The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, March 3, 2021 — 3
Whitmer to ease restrictions on
indoor dining, residential care
Relaxed regulations come after six straight weeks of declining cases in the state
The state of Michigan will
ease
restrictions
on
indoor
dining
capacity,
outdoor
activities and residential care
facilities beginning Friday, Gov.
Gretchen Whitmer announced
at a news conference Tuesday.
Starting Friday, restaurants
and bars will be allowed to
operate at 50% capacity up to
100 people, an increase from
25% over the previous six
weeks. Retail and other indoor
entertainment
venues
will
also open up to 50% capacity.
Gatherings at residences can
now hold 15 people from up
to three different households
indoors, with up to 50 people
outdoors.
New
guidelines
on
non-
residential gatherings expand
capacity for events like public
meetings, with up to 25 people
now permitted indoors and 300
allowed outdoors.
Indoor stadiums can hold
375 patrons if seating capacity
is under 10,000 and 750 if
capacity is over 10,000. Outdoor
entertainment venues can host
up to 1,000 people.
However,
Washtenaw
County’s limits of ten people
for indoor gatherings and 25
people for outdoor gatherings
remain in effect, according to
the Washtenaw County Health
Department website.
“As we continue our vaccine
rollout and make steady progress
against the virus, we are taking
additional
incremental
steps
to re-engage to ensure we are
protecting our families and
frontline workers and saving
lives,”
Whitmer
said
in
a
Tuesday press release from the
Michigan Department of Health
and Human Services.
According
to
Tuesday’s
press release, COVID-19 cases
in Michigan declined for six
straight weeks and are now at
levels similar to those in early
October, before the nationwide
winter spike. Cases in the state
are now plateauing at a rate of
around 91 cases per million, with
a positivity rate of 3.7%.
The press release also said
more than two million doses
of the COVID-19 vaccine have
been administered in the state.
MDHHS
also
acknowledges
that more contagious variants
like the B.1.1.7 variant spreading
throughout the state could make
the pandemic more difficult to
control.
“We continue to monitor
the data closely, and based on
current trends we are taking
another step toward normalcy,”
MDHHS
Director
Elizabeth
Hertel wrote in the press release.
“We
urge
Michiganders
to
continue doing what works and
wearing a mask, washing their
hands and avoiding crowds.”
Restrictions on nursing home
visitations and activities will
also ease, as all residents have
been offered a first dose of
COVID-19 vaccines and most
have had a second dose. The new
Residential Care Facilities Order
goes into effect immediately and
encourages communal dining,
group activities for residents and
indoor and outdoor visitation in
all counties.
Other restrictions such as the
mask mandate and the pause on
activities with close physical
contact without masks continue,
as well as the directive for
people to work from home if they
are able to.
Whitmer
first
announced
the state’s epidemic order in
November as rising COVID-19
cases across the state threatened
to overwhelm hospital capacity.
The order was initially scheduled
to last three weeks, but was
extended nearly three months
as the situation worsened across
the country.
These restrictions began to be
lifted in January, when Whitmer
announced that indoor dining
would be allowed to resume at
limited capacity on Feb. 1 and
some extracurricular activities
for K-12 students would be
allowed.
Whitmer’s
updated
order
reflects a larger pattern of state
governors easing restrictions that
were in place throughout much
of the winter, when COVID-
19
infection
rates
peaked.
Massachusetts
Gov.
Charlie
Baker announced last Thursday
that the state would move into its
next reopening phase, with limits
on indoor dining to be relaxed
in the coming weeks. Similarly,
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam
announced that Virginia would
ease
restrictions
beginning
Monday.
Managing News Editor Liat
Weinstein can be reached at
weinsl@umich.edu. Daily News
Editor Calder Lewis can be
reached at calderll@umich.edu.
CALDER LEWIS &
LIAT WEINSTEIN
Daily News Editors
GOVERNMENT
Librarians, archivists and curators
unionize, seek to join LEO
Vote to add group to lecturers’ union opened Thursday, will last until March 4
ACADEMICS
Librarians,
archivists
and
curators
(LACs)
across
the
University of Michigan’s three
campuses announced on Twitter
Feb. 22 that they are campaigning
to join the Lecturers’ Employee
Organization,
the
University’s
union of non-tenure track faculty.
