconditional 
periodic 

payment” 
to 
their 
cities’ 

poorest residents. Tubbs said 
the pandemic reaffirmed his 
plans to provide a UBI, adding 
that poverty is the result of 
policymakers’ decisions.

According 
to 
Schaaf 

a 
UBI 
would 
encourage 

socioeconomic mobility.

“People 
spend 
this 

unconditional cash on basic 
needs,” Schaaf said. “In fact, 
sometimes people take this 
little extra pillow so that they 

can quit their third job and 
look to upgrade their skills.”

Massey’s 
next 
question 

focused on how mayors can 
simultaneously 
appease 

constituents protesting police 
brutality while maintaining a 
good relationship with their 
police forces. Frey, whose 
city was at the center of this 
issue this summer after police 
officers killed George Floyd 
in Minneapolis, said mayors 
have to uphold freedom of 
speech.

“It is incumbent on mayors 

to be ardent defenders of our 
First Amendment,” Frey said. 

Frey 
then 
denounced 

property 
destruction 
and 

looting that took place in 
the wake of Floyd’s murder. 
He was met with pushback 
in 
the 
comments 
section, 

where some people demanded 
he acknowledge that most 
protests were peaceful. 

One of the people tied to the 

looting was later connected 
to a white supremacist group 
and “specifically sought to 
inflame 
racial 
tensions,” 

according to police.

Massey 
asked 
about 

strategies to dismantle white 
supremacy. Frey pointed to 
redlining in Minneapolis.

“We literally have maps 

at city hall dating back 80 to 
a hundred years that define 
North Minneapolis as a slum 
for Blacks and Jews,” Frey 
said. 

Frey continued, advocating 

for 
homeownership 
as 

a 
method 
to 
generate 

intergenerational wealth. 

Other cities have pursued 

different avenues of economic 
revitalization.

In East Oakland, Calif., 

Schaaf 
said 
community 

members 
proposed 
the 

creation of an aquaponics 
farm 
in 
an 
abandoned 

greenhouse and a bike-share 
program where bikes could 

serve as art to be decorated. 
Schaaf said she was excited 
the project had recently won 
a 
$28-million 
grant 
from 

the Transformative Climate 
Communities 
program 
to 

move forward. 

Schaaf noted how her city 

implements 
a 
community-

oriented design process for 
some 
of 
its 
construction 

projects.

“This year for the first 

time we’re actually inviting 
communities 
to 
propose 

capital 
improvement 

projects,” Schaaf said. 

The panel took questions 

from 
the 
live 
comments 

section. 
Rackham 
student 

Nana Andoh asked if any of 
the mayors enacted policies 
during the pandemic that they 
hope to keep permanently.

Lightfoot, who started a 

Racial Equity Rapid Response 
Team at the beginning of the 
pandemic, said she hoped 
some of those programs would 
stay. Established in April of 
2020, the team is meant to 
“address the disproportionate 
impact of the coronavirus 
pandemic 
on 
African-

American communities.”

“I don’t want to build 

temporary scaffolding around 
anything,” Lightfoot said.

Public 
Policy 
graduate 

student Kyle Slugg asked how 
the mayors are making sense 
of the current crisis. Tubbs 
said a large part of his job is 
“reckoning with whether the 
status quo is truly untenable.”

Massey closed the panel 

by asking what leadership 
principle each would bring 
if they ran for president of 
the United States, to which 
Lightfoot answered, “never, 
ever, ever.”

Daily 
News 
Contributor 

Ben Vassar can be reached at 
benvasmich.edu.

As part of her requirements 

to 
graduate 
from 
the 

University 
of 
Michigan, 

Nursing 
junior 
Kaitlyn 

McDonald goes to Michigan 
Medicine 
like 
she 
would 

any other school year. But 
this year, her clinicals — the 
component 
of 
the 
School 

of 
Nursing 

curriculum spent 
in the field — 
are taking place 
against 
the 

backdrop of an 
ongoing 
global 

pandemic.

“I 
never 

thought 
that 

something 
like 

this 
would 

happen,” 
McDonald 
said. 

“But I’m really 
proud 
to 
do 

this 
and 
I’m 

really 
proud 

to 
be 
learning 

this 
profession 

to 
be 
able 
to 

help 
people, 

especially during 
times like this.”

COVID-19 

has 
touched 

nearly all facets 
of 
American 

life 
since 
its 

onset in March. 
University 
leadership 

announced a “public-health 
informed” 
hybrid 
fall 

semester, which began at 
the start of the month, with 
nearly 80% of coursework 
delivered remotely.

The Nursing School has, in 

turn, adapted its curriculum 
to 
match 
the 
moment. 

