Around 50 students gathered 
on the Diag the afternoon of Nov. 
19, with some walking out of their 
classes, to demand the University 
of Michigan expand its policies 
for climate change mitigation and 
sexual misconduct prevention and 
take responsibility for its actions.
The 
strike 
was 
organized 
by 
Fridays 
for 
Future, 
an 
environmental organization that 
leads climate strikes around the 
world, as well as Roe v. Rape, a 
campus 
nonprofit 
organization 
supporting 
sexual 
misconduct 
prevention and survivor advocacy 
efforts. 
Fridays 
for 
Future 
previously organized a climate 
strike on Oct. 22.
The 
event 
was 
a 
distinct 
collaboration between the two 
separate causes organized around 
calling for broader transparency and 
accountability from the University’s 
administration. Over the past few 
years, climate activists and sexual 
assault prevention advocates have 
pushed the University to commit 
to limiting its carbon emissions and 
reforming how it handles cases of 
sexual misconduct committed by 
faculty and administrators.
Some students walked out of 
classes to support the event. LSA 
Junior Jesse Bishop, member of 
the advocacy group Students for 
Clean Energy, left his class to 
attend the strike. Bishop said he 
came out for the strike to hold 
the University accountable for its 
handling of climate change and 
sexual misconduct policies, which 
he believes are inadequate.
“It’s not enough at all, it’s not 
even near enough,” Bishop said. 
It’s (the University’s) responsibility 
to protect their students from the 
climate and sexual assaults…it’s not 
a business and they’re treating it 
like a business.”
Jon Vaughn, a survivor of 
Robert 
Anderson 
and 
former 
University football player who has 
been protesting outside University 
President Mark Schlissel’s home on 

South University Avenue, was set to 
speak at the strike, but organizers 
said a last-minute change meant 
Vaughn was unable to attend the 
event. Vaughn recently announced 
that he plans to run for a seat on the 
Board of Regents in 2022
LSA sophomore Jacob Sendra, 
an organizer with Fridays for 
Future, criticized the University for 
taking insufficient action to address 
the climate crisis. 
“When it comes to climate policy, 
the University of Michigan drapes 
itself with the language and imagery 
of decisive action … while actively 
profiting from the destruction of 
our futures,” Sendra said. “It’s time 
to demand accountability.”
Sendra highlighted the group’s 
demands for the University to 
follow the City of Ann Arbor’s 
A2Zero initiative to achieve carbon 
neutrality by 2030 and to divest its 
endowed funds from natural gas 
investments.
In May, University President 
Mark Schlissel and the Board of 
Regents committed the University 
to achieving full carbon neutrality by 
2040 across all scopes of emissions. 
The commitment followed after 
significant student and community 
activism, but activists point to data 
from the Intergovernmental Panel 
on Climate Change and argue the 
University’s plan does not limit 
emissions fast enough to prevent 
the worst effects of climate change.
In 
March, 
the 
University 
also 
committed 
to 
disinvest 
the endowment from fossil fuel 
investments and have a net-
zero-emissions 
endowment 
by 
2050. Activists have urged the 
administration 
to 
go 
further 
and also divest from natural gas 
companies.
LSA sophomore Lexi Crilley said 
she appreciated the University’s 
revised endowment policies but said 
the University had an obligation to 
go further.
“We are grateful that the 
University of Michigan has agreed 
to divest from coal and oil, but what 
about natural gas?” Crilley said. 
“And again, 2050 is way too far 
away. We need to emphasize that 

