Phase 2 is set to begin in 

the late winter or early spring 
and will extend to the broader 
University community. A start 
date for Phase 3 has not been 
announced.

General 
students 
will 

likely be in the second phase 
of the vaccine’s distribution, 
unless they are high risk, 
which could move them to 
the first phase, Cinti said. 
He expects the University to 
vaccinate about 80,000 U-M 
community members in the 
coming months. Two doses 

are required for one person to 
be vaccinated in the process, 
which Cinti described as quick 
but safe. 

“Will we get (completely 

vaccinated) before the fall 
semester?” Cinti said. “I can’t 
tell you that. I don’t know, but 
maybe we’ll have the teachers 
protected. We can’t rip off our 
masks right away — we have to 
wait — but teachers might feel 
better about teaching.”

University President Mark 

Schlissel said there is no plan 
to require U-M community 
members to be vaccinated, 
though it might be considered 
in the future.

“It’s gonna be a situation 

where the vaccine is limited in 

dose, and if I’ve got people that 
want to take it that are in risk 
groups — that are frontline 
health care providers, that 
are our faculty dealing with 
students, people that have 
actual risk — I’m gonna give 
it to them rather than forcing 
people who are unwilling,” 
Schlissel said.

When Michigan Medicine 

delivers 
a 
vaccine, 
that 

information 
will 
be 

incorporated in the state’s 
vaccine registry within 24 
hours, 
according 
to 
Dana 

Habers, 
chief 
radiology 

department 
administrator. 

Habers 
said 
multiple 

reminders will go out to 
patients 
to 
ensure 
people 

come back for the second dose 
weeks laters.

Arnold 
Monto, 
professor 

of epidemiology at the School 
of 
Public 
Health, 
is 
the 

chair of the Food and Drug 
Administration’s 
committee 

evaluating COVID-19 vaccines. 
His committee, which works to 
approve the efficacy and safety 
of potential candidate vaccines, 
will meet on Dec. 10 and 17 to 
discuss the Pfizer and Moderna 
vaccines, respectively. In a 
recent 
interview 
with 
The 

Michigan Daily, Monto said 
the risk of taking a COVID-19 
vaccine once one is approved 
will be no greater than other 
regular vaccines.

“This 
vaccine 
will 
have 

been approved by the standard 
mechanism,” 
Monto 
said. 

“By 
the 
time 
the 
vaccine 

becomes 
available 
to 
the 

general population it will have 
standard, 
non-emergency 

approval.”

Michigan 
Medicine 
has 

partnered 
with 
companies 

leading the pack in the race 
for 
a 
COVID-19 
vaccine 

trials, including Janssen and 
AstraZeneca. A week after 
the AstraZeneca partnership 
was introduced, the trial was 
momentarily paused after an 
adverse reaction was observed 
in a participant. It was later 
resumed.

Fifty-eight percent of adults 

aged 50 to 80 say they are 

somewhat or very likely to get 
vaccinated to prevent COVID-
19, according to a University 
Institute for Healthcare Policy 
and Innovation poll taken in 
September. Schlissel said he 
will want to “roll up” his sleeve 
as soon as he is eligible to 
receive the vaccine.

“Without 
a 
doubt, 

vaccination is the number one 
most 
effective 
intervention 

medicine has ever developed,” 
Schlissel said. “The amount of 
human suffering that’s been 
mitigated through vaccinations 
is unimaginable.” 

Daily Staff Reporters Jasmin 

Lee and Calder Lewis can be 
reached at itsshlee@umich.edu 
and calderll@umich.edu. 

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, December 9, 2020 — 3

VACCINE
From Page 1

“I really value DAAS because 

not many majors allow me to 
sit in a room with people that 
look like me and discuss Black 
resistance, Black freedom and 
Black anything while being 
comfortable in our Blackness.”