Students reported many of 
their lectures now take place 
online, as do the post-clinical 
reflection meetings that offer 
a chance to reflect on their 
experiences in the field.

However, 
students 
are 

completing 
in-person 

clinicals as they would any 
other semester, but with some 
changes to protocol. Students 
wear masks on their shifts — 
some of which can last up to 
16 hours — and they are not 
required to treat patients 
who have tested positive for 
COVID-19. 

During a clinical, students 

will 
work 
with 
staff 
on 

day-to-day tasks to better 
understand the specific area 
of medicine they study and 
how nurses fit in. Nursing 
students 
have 
multiple 

clinical experiences before 
graduating, with placements 
ranging 
from 
emergency 

rooms 
to 
assisted 
living 

facilities for senior citizens.

Winter semester clinicals 

were 
canceled 
in 
March 

because 
unprecedented 

circumstances 
arose 
that 

were outside the school’s 
control, according to Nursing 
Dean 
Patricia 
Hurn. 
She 

said the school and clinical 
partners now have a better 
understanding 
of 
the 

risks 
associated 
with 
the 

coronavirus, allowing them 
to provide in-person clinicals.

Students in joining the 

front lines are also gaining 
necessary 
clinical 
hours 

to 
become 
state-certified 

nurses. There is no option for 
students to complete clinicals 
virtually, Hurn said, but the 
Nursing School will work 
with students who need to 
step away from any part of 
their studies.

And students are seeing 

what it’s like to be in a 
hospital when the unexpected 
happens, Hurn said.

“It’s one thing as a student 

to think about how difficult 
things could be if there were 
a pandemic, if there were a 
major disaster,” Hurn said. 
“It’s another thing to be 
working in the reality where 
that’s the case.”

But 
there 
is 
still 
risk 

associated 
with 
going 
to 

clinicals, 
McDonald 
said. 

Nurses might interact with 
patients who have gotten 
inaccurate 
COVID-19 

test 
results, 
for 
example. 

McDonald, who worked at 
Michigan Medicine over the 
summer as a patient care 
technician, also said patients 
could test positive after she 
already worked with them 
and she would not know if she 
had been exposed.

Some 
seniors 
work 
in 

departments like emergency 
rooms where they may not 

know if a patient has the virus 
upon first interaction. Other 
Nursing students will also be 
assisting in contact tracing 
efforts this semester.

Nursing students typically 

begin 
clinicals 
during 

their sophomore year. The 
number of hours spent on 
these 
rotations 
largely 

depends on what year they 
are in the program and their 
scheduling. Some seniors in 

the program have tried to 
schedule additional hours 
at the beginning of the 
semester to ensure they 
can still meet graduation 
and 
certification 

requirements if school 
moves online, Nursing 
senior Reagan Cloutier 
said.

“Most of us are going 

to graduate, obviously, 
with this pandemic still 
happening,” 
Cloutier, 

who is also president 
of the Student Nurses 
Association, said. “It’s 
good for us to experience 
what it’s like right now, 
as a student. That way, 
once we get out into the 
real world, we’re going 
to know what to expect 
and how to operate under 
these circumstances.”

Nursing 
students 

have felt a sense of pride 
and usefulness in being 
able to provide medical 
care as the pandemic 

rages 
on. 
McDonald 
said 

she felt helpless in March 
when their rotations were 
canceled, wishing she could 
do something to help. But 
in being back, they are also 
learning a lesson about their 
future profession: nurses have 
to expect the unexpected in 
medicine.

When they began their 

clinicals 
again 
this 
fall, 

students said they felt excited 
to 
receive 
the 
hands-on 

training. 

Regardless of the changes 

brought on by the pandemic, 
students 
say 
much 
of 
it 

feels the same. They still 
get to work with medical 
professionals 
and 
interact 

with patients. Despite the 
risks, these students agree 
that they are where they are 
meant to be.

“It’s inspired me,” Nursing 

junior Maureen Kozlowski 
said. “I look at all this chaos 
that’s going on in the world, 
but I’m still going to provide 
the exact same care for my 
patient because they don’t 
deserve anything less.”

Daily 
News 
Editor 
Alex 

Harring can be reached at 
harring@umich.edu.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
 4 — Wednesday, October 7, 2020 

Nursing students attend 
in-person clinicals amid 
coronavirus pandemic

 MADDIE FOX/Daily

Nursing students Reagan Cloutier and Maureen Kozlowski stand in front of C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital Monday afternoon.

Curriculum requirements bring future nurses to the 
frontlines, with no virtual options for certain training

I never thought 
that something 
like this would 
happen ... I’m 
really proud to 
be learning this 

profession to 
be able to help 

people, especially 
in times like this.