it’s not enough action.”
Multiple 
survivor 
advocates 
then began to speak, reproaching 
the University for how they’ve 
handled allegations of misconduct 
against administrators and faculty 
and encouraged the administration 
to better protect students.
Public Policy senior Emma 
Sandberg, executive director of 
Roe v. Rape, has been advocating 
for survivors of sexual assault 
since her freshman year. Sandberg 
criticized the University for a lack 
of support for survivors and for not 
doing enough to punish those who 
commit misconduct.
“We are not the Leaders and 
Best if our policies are designed 
to deter students from reporting 
and let perpetrators off the hook,” 
Sandberg said. “Whether you’ve 
been working on this from the 
beginning or whether you are just 
hearing about these issues today, 
it is up to everyone listening, not 
just survivors and allies, to keep 
fighting until all of our demands 
are met.”
Advocates pointed out multiple 
prominent 
University 
officials 
who committed misconduct while 
serving at the University, including 
former Provost Martin Philbert and 
former University Health Service 
director and team doctor Robert 
Anderson. They also highlighted 
the recent instance at the Ford 
School of Public Policy, in which 
students protested the decision 
to admit a master’s student who 
was guilty of Title IX violations at 
their previous school.
Among 
the 
advocates’ 
list 
of demands was a rule that the 
University would not admit anyone 
who previously committed sexual 
misconduct, as well as provide 
expanded support and outreach 
resources for survivors of assault.
In 
July, 
the 
University 
restructured 
the 
Office 
of 
Institutional Equity into the Equity, 
Civil Rights and Title IX Office 
to enhance its handling of sexual 
misconduct and provide support for 
those who file complaints through 
the office. The announcement 
came with multiple reforms meant 
to address the culture around 
reporting 
and 
prevent 
future 
instances of misconduct.
In an interview with The Daily, 
Sandberg recognized the actions 
the University had taken but 
said activists needed to push the 
administration to go further in 
supporting survivors.
“Currently, 
survivors 
lack 
so many resources on campus,” 
Sandberg said. “We want to see 
new centers (for support) created, 
and that’s something that without 
further action, I don’t see the 
University choosing to do that 
themselves.”
The University’s Office of Public 
Affairs did not respond to requests 
for comment at the time of this 
article’s publication. 
After multiple environmental 
activists and survivor advocates 
spoke, organizers led the crowd off 
the Diag, southbound on State St. 
and eastbound on South University 
Ave.. 
The 
protesters 
chanted 
phrases demanding action from 
the University, including “Support 
survivors, Schlissel must go” and 
“Climate change is a war of the rich 
against the poor.”

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
4 — Wednesday, December 1, 2021 

CAMPUS LIFE

Students walk out for climate, 
sexual misconduct accountability

Event called for broader transparency, action from ‘U’ administration

With COVID-19 cases on the rise 
and flu season in full effect, sickness 
has recently become the norm on 
campus. In yet another semester 
defined by the pandemic, students 
told The Michigan Daily they find 
themselves asking instructors for 
accommodations more than ever 
before. 
LSA freshman Allen Shen, who 
lives in a residence hall, said he 
noticed many students feeling burnt 
out or sick over the past few weeks.
“Everyone around me has been 
sick here and there — my friend got 
the flu last week, but he was perfectly 
fine,” Shen said. “Other people have 
been really, really sick, especially in 
the dorms.”
Shen said he was no exception to 
this campus-wide trend, as he fell 
sick with pneumonia early on in the 
semester and experienced symptoms 
that lingered through September.
“Since two or three days after I 
moved in, I started getting a sore 
throat and then got progressively 
worse over time,” Shen said. “I was 
probably sick for a good month, but 
not deathly sick.”
During midterm season, Shen 
said he realized his workload was 
becoming too much to handle on 
top of managing his pneumonia 
symptoms. With three exams in 
a single week, Shen said he felt 
especially burnt out. He explained 
his situation to his MATH 215 
instructor 
Mattias 
Jonsson, 
professor of mathematics, who then 
let him opt out of his midterm.
“(My 
professor) 
was 
really 
understanding and just asked for a 
doctor’s note,” Shen said. “He said I 
could skip the first midterm, and the 
next two would be weighted heavier 
to accommodate me missing the first 
one.”
In an email to The Daily, 
Jonsson reiterated the course’s 
accommodation 
policy, 
citing 
alternative ways to make up for 
missed exams.
“In MATH 215, there are two 
midterm exams and a final exam, 
along with a good deal of homework,” 
Jonsson said. “For students who miss 
one of the midterm exams for illness, 
the general policy has been not to 
count that midterm and instead 
reweight the other midterm and 

