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