The four students quoted in this 

article — all members of sororities 
in the Panhellenic Association 
familiar with the party and the 
outbreak in Chi Omega — spoke 
to The Daily on the condition of 
anonymity out of fear of retaliation 
from their chapter. This article 
will refer to each student by a 
pseudonym. 

Grace, who is currently living 

in a sorority house on campus, 
told The Daily that she has seen 
very few changes in fraternity 
and sorority life in response to the 
COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’d say like 80 percent of Greek 

life is living life as normal,” Grace 
said. “I think that people got here, 
realized what was possible and 
threw caution to the wind.”

Grace said it is hard to know 

how widespread COVID-19 is in 
fraternities and sororities because 
chapters are not forthcoming with 
their testing results.

“I think everyone knows more 

than they want to admit,” she said.

A party and an outbreak
Members of the Delta Chi 

fraternity hosted a party Sept. 19 
with dozens of members of the Chi 
Omega sorority in attendance, four 
students with knowledge of the 
event told The Daily. These four 
students include one student in 
Chi Omega who told The Daily that 
she chose not to attend the party 
and three Panhellenic members 
who have knowledge of the event 
but wished to keep their chapter 
affiliation anonymous. 

UHS sent a letter addressed to 

residents of Chi Omega confirming 
that a cluster had been identified 
in the house Sept. 24. The letter, 
obtained by The Daily, instructed 
residents to take part in voluntary 
testing. 

“As you may be aware, a cluster 

of COVID-19 cases has been 
identified within your sorority,” 
the UHS email read. “On the 
advice of the Washtenaw County 
Health Department, and out of 
an abundance of caution, you are 
asked to test for COVID-19 within 
the next 48 hours.”

The Daily asked the University’s 

Office of Public Affairs if Chi Omega 
experienced a cluster in mid-
September. The Daily also asked 
for the total number of clusters 
and cases connected to University 
FSL. University spokeswoman Kim 
Broekhuizen did not answer these 
questions in an email to The Daily 
Wednesday morning.

When 
asked 
the 
same 

questions, 
Susan 
Ringler-

Cerniglia, communications and 
health promotion administrator 
of Washtenaw County Health 
Department, wrote in an email to 
The Daily Wednesday morning that 
she did not know the answers. She 
said the county health department 
does not collect specific data on 
FSL.

“At the time of this cluster, 

there were several off-campus 
residences with cases/clusters,” 
 

Ringler-Cerniglia wrote. 

Approximately 
15 
members 

of the Chi Omega sorority tested 
positive for COVID-19 in the 
days that followed the party with 
Delta Chi, multiple Panhellenic 
Association members told The 
Daily. Most of the members who 
tested positive had attended the 

Delta Chi fraternity party, they 
said. 

The 
University 
publishes 

notification letters of confirmed 
cases in residence halls and 
campus buildings online. Cases 
in FSL are not individually noted 
in publicly available data on the 
University’s dashboard, though 
they are included in the total 
case count. This means the total 
number of cases specifically in FSL 
is unknown to the public.

Other universities, such as 

the University of Washington 
and 
University 
of 
Southern 

California, 
publicly 
announce 

clusters within FSL. Ohio State 
University President Kristina M. 
Johnson told The Lantern, the 
campus newspaper, the number 
of fraternity and sorority houses 
under mandatory quarantine, but 
an OSU spokesperson would not 
confirm the names of organizations 
to protect members’ privacy.

The 
University 
of 
North 

Carolina at Chapel Hill publicly 
alerted students to all clusters, 
including naming specific FSL 
houses. UNC Chapel Hill moved to 
all-remote instruction after a series 
of clusters emerged, including 
some in its FSL houses. Colleges 
around the country continue to 
grapple with outbreaks in FSL. 

In her Wednesday email to The 

Daily, Broekhuizen wrote that the 
University does not publicly post 
notifications for clusters in off-
campus housing such as fraternity 
and sorority houses “for a variety 
of reasons; one of which is for the 
respect of student privacy.” She 
noted that the University does 
not own or operate fraternity and 
sorority housing.

The University of Washington, 

the 
University 
of 
Southern 

California and UNC Chapel Hill do 
not own their campus’s fraternity 
and sorority houses. Ohio State 
University 
manages 
some 

fraternity and sorority houses but 
not others. 

While the University does not 

publicly identify cases in FSL, 
Ringler-Cerniglia 
said 
anyone 

involved in a cluster is contacted 
directly. 

