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News
2 — Wednesday, January 20, 2021
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Students look to Winter 2021 with
skepticism following Fall 2020 semester
The Fall 2020 semester
—
which
included
a
Graduate
Employees’
Organization
strike
and
widespread
concerns
about
COVID-19
policies
— tested the relationship
between
University
of
Michigan students and the
administration.
With
the
start of the Winter 2021
semester around the corner,
many students said they hope
the University will improve
from last semester and apply
lessons learned from the fall
to have a more successful
winter.
The Winter 2021 semester
marks the University’s most
overwhelmingly
virtual
semester, after Winter 2020’s
mid-semester shift at the
onset of the pandemic and
last
semester’s
attempted
hybrid
of
in-person
and
majority virtual learning.
Business freshman John
Cook said his first semester
of primarily virtual classes
and
limited
opportunities
for meeting other students
was marked by disappointing
levels
of
engagement.
At times, Cook said, last
semester felt like “watching
YouTube videos.”
“One of the most important
aspects
of
college
—
especially
something
that
Michigan
preaches
—
is
(that) you can find people
that you can interact with
and engage with, and you
can find people that push you
to think harder,” Cook said.
“But when it came down to
classes, student engagement
was zero.”
COVID-19 response
With the constant threat
of COVID-19 looming over
campus, University President
Mark
Schlissel
sent
out
COVID-19 briefings to the
University community each
week. Some students said
they were frustrated with
the amount of jargon that the
important information was
sometimes wrapped up in,
making it difficult to actually
understand what was going
on.
LSA senior Jordyn Houle
said something a bit briefer
than the emails that are
occasionally sent out would
help more people understand
what is really going on.
“I think a lot of it is just a
lot of rhetoric,” Houle said.
“These things don’t get to the
root of what the University’s
response at any given time
is. I think there is a lot of
obfuscating around what’s
going on (in the current
briefings).”
The
University’s
testing
policy last semester also fell
under heavy scrutiny. While
many
other
institutions
implemented
plans
where
students
were
randomly
tested, the University’s plan
did not mandate testing for
all students. This semester,
the administration changed
course, electing to test all
on-campus students weekly.
Students like LSA sophomore
Madelin Chau were surprised
by the red tape covering
University ordained testing
in the fall.
“My biggest issue is how
difficult it was to find out
(how to be tested),” Chau
said.
“They
should
have
made that more accessible to
everyone.”
For the winter semester,
the University has expanded
testing access to all students,
faculty and staff who live
or work on campus. Weekly
testing
is
required
for
undergraduate students who
come to campus and will be
enforced with checks of the
newly updated ResponsiBLUE
app upon entering University
facilities.
Administration
also
encourages
students
who live off campus to be
tested regularly, particularly
those living in Greek or co-op
housing.
Students criticized the fact
that some groups, including
fraternities and sororities,
continued to host parties
during the fall semester. Chau
said she would like to see the
administration take further
action to stop partying.
“You just hear about so
many parties that continue to
go on, you see it on Snapchat
and things like that, so you
know it’s happening,” Chau
said. “I do think that they
need to do something about
that, focus more on the Greek
Life parties.”
Throughout
an
unprecedented
semester,
criticism
of
the
administration
persisted,
and Houle said she found
their actions when it came
to COVID-19 to be somewhat
soft. Similar to Chau, Houle
expects the administration
to be much more proactive
about enforcement this time
around.
“I think that there was a lot
of wishful thinking that this
was going to go away without
taking much action,” said
Houle.
The University announced
in
November
a
stricter,
“no-tolerance”
approach
to
COVID-19
policy
enforcement for the winter
semester. University Housing
residents
will
be
placed
on
housing
probation
--
potentially one step from
contract termination -- after
their first violation.
Tuition increase
Before the start of the fall
semester, the majority of
regents voted to approve a
1.9% tuition increase, after
initially failing to pass the
proposed budget. Students
criticized this decision amid
the
economic
downturn
created by the pandemic.