Voting on the resolution to
add LACs to the union opened
Thursday and will last until
March 4, according to a statement
released by LEO.
LEO strives to “increase the
economic,
professional,
social
and political power of non-tenure
track faculty” at the University in
order to better educate students,
fight for equity across all three
campuses and promote universal
access to high-quality public
education, according to their
constitution.
Meredith Kahn, librarian for
gender and sexuality studies on
the Ann Arbor campus, helped
form the organizing committee
for LACs and told The Daily
LACs play an important role
in sustaining the universities’
research operations.
“Even though we work in
different parts of the university,
and we work with different
collections, I think what unites
us is that you really cannot have
a world-class research university
without
world-class
libraries,
archives,
museums,
galleries,
gardens, all of those things,”
Kahn said. “You cannot have
those things without the labor
of
librarians,
archivists
and
curators.”
Lecturers voted to unionize
in 2004 to secure their rights
to bargain with the University
on issues related to health care,
salaries and job security, among
other
provisions.
LACs
and
lecturers are both considered
non-tenure track faculty, with
over 10% of LACs having a part-
time appointment as a lecturer
during their career.
In June, the University’s Board
of Regents passed a resolution
recognizing the formal right of
employees to bargain collectively,
essentially clarifying how the
University should interact with
unions. In the past, extensive
negotiations between unions and
University administrators have
become tense and drawn-out,
sometimes leading to a stalemate
between the two groups.
Kahn said the process of
joining LEO began soon after this
resolution was passed.
“(The resolution) signaled to
us (LACs) that it was maybe a
little bit safer to pursue forming a
union,” Kahn said.
To begin, a small group of LACs
reached out to the American
Federation
of
Teachers
of
Michigan to discuss unionizing
in June. From there, the LACs
were put in touch with LEO. They
then spent the summer reaching
out to LACs from across the three
campuses to better understand
the similarities between LACs
and other non-tenured faculty,
specifically lecturers.
“What we want is better
working
conditions,
better
salaries, more parity between the
three campuses,” Kahn said. “We
want administration to address
diversity, equity and inclusion
more seriously. There’s actually
quite a bit that we share.”
LEO President Ian Robinson,
lecturer
in
the
sociology
department and in the Residential
College, told The Daily there was
a lot of common ground between
LACs and lecturers and welcomed
the diversity that LACs would
bring to the union.
“We have gotten used — at the
get-go — to being a union that
values, accommodates and takes
advantage of diversity rather than
seeing it as a problem,” Robinson
said. “The advantages of having
people with new skills that our
members don’t have … is very
compelling for us at the leadership
level.”
BROOKE VAN HORNE
Daily Staff Reporter
ISAAC MANGOLD/Daily
Librarians, archivists and curators campaign to join the Lecturers’ Employee Organization Monday afternoon.
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
CAMPUS LIFE
Students question
effectiveness of one-
day “well-being break”
University
of
Michigan
students had their first “well-
being” break — one of two days
off from class in place of the
traditional week-long spring
break — Feb. 24.
While the day was meant to
promote student mental health
without allowing enough time
for travel, many students told
The Michigan Daily that the
one day break did not offer
them time to engage in wellness
activities.
Instead,
many
students said they spent the
time catching up on additional
homework assignments during
one of their most stressful
semesters yet.
In December, the Board of
Regents approved two one-
day,
mid-week
“well-being
breaks” during the Winter 2021
semester in hopes of allowing
students to step away from class
responsibilities for a day. The
decision to cancel classes for
the two mid-week breaks came
after the University canceled
Spring Break in an effort to
mitigate the spread of COVID-
19.
Music,
Theatre
&
Dance
sophomore
Ainsley
Grace
transferred to the University
this year and said she hasn’t
yet stepped foot on campus. In
an interview with The Daily,
Grace
said
this
semester’s
virtual experience has been
especially isolating, making her
feel as if she hasn’t had time for
anything besides schoolwork.
Grace said when one of her
professors
assigned
double
the typical amount of reading
and suggested the class could
complete it on the well-being
day, it was yet another blow in
what was already a uniquely
challenging semester.
“I don’t really think it’s
enough — I think that it’s hard
to not have a spring break at
all,” Grace said. “I just had to
do homework … I did not take a
day off.”