“Separating out case numbers by 

location or house may be identifying 
in some instances, and we wouldn’t 
necessarily 
recommend 
it 
as 

useful given the current process,” 
Ringler-Cerniglia said. “Whether 
a total number of FSL cases can be 
provided is really a question for the 
university.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, 

more than 880 positive cases of 
COVID-19 have been traced back 
to the University since the start 
of the semester, according to the 
school’s 
COVID-19 
dashboard. 

According to Washtenaw County 
data, 18- to 22-year-olds account 
for 80 percent of confirmed cases 
in the county from Sept. 24 to Oct. 
7. 

Grace said there is a tendency 

among members to treat cases in 
FSL as an internal problem, rather 
than something that can impact 
the surrounding community.

“It’s not like we’re living in 

this little bubble off South U,” 
Grace said. “Greek life kids go into 
local establishments and they’re 
interacting with people outside of 
their own little bubbles every day. 
That’s when it gets really scary, 
when they break their bubble and it 
just starts to spread.”

According to a Sept. 24 notice 

posted to the University dashboard, 
“off-campus, congregate housing” 
accounted for a rise in cases in 
September. Between Aug. 21 and 
Oct. 9, on-campus residence halls 
have reported more than 200 cases 
and have dealt with at least nine 
clusters. 

Grace said she knew living in a 

house with dozens of other girls 
meant she had an increased chance 
of contracting the virus. However, 
she was not prepared for the risks 
she faced as her housemates and 
others in FSL continued to party.

“I just didn’t think that when we 

got here the level of socialization 
would be as intense as it was. From 
day one, girls were automatically 
diving into frat basements,” Grace 
said.

The IFC and the Panhellenic 

Association, 
the 
governing 

bodies of some of the University’s 
fraternities and sororities, decided 
to suspend all social events for the 
fall semester in a statement from 
the two groups at the end of July. 

“We cannot ignore the broader 

implications and responsibilities 
of being a member of Fraternity 
& 
Sorority 
Life 
during 
this 

unprecedented time,” the IFC 
and 
Panhellenic 
Association 

statement reads. “We must also 
be mindful of how the virus 
has disproportionately affected 
communities of color, and do our 
part to work against this inequity.”

Not wanting to be subject 

to 
University 
policies, 
the 

University’s chapter of Delta Chi 
left the IFC voluntarily in the 
fall of 2018. Delta Chi and five 
other fraternities formed its own 
governing body called the Ann 
Arbor Interfraternity Council. 

The Panhellenic Association 

prohibits sororities from attending 
social events with fraternities that 
are “expelled from or temporarily 
suspended from” the IFC.

The Delta Chi headquarters 

placed a “Cease of Operations” 
on the University’s chapter in 
October 2019, according to the 
IFC’s website. It is unclear why the 
chapter was reprimanded. 

Broekhuizen wrote Wednesday 

afternoon that the University’s 
Office of Fraternity and Sorority 
Life is aware that some chapters 
have “disregarded and violated 
public 
health 
and 
safety 

guidelines.” She said two IFC 
chapters are on probation, one 
has lost University recognition 
and “several” others have received 
educational sanctions.

“Safety 
is 
a 
community 

responsibility and students ARE 
holding one another accountable 
by using the mechanisms the 
university has in place to report 
concerns and share evidence, and 
to submit formal complaints,” 
Broekhuizen 
said. 
“... 
Many 

fraternities and sororities have 
had no challenges honoring the 
public 
health 
guidelines 
and 

expectations.”

The 
IFC, 
the 
Panhellenic 

Association and the University’s 
chapters of Delta Chi and Chi 
Omega did not respond to multiple 
requests for comment.

The Daily talked to more than 

a dozen people in the course of 
reporting this article and found 
no evidence that any fraternity 
and sorority organizations in the 
Multicultural Greek Council or the 
National Panhellenic Council, the 
governing body for the University’s 
Black fraternities and sororities, 

engaged 
in 
fall 
recruitment 

of freshmen students or have 
outbreaks of COVID-19. 

Fraternities recruit against 

‘U’ policy again

A freshman recruit in Delta Chi 

had tested positive for COVID-19 
before the Sept. 19 party, Emma 
and Grace told The Daily. Because 
Delta Chi is disaffiliated from the 
University and is not subject to 
University policies, the fraternity 
can recruit freshmen members this 
semester. 

For fraternities and sororities 

affiliated with the University, IFC 
regulations prohibit them from 
taking in new freshmen members 
until the winter semester. Last 
fall, The Daily reported that at 
least eight IFC fraternities violated 
this policy by recruiting freshmen 
members the first semester that 
the policy went into effect.

Again this fall, The Daily 

confirmed 
that 
at 
least 
five 

University-affiliated 
fraternities 

conducted 
freshmen 
rush. 