Outside the classroom, DAAS 

works to establish a close-knit 
and welcoming community for 
students of color and the student 
body. By coordinating events 
with student organizations, the 
DAAS faculty hopes to teach 
students to understand their 
cultural and racial differences. 
Though many of their 50th 
anniversary 
events 
were 

canceled due to the COVID-19 
pandemic, the department has 
adapted this semester to host 
virtual events to celebrate the 
milestone.

DAAS 
associate 
professor 

Omolade 
Adunbi 
said 
the 

department’s greatest strength 
is 
its 
synergy 
between 

academics 
and 
community, 

including communities beyond 
the University. Adunbi pointed 
to the Semester in Detroit 
program 
as 
one 
example, 

which 
allows 
students 
to 

engage in substantive urban 
planning that benefits Detroit 
communities. 
Similarly, 
the 

Pedagogy of Action program 
has empowered students to 
learn about the impact of HIV 
and AIDS on African American 

communities 
and 
teach 

prevention in the metro Detroit 
area and Ypsilanti, Mich. 

According 
to 
Adunbi, 

DAAS’s 
most 
expansive 

outreach 
program 
is 
its 

African Presidential Scholars 
Program. In collaboration with 
the African Studies Center, 
DAAS invites scholars from 
across Africa to the University. 
Collectively, DAAS’s outreach 
programs 
exemplify 
the 

department’s growing reach 
to 
both 
local 
and 
global 

communities.

Countryman 
said 
DAAS 

provides the most integral 
component of social activism: 
education. By learning about 
historical 
and 
present-day 

instances 
of 
inequality, 

students 
can 
begin 
to 

confront 
these 
injustices. 

Whether they advocate for 
change 
on 
social 
media, 

donate to charitable causes 
or work with policymakers to 
propose beneficial legislation, 
Countryman said students in 
DAAS gain the knowledge and 
fervor necessary to enact real-
world change.

“I think education provides a 

crucial opportunity for people 
to be honest about both the 
promise of society and promise 
of the institution, but also to 
confront and look directly at 
where we’ve come up short 
in terms of those promises — 
ways in which the nation and 
institutions have been built 
off structures of inequality,” 

Countryman said. “By itself, 
education can’t change those 
structures; but without that 
commitment to understanding 
and investigating, we’re not 
going to make progress toward 
the goals of a just society.”

As important as it is to 

reflect upon the past, Adunbi 
said this milestone serves as 
an opportunity to also consider 
DAAS’s future.

“We’re not just remembering 

the founders, but we are also 
thinking 
about 
the 
future 

of Black studies in general,” 
Adunbi said. “It’s like looking 
back, taking a pause to evaluate 
where we have come from and 
what we are currently doing, 
and then looking into the 
future of Black studies.”

Vance said he hopes the 

department 
continues 
to 

promote the study of Black 
communities 
and 
facilitate 

their success.

“I hope DAAS continues to 

thrive, continues to innovate 
and continues to hire professors 
and postdoctoral fellows who 
are really committed to the 
study of the diaspora and 
members of the diaspora,” 
Vance said. “As for the Black 
community, I really just want 
to see everybody win. I just 
want to see everybody succeed 
where they are, continue to 
dream big, continue to aspire 
for greatness and get there.”

Daily 
Contributor 
Evan 

DeLorenzo can be reached at 
evandelo@umich.edu

DAAS
From Page 1

But 
seniors 
applying 
to 

graduate or professional school 
have 
also 
faced 
pandemic-

related challenges. LSA senior 
Yebin Lee spent her summer 
applying to dental school and 
had to scramble to find a new 
testing center for her canceled 
Dental Admission Test. 

Additionally, Lee’s summer 

job as a dental assistant was 
canceled, which has impacted a 
crucial component of her dental 
school applications. 

“I was supposed to work out 

in a dental office in Manhattan, 
and obviously everywhere in 
Manhattan got closed down 
because New York was having 
such a bad COVID crisis. So, I 
couldn’t work out there, and it 
was actually kind of a disaster 

for me,” Lee said. “I really 
needed 
experience, 
because 

they do require about a hundred 
hours of work experience.” 

