The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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Wednesday, October 7, 2020 — 5

STEM students face overtime lectures, extra work

With 
the 
majority 
of 

classes being taught virtually 
this semester, some STEM 
students 
are 
reporting 

overtime lectures and unfair 
work expectations, despite 
having 
regular 
schedules 

with assigned class times. 

Pharmacy student Sihyun 

Kim is currently enrolled 
in 
the 
course 
Medical 

Microbiology and Infectious 
Diseases. According to Kim, 
her 
instructor 
regularly 

exceeds the allotted lecture 
time by 20 minutes. 

“When some students told 

her that she needs to end 
the lecture on time so that 
students can get to their 
next 
(in-person) 
classes, 

she simply told them they 
can just leave and watch the 
recording later,” Kim said.

LSA 
junior 
Maddy 

McPherson 
shared 
Kim’s 

concerns regarding lectures 
going overtime. McPherson 
is currently taking a four-
credit biochemistry course 

with multiple lectures and a 
discussion each week. 

This 
semester, 
the 

course is formatted so that 
students can listen to pre-
recorded lectures when it is 
convenient for them. During 
the assigned lecture time, the 
professor holds an optional 
Q&A discussion that is also 
recorded for any student who 
is unable to attend. 

McPherson 
said 
this 

format has affected most 
of 
the 
duration 
of 
the 

course’s lectures by allowing 
instructors to teach over the 
time 
allotted. 
McPherson 

also 
expressed 
feeling 

obligated to attend the Q&A 
session in order to fully 
understand 
the 
material 

taught during lectures. 

“In a normal semester, 

we’re 
supposed 
to 
have 

lecture for two and a half 
hours 
and 
a 
discussion 

that’s about an hour and 
a half hours (per week),” 
McPherson said. “Now that 
the class is online, lectures 
are now going over time. 
Office hours are optional but 

help clarify the material, so it 
feels mandatory if you want 
to do well.”

With two lectures and 

a 
discussion 
that 
should 

each last 80 minutes, class 
time is expected to total to 
four hours each week, but 
McPherson said she found 
that she devoted nearly six 
and half hours of her week 
attending that single class, 
not including study time.

LSA 
professor 
Randy 

Stockbridge is one of the 
two 
instructors 
of 
an 

introductory 
biochemistry 

course. 
According 
to 

Stockbridge, 
about 
20 

percent of the class chooses 
to attend the instructor-led 
discussion portion of the 
course synchronously. More 
students choose to watch the 
recording later.

Stockbridge 
said 
the 

instructing team decided to 
format class time this way 
because they were hoping to 
give students another way to 
engage with the material and 
the professors. 

“Normally during a class 

period, we do active learning 
activities 
like 
iClicker 

questions 
and 
there’s 

the 
opportunity 
for 
the 

instructor to ask, ‘OK, does 
this make sense? Are there 
any questions at this point 
in the lecture?’” Stockbridge 
said. “We just don’t have 
that with the format where 
we just record lectures. We 
thought it would serve the 
students better to have sort 
of a standardized format in 
which these questions could 
be taken.”

Stockbridge said she was 

unaware of any complaints 
from students, but mentioned 
that the instructing team 
intends to hold a discussion 
later in the semester to 
address any concerns from 
students 
about 
the 
class 

format. 

Introduction to Electronic 

Circuits 
is 
another 
class 

that often extends over its 
allotted time, Engineering 
junior Emily Grim said. 

The course is four credits, 

and includes two lectures, 
one discussion and one lab 

to complete each week. The 
course instructor also posts 
pre-recorded 
videos 
for 

students to watch in advance 
of the lecture. 

Grim said the main issue 

with this format is a lack 
of clarity regarding what 
components of the class she 
should prioritize to succeed. 
With 
both 
pre-recorded 

videos 
and 
synchronous 

lectures, Grim said she has 
been struggling to keep up 
with the intense workload. 

“After a week of it, it was 

way too much work for me, so 
I decided to only watch the 
pre-lectures. The professor 
made it sound like they were 
the majority of the material, 
and the Zoom lectures were 
just doing examples,” Grim 
said. 

By 
not 
attending 
the 

synchronous lecture portion 
of the class, Grim believed 
that she had actually missed 
crucial 
information 
she 

would need to know to pass. 

“Turns 
out, 
the 
Zoom 

lectures 
had 
become 
the 

place where he was doing 

examples 
and 
covering 

important topics in more 
detail, despite saying you 
could 
asynchronously 
do 

the class with only the pre-
lectures,” Grim said. 

As an Engineering student 

with an already challenging 
course load, Grim said she 
was stressed about balancing 
her other courses given how 
much time she devotes to 
Introduction to Electronic 
Circuits. 

Grim said she feels like the 

workload would be lighter 
if she were taking the class 
during a normal semester.