The Daily reached out to two 
freshmen who confirmed that 
they participated in fraternity fall 
recruitment, but both declined to 
comment further.

When asked how the University 

is enforcing its policy, Broekhuizen 
wrote that “a number of chapters 
are recruiting eligible students to 
learn more about their chapters 
which is in compliance with the 
university’s 
policy 
related 
to 

recruitment.” 

Chapters 
in 
the 
IFC 
and 

Panhellenic 
Association 
are 

allowed 
to 
host 
in-person 

recruitment events of eligible 
students — all students that have 
completed at least 12 credits at 
the University — as long as they 
follow public health guidelines and 
University COVID-19 policies.

But members of three different 

University-affiliated 
fraternities 

used language explicitly targeting 
freshmen students in posts to 
Facebook 
groups 
meant 
for 

recruitment. The Daily reviewed 
the posts in some of these groups. 

“Now, as a high school graduate 

headed for Michigan, I’m sure 
you’ve all heard of welcome week,” 
a June 25 post in one fraternity’s fall 
recruitment group reads. “Frankly, 
words don’t do it justice. I hope you 
are ready for fourteen days straight 
of drinking, f---ing, and to keep it 
short, doing whatever the f--- you 
want.”

Some IFC-affiliated fraternities 

create PowerPoint presentations of 
their new recruits, called pledges, 
after 
recruitment 
concludes. 

Several sorority members provided 
The 
Daily 
with 
PowerPoints 

from three IFC fraternities sent 
by fraternity brothers to various 
Panhellenic 
sororities. 
The 

PowerPoints created for the fall 
2020 recruitment cycle featured 
mostly first-year students.

Grace said she was worried 

freshmen rush would contribute to 
the spread of COVID-19, especially 
because most rush events are in 
person.

“These pledges are rushing 

multiple frats, so they’re going 
everywhere,” Grace said.

Dealing with an outbreak
Broekhuizen 
wrote 
that 

the University works with the 
county health department, the 
four 
fraternity 
and 
sorority 

student 
governing 
councils 

and 
each 
chapter’s 
national 

headquarters 
to 
facilitate 

COVID-19 communications and 
planning. 
These 
organizations 

also collaborate to handle positive 
cases and to address public health 
violations. 

According 
to 
Broekhuizen, 

chapters were asked to submit 
their quarantine and isolation 
plans to the University for review. 
When cases are identified among 
off-campus students, Broekhuizen 
wrote that the University offers 
“broader 
asymptomatic 
testing 

of individuals living in those 
locations” 
and 
directs 
these 

students to quarantine.

Some fraternity and sorority 

houses have developed plans to 
deal with potential coronavirus 
cases, 
including 
designating 

specific bedrooms and bathrooms 
to be used for quarantine purposes. 

Engineering sophomore Sydney 

Swider is a member of Alpha Chi 
Omega. She said she thought her 
house was doing the best it could 
to quarantine and isolate given the 
circumstances of communal living.

“With our shared living spaces, 

we’re more at risk than people 
living in houses by themselves or 
with two other people, but overall 
I think they’re taking a lot of 
measures,” Swider said. “If anyone 
has been in contact with a positive 
case, they’re quarantining or they 
have to get out of the house.”

Swider said the girls in Alpha 

Chi Omega have to report their 
test results to their self-elected 
House Corps, made up of two 
other members of the sorority. 
According to Swider, the House 
Corps then reports these results to 
the University.

The Daily reached out to 13 

other 
fraternity 
and 
sorority 

organizations asking about their 
COVID-19 protocols, but none 
responded.

In 
contrast 
to 
Swider’s 

experience at Alpha Chi Omega, 
students told The Daily that Chi 
Omega’s plan was insufficient 
when a large portion of the house 
had been exposed to the virus. The 
Chi Omega house set aside four 
double bedrooms in case members 
needed 
to 
isolate 
themselves, 

multiple Panhellenic Association 
Members told The Daily.

“That was under the pretense 

that there would only be a few 
positive cases in the house at a 
time,” Grace said. “They did not 
expect there to be 15 cases all at 
once.” 

Rebecca echoed the sentiment 

that when cases actually broke out, 
the plan in place was not enough. 

“There wasn’t a plan B in case 

there were more than eight girls 
who got COVID,” Rebecca said. 

Ringler-Cerniglia wrote that 

some fraternity and sorority houses 
were “initially less cooperative 
than others” in working with the 
county health department.

“Often the biggest question for 

us is whether a particular house is 
fully cooperating (i.e. responding 
promptly to investigators and 
following all guidance),” Ringler-
Cerniglia wrote.