final exam.”
Accommodations 
generally 
depend on department or course 
policies. Some instructors have 
incorporated different ways for 
students to make up or drop 
assignments when they feel sick. 
After testing positive for COVID-19 
during midterm season, Engineering 
junior Izzy Ferranti said one of her 
instructors offered a virtual option 
to take her typically in-person quiz.
“I 
received 
an 
exam 
accommodation for CHEM 342, 
which was held online the same day 
as the regularly scheduled quiz,” 
Ferranti said. “I thought having it the 
same day was difficult because it was 
shortly after I developed symptoms, 
so I still wasn’t feeling well.”
Ferranti said her CHEM 342 
professor was willing to push her 
quiz back several days to allow for a 
recovery period.
“I was able to take (my quiz) on 
campus when I was released from 
quarantine, about four days after the 
regularly scheduled quiz,” Ferranti 
said. “This was helpful because I was 
able to ask questions in person, and 
I didn’t have the stress of taking it 
online.”
While 
Ferranti 
said 
the 
accommodations 
she 
received 
helped alleviate some stress, LSA 
senior Aratrika Ganguli said she 
wished the Economics Department 
had taken a similar approach. After 
testing 
positive 
for 
COVID-19 
several days before her ECON 431 
midterm, Ganguli said she emailed 
her professor asking to take the exam 
virtually or at a later date only to find 
that there was no alternative to the 
in-person exam, as per department 
policy.
“When (my professor and I) were 
conversing through email, she let me 
know that there are just no options 
for those who are sick,” Ganguli said. 
“We would just make you not take 
this exam, which would mean that 
my final exam is worth 60% of my 
entire grade.”
Ganguli said this accommodation 
only 
exacerbated 
her 
stress, 
especially when thinking about 
how much more she would need to 
prepare for her future exam.
“Now, I feel like any free time I 
have, I need to be studying for my 
final because I know that whatever 
grade I get on that final is literally 
my grade for the class,” Ganguli said. 
“That’s very stressful for a student 

who did not even expect to get sick.”
The Economics Department did 
not respond to The Daily when asked 
to comment on its accommodation 
policy.
Despite her frustration with the 
Economics 
Department’s 
policy, 
Ganguli said all of her professors 
were understanding of her situation 
and reminded her to focus on her 
mental and physical health during 
quarantine.
“I was very happy to see my 
professors’ reactions … they all told 
me to prioritize my health and stop 
worrying about everything else,” 
Ganguli said. “But the only thing 
that’s going through my head as a 
senior is my grade and what’s going 
to happen if I can’t attend this class.”
While 
attending 
classes 
asynchronously prevented her from 
falling far behind on coursework, 
Ganguli said she spent most of her 
free time in quarantine catching up 
on lecture content instead of fully 
recovering.
“Because I had a lot of time during 
quarantine, I felt as though I was just 
doing homework the entire time,” 
Ganguli said. “There wasn’t a lot of 
free time to walk around, breathe 
and take care of my own health.”
When Ferranti began attending 
in-person classes again, she said 
she felt mostly caught up with 
classwork because she could attend 
lectures asynchronously during her 
quarantine period.
“When 
I 
returned 
to 
the 
classroom, I did not feel like I 
fell behind on coursework due to 
asynchronous lectures,” Ferranti 
said. “The only setback I experienced 
was 
missing 
my 
CHEM 
342 
discussion, which is helpful for 
solving homework problems.”
The amount of time Ganguli 
dedicated to her courses during 
quarantine and the additional stress 
of heavily-weighted exams are both 
indicative of some of the struggles 
students continue to face this 
semester.
“It was definitely tough to balance 
taking care of your own health and 
making sure you’re on top of things,” 
Ganguli said. “So, it really sucks to see 
that you’re at a disadvantage in terms 
of your education because of the fact 
that you unexpectedly got sick.”

Daily 
Staff 
Reporter 
Evan 
Delorenzo 
can 
be 
reached 
at 
evandelo@umich.edu.

Undergrad students receive varying 
accommodations due to COVID-19, flu

EVAN DELORENZO
Daily Staff Reporter

Some professors more willing to change exam, homework 
policies than others, resulting in stress on top of illness

ACADEMICS

ARJUN THAKKAR
Daily News Reporter

UMich child care workers 
allege unfair compensation

ADMINISTRATION

Employees say low salary doesn’t reflect job’s demands amid pandemic

The educators at the University 
of 
Michigan 
Children’s 
Centers 
are responsible for teaching and 
socializing the youngest victors on 
campus. After more than a year of 
working as critical employees during 
a pandemic, U-M child care center 
teachers are now demanding higher 
salaries, saying their wages do not 
reflect the demands of their job.