“I wonder how different 

this 
class 
would 
be 
in 

person,” 
Grim 
said. 
“My 

professor 
mentioned 
that 

some 
material 
will 
be 

skipped over compared to 
previous semesters, yet it 
seems like there’s way more 
content in videos I have to 
parse through compared to 
the time I would’ve spent in 
person.”

Daily Staff Reporter Lily 

Gooding can be reached at 
goodingl@umich.edu.

LILY GOODING
Daily Staff Reporter

Employees 
at 
Om 
of 

Medicine, a recreational and 
medicinal cannabis dispensary 
in 
downtown 
Ann 
Arbor, 

have received backlash from 
management for forming a union, 
according to both former and 
current employees. Employees 
allege this backlash has included 
the firing of three prominent 
pro-union 
employees 
along 

with increased surveillance and 
stricter standards for employees 
still at the store.

On Sept. 23, employees at Om 

sent a letter of recognition to the 
company’s leadership, requesting 
the company acknowledge the 
formation of the union. This 
would 
allow 
employees 
to 

create a formal unit to bargain 
collectively with management to 
secure wages and benefits, create 
a safe workplace environment, 
discuss racial injustices and 
address other issues important 
to the workers at Om. 

In the letter, employees urged 

the company to swiftly recognize 
their union and refrain from 
holding compulsory employee 
meetings espousing anti-union 
rhetoric. 

“We ask that you commit to 

a fair and cooperative process 
as we move forward together,” 
the letter reads. “This means 
avoiding 
outside 
anti-union 

consultants and lawyers who 
might attempt to bully, threaten 
or instill fear among us. It means 
not 
scheduling 
compulsory 

captive 
audience 
meetings 

where we are forced to listen to 
anti-union rhetoric. It means 
respecting our rights and our 
carefully considered decision to 
unionize.”

Om leadership denied the 

demands 
to 
recognize 
the 

union and will instead initiate 
a fair and anonymous election 
process 
under 
the 
National 

Labor Relations Act to formally 
recognize the union.

Shortly after the letter was 

delivered to management, three 
Om employees were fired from 
the company. 

Lisa 
Conine, 
former 

Om 
community 
outreach 

coordinator for more than four 
years and one of the employees 
let go from the company, said the 
employees hoped management 
would 
recognize 
the 
union 

as a way to open discussion 
around 
employee 
working 

environments. Conine said the 
decision to fire employees for 
sending the letter was a strong 
message to the community that 

they no longer supported the 
employees’ involvement in social 
justice work. 

“They fired us and tried 

to escort us out almost like 
criminals,” Conine said. “I’ve 
been there for four years, and 
they tried to make me leave out 
the back door with an escort, and 
it was very, very painful.”

That same day, the cannabis 

store closed early, and employees 
protested outside of the store, 
leading many to question the 
future of the company.

A current employee at Om, 

who 
requested 
to 
remain 

anonymous 
due 
to 
fear 
of 

retaliation from their employer, 
said the workplace environment 

completely shifted when the 
letter of recognition was sent to 
management. 

“We know they’re watching us 

constantly,” the employee said. 
“It makes me personally feel very 
paranoid. I feel like I can’t step 
the wrong way without being 
told I’m doing the wrong thing.”

Mark Passerini, co-founder of 

Om, told The Daily in an email 
statement that providing a safe 
and fair working environment 
for Om employees is a critical 
point in their mission as a 
company. 

“Our Omies are not only 

valued 
members 
of 
our 

community, they are the people 
vital to fulfilling our mission,” 

Passerini wrote. “We strive to 
make our Omies proud of their 
place of employment.”

In April 2019, Om was acquired 

by 
4Front 
Venture 
Mission 

Dispensaries, 
a 
nation-wide 

cannabis investment company. 
Since the new transition, Conine 
said there has been difficulty 
in maintaining Om’s values to 
remain focused on the patients, 
the medicinal side of care and 
educating customers on cannabis 
treatment.

“Quickly, it became pretty 

evident that the goal of the 
company was to be more just 
operations-focused, efficiently-
focused, focused on revenue,” 
Conine said. “And so we’ve been 

speaking up and kind of pushing 
back on a lot of changes, ever 
since the beginning.”

4Front directed The Daily to 

Passerini’s statement. 

Passerini said Om is one 

of 
the 
longest 
operating 

dispensaries in the country 
and is dedicated to advancing 
cannabis reform and serving 
its patients and customers with 
quality cannabis products in a 
safe and responsible manner. 

“Om of Medicine is also 

committed to equal employment 
opportunity, treating everyone 
fairly 
and 
maintaining 

an 
environment 
free 
of 

discrimination, 
harassment 

and 
intimidation,” 
Passerini 

wrote. “Om of Medicine strictly 
prohibits conduct from anyone 
— including customers — that 
violates this policy. While we 
do not comment on personnel 
matters, 
our 
employment 

decisions are consistent with 
our mission, values and policies.”