Lee originally planned to 

graduate next semester, but 
she’s now going to graduate in 
December in order to work as a 
dental assistant. 

“If I graduate this semester, 

then I could work for about six 
months and then go to grad 
school, because I know grad 
schools are expensive,” Lee said. 
“I figured I should definitely 
do that before I can’t afford it 
anymore.”

Some students who graduated 

right at the onset of the pandemic 
are also still searching. After 
graduation in May, University 
alum Mary Rose Clark decided 
to take the summer off from 
applying to jobs due to COVID-
19 hiring freezes. 

Since 
late 
August, 
she’s 

been actively looking for full-
time 
opportunities 
in 
the 

philanthropy or development 
space, but she has not yet 
secured full-time employment. 
Clark said many of her peers 
who graduated in May have also 
been unable to secure full-time 
employment. 

“I’ve applied to numerous 

things. I’ve begun networking, 
especially in the past month, 
with lots of people around 
west Michigan and still have 
not 
heard 
anything 
back,” 

Clark said. “I’ve gotten mostly 
rejections, which I’ve heard that 
that’s very common, though, 
most people that I’ve talked to 
haven’t really heard back from 
anyone.” 

LSA 
senior 
Mackensie 

Freeman spent her summer 
working for a public relations 
agency 
based 
in 
Atlanta. 

Like Gupta, she secured this 

internship through networking 
after many of her other second-
round interviews and offers 
were canceled.

Freeman has continued to 

work for this agency throughout 
the school year but said she 
feels she missed out on the full 
internship experience. 

“I definitely missed out on 

that whole aspect of corporate 
culture and getting to know 
your work, your coworkers,” 
Freeman said. 

With 
the 
timeline 
for 

returning 
to 
offices 
still 

uncertain, 
Day 
said 
she 

recognizes that the difficulty 
in 
securing 
an 
internship 

and working virtually will be 
prevalent this summer. 

“Based on what happened 

last summer, there’s still a 
lot of questions around. ‘Is 
this internship going to move 
forward in a virtual format?’” 

Day said. “Also, (students are 
still) thinking about, ‘If I am 
going to do a virtual internship, 
how can I make the most of it?’”

Employers have also had to 

adjust their hiring practices 
this year, especially with virtual 
career fairs. This was not ideal 
for some students as one-on-
one meetings with recruiters 
filled up fast, adding to the 
competitiveness of recruiting. 
The COVID-19 crisis has been 
unique in the sense that some 
industries and companies have 
been devastated, while others 
have thrived, leaving students 
unsure about the shifting job 
opportunities. While research 
opportunities 
for 
students 

have struggled, graduates have 
still been able to find remote 
opportunities.

However, Day said she has 

heard from employers that they 
are better prepared this year for 

virtual internships, as they have 
had more time to plan. 

“Of 
course, 
last 
summer 

everything kind of happened 
in March, so it was a little bit 
of a time crunch to figure out 
what to do if you had planned 
on having in-person interns,” 
Day said. “(This summer), they 
are usually planning for at least 
a virtual option if in-person 
isn’t 
possible, 
depending 

on the vaccine timeline and 
everything.”

Freeman says the process has 

been stressful and has forced 
her to come up with a range of 
back-up options. 

“I’m just nervously checking 

LinkedIn,” Freeman said. “My 
mom also is having me applying 
to a grad program just in case 
everything fails.” 

Daily 
News 
Contributor 

Elizabeth 
Williams 
can 
be 

reached at eewilli@umich.edu. 

JOBS
From Page 1

“There’s no element of that 

grant program that targets 
business 
centers 
of 
color,” 

Doyle said. “This particular 
program is going to be first-
come, first-served, and so you 
can imagine that those people 
who are not as connected are 
much less likely to get access.” 