According to Ringler-Cerniglia, 

the county health officer has the 
authority 
to 
issue 
quarantine 

orders to specific houses, which 
happened with 25 fraternity and 
sorority houses at Michigan State 
University in Ingham County. 
She said Washtenaw County has 
not issued any quarantine orders 
related to the University.

The entire Chi Omega house 

eventually went into a “lockdown” 
for 14 days, according to Grace, 
Emma, Rebecca and Emily, a Chi 
Omega member. The girls said 
they did not know which authority 
required the lockdown. 

The UHS email to Chi Omega 

residents instructing them to 
perform testing came five days 
after the party. Emma said that the 
delayed response may have led to 
greater transmission of the virus. 

“It was a few days, but those few 

days when you contract COVID 
are your most contagious days, 
and I think that’s why it’s spread so 
quickly,” Emma said.

The University provided self-

administered nasal swab testing 
for up to 1,500 FSL members in 
the first three weeks of September. 
Broekhuizen 
did 
not 
offer 

details on how many fraternity 
and sorority members chose to 
participate in this testing program.

Some of Swider’s friends tried 

these 
self-administered 
tests. 

When they went to turn in these 
tests at the dropbox, Swider said 
the drop-off location seemed out-
of-service.

“There were over 100 tests in 

that thing,” Swider said. “That 
made me really not trust (the 
University).”

Symptomatic students and close 

contacts of positive individuals can 
get tested through UHS. Other 
students who wish to get a test 
through the University have to sign 
up and be chosen for the voluntary 
surveillance 
testing 
program, 

leading many students to test off-
campus for reasons of access and 
convenience. 

Swider said she signed up to get 

tested through the University and 
went to the testing center three 
times at the beginning of the year, 
but no tests were available each 
time she went. 

Swider said many people in her 

house and in her FSL circles are 
opting to test off campus because 
they 
find 
on-campus 
options 

inadequate. 

“I’m at urgent care right now, 

and there’s almost 30 people 
here,” Swider said during a phone 
interview. “Most of them are in 
Greek life that I know from other 
houses.”

After pressure from the campus 

community, the University added 
off-campus tests to its dashboard 
at the end of September, more 
than doubling the total number 
of recorded cases. These cases 
were previously known to the 
University. 

When 
interviewed 
in 

September, Ringler-Cerniglia said 
many of these off-campus cases 
were also discovered through 
rapid antigen testing. She told The 
Daily that these rapid tests are 
unreliable.

“Let’s say they’re using this to 

justify going to a gathering. So I 
go and get my rapid test, and I go 
to a party,” Ringler-Cerniglia said. 
“We’d be highly concerned that 
that could be a false negative.”

While 
detailed 
COVID-19 

statistics for FSL are not readily 
available to the public, Grace said 
she would not consider Chi Omega 
an outlier.

“This is going to get really bad. 

But the thing is, I don’t know how 
much will be revealed,” Grace said.

Daily Staff Reporter John Grieve 

and Daily News Editor Claire Hao 
can be reached at jgrieve@umich.
edu and cmhao@umich.edu.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, October 21, 2020 — 3

CLUSTER
From Page 1

“The 
university 
has 
been 

working closely with the Health 
Department all along in response 
to the pandemic and supports this 
decision to issue this stay at home 
order,” Ernst said. “This action is 
intended to reduce the strain on 
our capacities for contact tracing 
and 
quarantine 
and 
isolation 

housing. Many individuals and off-
campus residences are cooperating 
fully, and we hope this additional 
guidance 
on 
limiting 
social 

activities reverses the trend of 
increased cases related to social 
gatherings.”

According to the county press 

release, the stay-in-place order is 
not the same as a quarantine order. 

“During the stay in place order, 

official and essential activities are 
allowable when carried out using 
COVID-19 prevention measures 
including wearing face coverings, 
social distancing and frequent 
hand cleaning,” the press release 
reads. “While this order allows 
students to work and participate in 
official activities with preventive 
measures in place, it also limits 
the 
impact 
of 
exposures 
on 

local businesses, workers and 
community members.”

This comes amid a spike in cases 

on campus and a corresponding 
jump in the use of quarantine and 
isolation housing. In the first two 
weeks of October, people between 
the ages of 18 and 22 accounted 
for nearly two-thirds of cases in 
Washtenaw County. 

As of Tuesday morning, there 

have been nearly 1,200 COVID-19 
cases on campus since the start of 
the fall semester and quarantine 
occupancy at 52.8%. On Saturday, 
the 
University 
announced 
it 

would begin to house students 
in quarantine and isolation in 
Northwood Apartments buildings 
with regular residents because all 
designated rooms are occupied. 