A key reason for deciding 

to unionize has been issues 
surrounding 
race 
at 
the 

dispensary, 
particularly 
in 

light of the summer’s protests 
surrounding the police killing of 
George Floyd, says Ana Gomulka, 
the former social equity program 
coordinator at Om and one of the 
three employees let go from the 
company. 

A flashpoint for employees 

came this summer when a 
former 
delivery 
driver, 
who 

was Black, asked for permission 
to forgo a delivery to a more 
conservative suburb in the area 
because he worried about his 
safety as a Black man who would 
be carrying multiple ounces 
of marijuana in a vehicle, even 
though it was legal. The manager 
at the time, however, refused the 
request and made the delivery 
driver complete the delivery 
anyway, after which employees 
decided to start organizing and 
having conversations. 

“We took action as a team, the 

employees and said, you know, 
this is not okay,” Gomulka said 
“We held a space for each other 

to talk about what actions we 
needed to see from corporate 
moving forward in order to 
feel safe and secure in our own 
workspace.” 

Gomulka and other employees 

were eventually successful in 
getting managers at the store 
level to undergo implicit racial 
bias training, but not in getting 
members of the board and 
corporate leadership to do the 
same, as they had hoped.

In addition to the episode 

with the delivery driver, another 
point of tension Gomulka and 
other employees have had with 
the board and store leadership 
has been their refusal to put 
out a statement in support of 

Black Lives Matter, something 
dozens of companies did in the 
aftermath of the George Floyd 
protests. 

For Gomulka, the lack of a 

public statement surrounding 
Black 
Lives 
Matter 
was 

particularly concerning given 
the 
racial 
makeup 
of 
the 

leadership of the company. 

“All 
leadership 
in 
this 

company is white and this is a 
national 
company,” 
Gomulka 

said. 
“The 
entire 
board 
is 

white, all the investors are 
white, and we confronted them 
and we said you know this is a 
problem for us because there’s 
no 
representation. 
We 
need 

representation and we need an 

actual public statement about 
Black Lives Matter, and the 
company refused to put it out. 
They told us that they didn’t 
want to be political.”

4Front Ventures CEO Leo 

Gontmakher eventually sent out 
a company-wide email, which 
was obtained by The Daily, 
commenting 
on 
Black 
Lives 

Matter and the protests. While 
the statement acknowledged the 
disproportionate 
incarceration 

of people of color for drug crimes 
and said the company “stand(s) 
in solidarity with the peaceful 
protestors helping bring large 
numbers of people out of their 
state of complacency,” employees 
like Gomulka were upset by the 
statement’s final paragraph in 
which Gontmakher seemed to 
argue that people of differing 
viewpoints smoking cannabis 
together could help to heal the 
racial divide. 

“This 
letter 
was 
very 

insensitive … it basically said, 
you know, at the end of the day, 
if we could all smoke a joint 
together, racism would go away,” 
Gomulka said. 

The final paragraph of the 

statement read, “And not to 
trivialize the matters at hand, 
but one is left to wonder what 
would happen if some of these 
communities in opposition could 
sit down and share a joint and 
talk it out, taking advantage of 
one of the appealing attributes 
of cannabis. We all have so much 
more in common than we have in 
difference.” 

The 
unwillingness 
of 

4Front and Om to make public 
statements about Black Lives 
Matter, even if in an effort to 
refrain from being political, 
is 
particularly 
upsetting 
to 

Gomulka because the issue of 
the 
prohibition 
of 
cannabis 

and racism are fundamentally 
connected.

“They’re making money off of 

a plant that has really devastated 
Black communities, and all they 
have to do is acknowledge and 
give back, and their refusal 
to do that has really made it 
an uncomfortable and unsafe 
environment for their Black (and) 
Brown 
employees,” 
Gomulka 

said. “When Black men are going 
to prison at unfathomable rates, 
things we’re still dealing with 
to this day, but we have large 
corporations buying everything 
up and demanding that they 
refuse to be political because of 
their white power, because of the 
position and privilege they’re in, 
it becomes a very large issue.”

Daily Staff Reporters Carter 

Howe and Kristina Zheng can be 
reached at tcbhowe@umich.edu 
and krizheng@umich.edu. 

Employees at Om of Medicine allege harmful 
work environment, backlash after forming union

Workers say management fired three prominent pro-union employees, upped surveillance and stricter standards at store

RYAN LITTLE/Daily

Former and current Om of Medicine employees allege the dispensary facilitates a toxic workplace environment.

Asynchronous courses present unique difficulties for certain fields at the Universities after the shift to remote learning

CATER HOWE & 

KRISTINA ZHENG
Daily Staff Reporters