The 
ABC 
has 
gained 

momentum, 
with 
over 
30 

Washtenaw County businesses 
joining 
the 
organization. 

Jones-Chance said the ABC is 
looking to continue its work 
after the COVID-19 pandemic 
ends.

“My goal is to just include 

an educated and influential 
and plugged-in membership,” 
Jones-Chance 
said. 
“We 

hope that (ABC members) all 
have thriving and successful 
businesses, we want them to 
have access to funding, but to 
also become some of the folks 
who make these decisions.”

It 
is 
easier 
for 
some 

businesses 
to 
adjust 
to 
a 

COVID-19-safe 
environment 

than others. Jones-Chance said 
734 Brewing has established 
a beer delivery system that 
keeps customer relationships 
and a sense of community 
intact through the pandemic.

“We have happily complied 

with all the state orders to keep 
the community safe and our 
staff safe, so we’ve had to make 
some changes,” Jones-Chance 
said. “In such a social business, 
people 
who 
come 
in 
are 

generally looking to socialize 
and it’s been challenging to 
maintain those relationships 
with our customers.” 

In 
May, 
the 
Michigan 

Economic 
Development 

Corporation released a grant-
fund program called Match-
on-Main that supports small 
businesses 
in 
areas 
like 

Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor with 
main 
streets 
experiencing 

less foot traffic than usual. 
This program went through 
the Downtown Development 
Board to provide grants to 
local businesses. 

“I 
found 
that 
it 
was 

inconsistent with the group of 
people … and their businesses 
that are in the district here,” 
Doyle 
said. 
“And 
it 
was 

concerning to me, and of 
course this is in the middle of a 
broader national conversation 
and 
protests 
about 
racial 

justice.” 

Jones-Chance said the ABC 

helps connect businesses of 
color to sources of funding that 
may help them survive repeat 
closures.

“The grant fund allocation 

didn’t appear to be intentional, 
and so we set out to help plug 
more businesses of color into 
the pre-existing sources of 
funding,” Jones-Chance said. 
“And over time we’ve begun 
to see some other areas where 
we can be of use. So more 
education, helping members 
gain more influence in the 
community and over some of 
these funding decisions.”

Jones-Chance cites lack of 

access to capital as the main 
struggle for people of color 
who own businesses.

“The main difficulties of 

being a business owner come 
from 
the 
same 
systematic 

social issues as difficulties 
of being just a person of color 
or being a racial minority,” 
Jones-Chance 
said. 
“In 

business, that kind of takes 
the shape of rugged, economic 
individualism 
for 
people 

of 
color 
but 
government-

sponsored support for white 
counterparts.” 

Jones-Chance 
said 
the 

G.I. 
Bill, 
which 
provides 

financial 
assistance 
to 

veterans, is an example of 
how the U.S. government 
denied thousands of Black 
World War II veterans access 
to 
higher 
education 
and 

resources.

“A lot of folks are able to 

build wealth over time to 
start 
businesses, 
whereas 

we’re intentionally excluded 
from 
that,” 
Jones-Chance 

said. “That access to capital 
and that systemic advantage 
we just don’t have, and so 
even 
when 
things 
aren’t 

intentional now, they’re sort 

of built on that foundation 
and it can make capitalizing 
your 
business 
extremely 

difficult.”

Music, Theatre & Dance 

freshman Maya Boyd, who 
frequently uses Instagram 
to encourage her followers 
to support businesses owned 
by 
people 
of 
color, 
said 

the dual impact of racial 
discrimination and COVID-
19 has put these companies in 
a difficult position.

“In Michigan, for instance, 

Black people were 40 percent 
of 
the 
reported 
(COVID-

19) 
deaths, 
while 
only 

making up 14 percent of the 
state’s 
population,” 
Boyd 

said. “Adding all the other 
obstacles 
of 
owning 
and 

maintaining businesses that 
people of color will inherently 
face in comparison to non-
minority 
owned 
businesses 

I feel says it all. And when 
there are issues that non-
minority 
owned 
businesses 

are able to face, it will always 
disproportionately 
affect 

POC-owned business due to 

the structural systems that are 
ingrained in this country.”