In an email to The Daily,
University spokesperson Rick
Fitzgerald said the purpose
of the well-being breaks is to
provide an opportunity for
students to step away from the
online learning environment
for a day.
“The well-being breaks were
designed so students would
have opportunities to spend
time away from their typical
spaces and screens as well as
virtual breaks to meet students’
varying needs, while aligning
with
public
health
safety
requirements,”
Fitzgerald
wrote.
Like
Grace,
Engineering
freshman Satvik Nagpal said he
has also spent the school year
studying from home, where he
said it is difficult to motivate
himself
to
do
schoolwork
without social interaction on
campus.
“Usually work and fun are
separated, but now it feels
like it’s almost a blur because
all of your work is done at
home,” Nagpal said. “(Remote
learning) kind of just blends in
and feels like every day is the
same.”
Nagpal also said some of his
friends had assignments due on
the well-being day, and he spent
the day working on an EECS
281 project and studying for a
quiz for a different class the
following day.
“It just seems like (professors
are)
working
around
the
wellness
day
instead
of
changing their plans to give us
more of a day off, instead of just
a study day or a catch-up day,”
Nagpal said.
Fitzgerald also wrote that
well-being days should be an
opportunity for students and
instructors to take time off
from normal school activities.
“While these are not vacation
days and the university is open,
academic activity is intended
to pause to enable students and
instructors some time to use
as they find most appropriate,”
Fitzgerald wrote.
Nagpal added he feels two
days off during a 13-week
semester
is
insufficient
in
supporting
students’
mental
health and that he would like to
see students receive more time
off.
Engineering
sophomore
Zachary Goldston said even
though
he
appreciated
the
University’s attempt to provide
safe time off for students, it was
not enough time to fully relax.
“I appreciate what initiative
Michigan is trying to take,
considering
they
removed
holidays, long weekends and
spring break from us in order
to prevent the spread of COVID
during the winter semester,”
Goldston
said.
“For
some
people, this has been more of a
catch-up day or even a workday
with some teachers assigning
readings, even exams or a lot
of work, since kids are missing
class today, which personally,
I think goes against what the
University was planning to do.”
Goldston said he spent part
of his well-being day golfing,
though he acknowledged that
other students he knew had
more stressful days.
“We wanted a day where
we could, instead of focusing
on Zoom University, instead
of focusing on the stressors in
our lives, take a second just to
chill, take a deep breath and
have some time for us to think
instead of constantly rushing
around from point to point
worrying about assignments
and activities,” Goldston said.
Public Health junior Bushra
Hassan said she spent her
well-being day catching up
on lectures and studying for
an exam the following day. In
an interview with The Daily,
Hassan said she feels virtual
classes have created additional
stressors for students.
“Staring at a screen for
six continuous hours is very
draining,” Hassan said. “It’s like
you have to be actively engaged
the whole time, especially if you
have your camera on, which is
very exhausting.”
On Feb. 22, Hassan said
one of her professors assigned
two additional lectures with
an expectation they would be
completed over the next two
days, one of which coincided
with the break. Hassan said she
reached out to the professor
to express concerns about the
assignment but did not receive
a response. The following day,
Hassan said her professor told
the class to watch the lectures
at two-times speed.
“I
didn’t
know
how
to
respond to him, because this is
a wellness day, and I asked him,
what does it mean to him. He
just didn’t answer me,” Hassan
said.
The Daily reviewed Hassan’s
email to her professor and
confirmed its contents, but
was unable to confirm the
professor’s statement in the
class.
Goldston said this semester
has been a trying experience
for students and that he hopes
there are more opportunities to
relax in the future.
“In reality, I just want one
day for us to forget that we’re
in this sort of almost dystopian,
nightmarish time and just kind
of get to do something we want
to do,” Goldston said.
Daily Staff Reporter Dominick
Sokotoff can be reached at
sokotoff@umich.edu.
DOMINICK SOKOTOFF
Daily Staff Reporter
“In reality, I just
want one day
for us to forget
that we’re in this
sort of almost
dystopian,
nightmarish
time”
With spring break canceled, many
struggle with lack of time off from class
ASHA LEWIS/Daily
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced new COVID-19 restrictions at a press conference Tuesday, to take effect Friday.