Mayors discuss ways to 
address COVID-19 crisis

BEN VASSAR

For The Daily

Virtual roundtable features leaders of major U.S. cities

AG office to investigate 
group with ties to Weiser

Unlock Michigan collects petition signatures criminally

Michigan Attorney General 

Dana 
Nessel 
announced 

Monday that her office would 
be opening an investigation 
into Unlock Michigan, a state 
political 
action 
committee 

alleged to have criminally 
collected petition signatures 
to repeal a state law. The 
statute 
in 
question 
is 
a 

1945 Emergency Powers of 
Governor Act being used by 
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to 
address the ongoing COVID-
19 pandemic in the state. 

According to a press release 

from Nessel’s office, a number 
of residents complained that 
Unlock 
Michigan 
obtained 

their 
signatures 
illegally, 

telling them that the petition 
was for another cause.

“The 
Attorney 
General’s 

office has received complaints 
from residents who report 
they 
were 
deceived 
by 

petition 
circulators 
who 

were gathering signatures to 
support the efforts of Unlock 
Michigan, which is trying to 
repeal the 1945 Emergency 
Powers of the Governor Act,” 
the release read. “Residents 
said 
they 
were 
told 
the 

petitions were to support 
LGBTQ rights, for medical 
marijuana initiatives or to 
help small businesses, among 
other things.”

Founded in the wake of 

Whitmer’s March 23 “Stay 
Home, 
Stay 
Safe” 
order, 

Unlock Michigan’s goal has 
been to roll back the governor’s 
COVID-19 
quarantine 
and 

social 
distancing 
policies. 

According 
to 
its 
website, 

the 
PAC 
sees 
Whitmer’s 

orders 
as 
unconstitutional 

and damaging to individual 
freedom. 

“Unlock 
Michigan 
is 

a 
coalition 
of 
concerned 

Michiganders who believe that 
Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s 
crushing lockdown of life and 
business 
across 
Michigan 

is a dangerous threat to our 
livelihoods and constitutional 
liberties,” the website reads.

Unlock 
Michigan 

spokesman Fred Wszolek told 
The Daily the investigation 
was politically motivated.

“It’s a partisan political 

farce, which is to be expected 
from this partisan political 
Attorney General,” Wszolek 
said. “This sham investigation 
is 
designed 
to 
deprive 

Michigan citizens of their 
constitutional right to initiate 
legislation, but we’re not going 
to allow that to happen.”

One 
financial 
supporter 

of the PAC is Ronald Weiser, 
the former chairman of the 
Michigan Republican Party 
and current member of the 
University of Michigan’s Board 
of Regents, who gave a direct 
contribution of $100,000 to 
the organization on July 27, 
according to documents filed 
with the Secretary of State.

In a message sent to The 

Michigan Daily, Weiser said 
that he was not familiar 
with Unlock Michigan or its 
activities at the time of his 
donation.

“I 
know 
nothing 
about 

the investigation. I (know) 
nothing 
about 
Unlock 

Michigan,” Weiser wrote. “I 
made the contribution because 
of who asked me.”

He declined to name the 

person who asked him to make 
the contribution.

Weiser was elected to the 

board, which serves as the 
University’s governing body, 
in 2016. He is currently the 
only Republican regent; two 
of the Democratic incumbents 
— Mark Bernstein and Shauna 
Ryder Diggs — are up for 
reelection 
in 
November. 

They will face Republican 
challengers Sarah Hubbard 
and Carl Meyers.

According to a Sept. 22 

report from the Detroit Free 
Press, a secretly recorded 
video of an Unlock Michigan 
training session for signature 
collectors on Sept. 4 showed 
that a trainer for the group 
“coached 
paid 
petition 

circulators on giving voters 
false 
information, 
illegally 

collecting signatures without 
witnessing them, trespassing 
on private property, and even 
lying under oath.”

In a statement, Nessel said 

the group’s alleged practices 
represent a clear violation of 
the law, and as such fall under 
the purview of her office.

“Our democracy is firmly 

rooted in the principles of an 
informed 
electorate 
which 

makes decisions at the polls 
based on reason and beliefs 
over 
lies 
and 
deception,” 

Nessel said in the press release. 
“Our ballot initiative process 
allows efforts with strong 
public support to be presented 
to the Legislature. But that 
process 
becomes 
tainted 

when 
petition 
circulators 

manipulate and cheat to serve 
their own agendas.” 

Daily 
News 
Editor 
Ben 

Rosenfeld can be reached at 
bbrosenf@umich.edu.

BEN ROSENFELD

Daily News Editor

ALEX HARRING

Daily News Editor