Doyle 
said 
that 
while 

Ann Arbor is often viewed 
as 
a 
progressive 
city, 

discrimination is still very 
much present and impacts 
business owners of color.

“I think it’s easy to look 

at Ann Arbor and say, ‘Oh 
well, you know, we’ve solved 
all these problems that exist 
out there in the real world,’” 
Doyle said. “And the truth is, 
of course, it couldn’t be further 
from the truth.”

Boyd 
said 
she 
believes 

organizations like the ABC 
can help Washtenaw County 
better support businesses run 
by people of color.

“There is so much room for 

growth,” Boyd said. “These 
kinds of organizations are so 
important because I feel like 
they have a lot of potential and 
there is a lot to benefit from 
locally having more diverse 
businesses.”

Daily Staff Reporter Shannon 

Stocking can be reached at 
sstockin@umich.edu.

BUSINESS
From Page 1

“It was getting stressful 

so I just wanted to talk to 
someone at CAPS, and I 
thought it would be a super 
seamless process.”

For Ben-David, the process 

was not simple and long wait 
times dissuaded her from 
going to CAPS.

“When I went on the 

website and I saw that I had 
to basically wait a month for 
the next available time slot, 
I was like, ‘this is not worth 

it,’ and I just never actually 
received the type of care that 
I was expecting from the 
University,” Ben-David said.

During 
the 
pandemic, 

administrative 
support 
of 

mental health services is 
even more pressing. 

Ben-David said changes 

to 
the 
“normal” 
college 

experience have presented 
challenges to freshmen and 
hindered people’s abilities to 
form friendships.

“This is not how we should 

be 
entering 
college, 
but 

obviously there’s nothing we 
can do about it so we just have 

to try our best,” Ben-David 
said. 
“Generally 
feeling 

isolated has definitely taken 
a toll on everyone’s mental 
health — I don’t think I’m 
the only one for sure.”

Ke said the University 

increasing 
support 
for 

CAPS would go a long way 
in expanding their ability 
to provide the services that 
students expect. 

“I 
definitely 
think, 
in 

general, the administration 
should be investing more 
in 
CAPS,” 
Ke 
said. 
“I 

don’t think a lot of it is 
necessarily 
their 
fault 
— 

they’re 
just 
understaffed 

and underfunded and there 
needs to be more resources 
invested in them because it’s 
just so important.”

Sevig wrote that the new 

positions CAPS filled in the 
fall increased their presence 
in 18 out of 19 schools and 
colleges at the University, 
adding four new sites. 

The 2020-2021 University 

budget 
for 
counseling 

services is nearly 3 million 
dollars, about 0.03% of the 
total 
Ann 
Arbor 
campus 

budget for the current fiscal 
year. The counseling services 

funding comes out of the 
general fund for University 
expenditures and represents 
about 0.1% of the general 
fund. 

This 
year’s 
CAPS 

expenditures are identical 
to 
the 
budget 
for 
2019-

2020 which was an almost 
$800,000 decrease from the 
previous fiscal year. 

Ben-David 
said 
she 

felt 
disappointed 
by 
the 

University 
as 
well 
as 

confused by how resources 
are allocated with regards to 
mental health services. 

“When 
I 
saw 
that 
I 

couldn’t even see someone 
just to talk to for 15 minutes, 
I was so frustrated because I 
thought that it should not be 
this complicated,” Ben-David 
said. 
“The 
school 
boasts 

about how many resources 
they have and how students 
are really cared about, but 
when I saw the ridiculous 
amount of time I had to wait 
— it was clearly not working 
out.”

Daily 
Staff 
Reporters 

Hannah Mackay and Jared 
Dougall can be reached at 
mackayh@umich.edu 
and 

jdougall@umich.edu. 

CAPS
From Page 2