The problem 
The average salary of a teacher at 
the U-M centers is $38,588, far below 
the base salary of an Ann Arbor Public 
Schools teacher at $43,906✎ EditSign.
The Daily spoke to two teachers 
from the U-M child care centers, 
both of whom wished to remain 
anonymous for fear of professional 
retaliation. For the purposes of this 
article, they will be referred to as 
Source 1 and Source 2. 
Source 1 has a bachelor’s degree 
in early education and works in the 
early preschool department. They 
said their main frustration with the 
situation is their compensation not 
being reflective of their role as an 
educator. 
“We’re working on a 12-month 
schedule, 
and 
we’re 
being 
compensated for less than what 
nine-month teachers are putting 
out,” Source 1 said. “With the same 
qualifications and the same level of 
education and the same interactions 
with young people and children.” 
Source 1 said as a research 
university, the University should 
be better able to recognize the 

importance of their work, which has 
been proven to have lasting, positive 
impacts on a child’s development. 
“We’re building the foundation for 
the educational future of our tiniest 
victors here at the University,” Source 
1 said. “And they don’t want to pay 
the teachers, who are on the front 
lines with their children, a living 
wage.” Source 2, a lead teacher who 
supervises the U-M child care center 
workers, highlighted another issue: 
retention. The lack of compensation 
does not encourage new teachers to 
be interested in the program in a time 
when new teachers are desperately 
needed, they said.
“I think if I was being paid more 
and I could’ve paid for child care for 
my children, it would’ve been a better 
situation for my children and me 
because teaching my children was not 
a good experience,” Source 2 said.
Jennie McAlpine, senior director 
of Work-Life Programs at the 
University’s 
Work-Life 
Resource 
Center, wrote in an email to The Daily 
that because of low compensation, 
Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County 
are 
experiencing 
an 
educator 
shortage.
“It is hard for staff to stay in a 
chronically 
undercompensated, 
demanding 
job 
and 
care 
for 
themselves 
and 
their 
families,” 
McAlpine wrote. 

Working during a pandemic 
Source 1 also said these teachers 
were called back to work in-person 
by the University amid the COVID-
19 pandemic, long before the vaccines 
were readily available. 
“We’re needed by the University 
and they showed that by having 
us continue to work through the 

pandemic while a lot of the families 
were working from the comfort of 
their homes at the time,” Source 1 said. 
“But we’re not being compensated for 
being critical staff.” 
Though children ages 5-11 just 
became eligible to receive their 
COVID-19 vaccines as of Nov. 10, 
children under five are still not 
eligible for vaccination. As a result, 
teachers have been working with an 
unvaccinated 
population, 
putting 
themselves at risk of being exposed to 
COVID-19. 
With low vaccination rates in K-12 
schools as well as a staff shortage, Ann 
Arbor has seen many school closures 
this fall due to low staff numbers. 
Source 2 said child care workers 
are in even more of a dire situation 
than others considering that they 
teach children who are often sick.
“Since we work with children, we 
get sick often,” Source 2 said. “If you 
have sick symptoms, you can’t come 
to work because you have to get tested 
and have your test results before you 
can come back, even if it’s just a cold. 
We’re always understaffed and that’s 
stretching teachers.” 
According to McAlpine, 90% of 
the Work-Life Resource Center’s 
funding comes directly from tuition, 
while 10% comes directly from the 
University. This, according to Source 
1, is a large part of the problem. 
“The University expects the child 
care centers to pay for themselves, 
which in turn raises tuition costs, 
which is a burden to families and it 
doesn’t allow for the teachers in our 
programs to make a living wage,” 
Source 1 said.

PAIGE HODDER & 
RILEY HODDER
Daily Staff Reporters

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

ANNA FUDER/Daily
Students gathered on the Diag on Nov. 19, some leaving their classes, to advocate for climate and misconduct accountability.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