Washtenaw 
County 
issued 

orders on Oct. 7 limiting indoor 
gatherings to 10 people and outdoor 
events to 25. According to the order, 
the restrictions will remain in 
place until it is “determined by the 
Washtenaw County Health Officer 
that the threat to the public’s health 
and lives is no longer present.”

In early October, the University 

released criteria for reevaluating 
campus operations during the 
pandemic. There is “no one 
number” that will prompt the 

University to change its current 
plans, but there are a variety 
of metrics that would lead to 
the 
“consideration 
of 
further 

action,” according to the Campus 
Blueprint. These triggers include 
five consecutive days of COVID-19 
test positivity rates above 20%, a 
cluster of over 100 contacts, more 
than 70 new cases per million in 
Washtenaw county, if quarantine 
and isolation housing is estimated 
to reach full capacity in the next 14 
days or 80% of the beds are filled, 
among other criteria.

By Oct. 5, the University had 

triggered two of its metrics when 
there were five days of sustained 
increases in infections among 
University students and staff, and 
when Washtenaw county exceeded 
70 new cases per million. 

On Saturday, all residents of 

the Mary Markley Residence Hall 
were told to follow enhanced social 
distancing for two weeks after 
17 new cases were confirmed in 
the building. Despite the orders, 
no further criteria were met, 
University 
spokesperson 
Rick 

Fitzgerald told The Daily on 
Sunday. 

A 
notice 
sent 
to 
Markley 

residents over the weekend said the 

new guidelines were put in place 
because of “the high prevalence of 
cases in Markley and the lack of 
cooperation from a high proportion 
of residents.” Additional protocols 
include not attending in-person 
classes and only leaving the dorm 
room if necessary. 

The Campus Blueprint website 

says mitigation responses are 
currently targeted at the source 
of the outbreak, such as enhanced 
social 
distancing 
in 
Markley. 

However, broader, campus-wide 
changes might be warranted if 
enough metrics are crossed. 

“Tools and enhanced mitigation 

measures could include, but are 
not limited to, entrance screening 
enforcement, 
restriction 
of 

extracurricular activities, travel, 
gatherings, 
the 
suspension 
of 

in-person classes, or even the 
closure of residence halls,” the 
website reads. 

More than 360 cases have been 

confirmed in the residence halls 
from Aug. 21 to Oct. 17, according 
to the dashboard. More than ten 
clusters have been identified in 
the residence halls since move-in, 
many in the last two weeks.

The Daily confirmed one cluster 

in a sorority house following a party 
with members of a disaffiliated 

fraternity, as some in Fraternity & 
Sorority Life continue to party and 
recruit freshmen.

Chief Health Officer Preeti 

Malani said in the weekly COVID-
19 briefing on Friday that the 
current rate of students going 
into quarantine housing is “not 
sustainable” and the University 
will “go through it within a couple 
weeks.”

Especially 
towards 
the 

beginning of the semester, students 
sent to U-M quarantine housing 
voiced concerns about unsanitary 
conditions, lack of communication 
and confusing protocol. Many 
students are getting tested at off-
campus sites, some to avoid being 
sent to U-M quarantine spaces and 
others out of reasons of access and 
convenience.

When the University added 

off-campus testing counts to the 
dashboard in late September, the 
number of confirmed cases more 
than doubled.

Symptomatic individuals and 

those who’ve been in close contact 
with a positive case are eligible for 
testing through University Health 
Service. Others have to sign up and 
be chosen randomly through the 
weekly symptomatic surveillance 
testing 
program, 
leading 
to 

criticism 
from 
community 

members and experts of the 
University’s testing plans.

The 
Graduate 
Employees’ 

Organization, the union which 
represents more than 2,000 of 
the University’s Graduate Student 
Instructors, went on strike in 
September 
in 
protest 
of 
the 

University’s reopening plan. Facing 
legal pressure from the University, 
GEO accepted the University’s 
proposal and ended its strike after 
two weeks. 

Many resident advisers and 

some student dining hall staff also 
staged labor actions to demand 
safer working conditions. Resident 
advisers accepted the University’s 
deal soon after the GEO strike 
ended, but resident advisers and 
MDining staff continue to voice 
health and safety concerns. 

The Faculty Senate passed a vote 

of no confidence in President Mark 
Schlissel’s leadership but failed 
to pass a vote of confidence in the 
University’s fall reopening plan.

The University is expected to 

announce its plans for the winter 
semester by Nov. 1.

Daily News Editor Emma Stein 

can be reached at enstein@umich.
edu.

ORDER
From Page 1