LSA senior Amytess Girgis,
a recently named Rhodes
Scholar and student activist
involved in the One University
Campaign, said the University
has a “deep obligation” to put
its money where its mouth is,
considering its reputation as
a top public university.
“What COVID has really
brought out in this university
is just a continued lack of
ability or desire to allocate its
funds appropriately, whether
it be to protect students and
faculty during a pandemic,
or whether it be to provide
the necessary financial aid to
help people get through these
times and any other time,”
Girgis said.
Echoing
Girgis,
other
students
also
said
they
were
frustrated
by
the
juxtaposition
between
the
tuition
increase
and
the
perceived decrease in the
quality of education due to
remote classes.
“I think the tuition increase
last semester, in spite of not
receiving the same quality of
education that students here
expect to receive, was pretty
disappointing,” Houle said.
“Especially considering the
$10 billion endowment that
they have.”
Use of University buildings
for shelter
With
the
majority
of
University Housing contracts
terminated for the winter
semester,
community
members
are
now
asking
the administration what, if
anything, will be done with
empty buildings on campus.
Ann
Arbor
City
Council
has raised the possibility of
using empty residence halls
to shelter the city’s homeless
population.
Although they may have a
difficult time imagining the
University opening its doors,
students that spoke to The
Daily were very open to the
idea.
“I don’t necessarily expect
that the University will end
up (housing the homeless
population),”
said
Houle.
“But in an ideal world, I think
that they should definitely
try to.”
Girgis, who also voiced
support for the repurposing
of dorms, stressed the effect
that the University has in
raising the cost of living in
Ann Arbor.
“The
university
has
a
direct hand in the rates of
homelessness in Ann Arbor
and
Washtenaw
County,”
Girgis said. “And so not only
is it just simply the right
thing to do. The university
actually has a responsibility,
to at least in some small way,
make up for the fact that it is
actively choosing not to make
housing more affordable in
Washtenaw
County.
And
beyond that it’s also just the
best course to undertake as
far as public health goes.”
Cook
said
that,
as
a
public university that relies
partially on public funds,
the University has an ethical
responsibility to serve the
surrounding community.
“I think it’s their duty to
aid the homeless population
in Ann Arbor,” Cook said.
“So, if they have those unused
buildings, I think that they
should be utilized.”
University
spokesperson
Rick Fitzgerald told The Daily
in
a
December
interview
that the University has been
in touch with Washtenaw
County officials to try to
understand the community’s
needs and see if there’s a way
it could be helpful.
Graduate Employees’
Organization strike
A
week
into
the
fall
semester,
the
Graduate
Employees’
Organization
launched a historic strike in
protest of the University’s
reopening plans. Girgis said
the
strike
represented
a
larger underlying issue with
a lack of community input
into University decisions. She
pointed to the controversy
surrounding
Regent
Ron
Weiser
(R)
as
another
example of this issue of
accountability going into the
winter semester.
“The
fundamental
problem with the University
administration, at least for
the time that I have been
here, is that they refuse
to acknowledge the ways
in
which
the
University
community can and should be
informing their decisions,”
Girgis said.
Girgis, who is also an
activist with the Lecturers’
Employee
Organization,
emphasized that LEO will be
in contract negotiations with
the University this semester.
According to Girgis, LEO is
advocating for demands GEO
has also campaigned for in
the past, such as higher wages
for University employees and
increased childcare support.
Last Friday, LEO held a
bargaining kickoff rally in
anticipation of the months of
negotiations ahead.
“LEO
is
bargaining
starting
next
week
and
(making) a lot of demands
that
are
important,
not
only for them, but for the
University
community
as
a whole,” Girgis said. “The
administration would do well
to listen.”
Daily
Staff
Reporters
Christian Juliano and Julianna
Morano can be reached at
julianoc@umich.edu
and
jucomora@umich.edu.
CHRISTIAN JULIANO &
JULIANNA MORANO
Daily Staff Reporters
MARIA DECKMANN/Daily
Students are skeptical about the upcoming winter semester.
As new year begins, community members talk more robust COVID-19 response, tuition equity
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