Update 1/8: The University
of Michigan has updated its
COVID-19 dashboard to reflect
an
increase
in
quarantine
housing availability. University
spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald
wrote in an email to The Daily
that the increase reflects the
University’s
plan
to
house
two students in two-bedroom
quarantine
housing
spaces.
Previously,
each
apartment
housed
only
one
student,
regardless
of
how
many
bedrooms it had.
When LSA freshman Ruide Xu
— who lives in South Quadrangle
residence hall — tested positive
for COVID-19 on Wednesday, his
first thought was to contact the
quarantine housing hotline —
only to be met with no response
after multiple calls and emails.
“We doubted if (the University
of Michigan) has (sic) enough
quarantine
housing,”
Xu
said. “It feels like they’ve got
very bad communication and
management there and people
are getting really confused when
they need help.”
Eventually, Xu said he was
able to contact a representative
from the U-M Division of Public
Safety and Security but was
informed that he was not on the
quarantine housing list despite
being enrolled as a student living
on campus who tested positive
for COVID-19. As of Friday
evening, Xu has still not been
relocated to the University’s
quarantine and isolation housing
and has been living in his dorm
awaiting further instructions.
Similar to Xu, other U-M
students
who
have
tested
positive for COVID-19 have also
struggled to find Q&I housing
in light of the recent surge in
positive COVID-19 cases.
The increase in cases comes
after the University announced
they
would
be
resuming
in-person classes as scheduled
on Jan. 5 despite calls for classes
to be delayed or moved online
for two weeks in response to
the rapid spread of the omicron
variant. Some instructors elected
to e-pivot for the first two weeks
of the semester. As of Friday,
The University has reported 815
positive COVID-19 cases for the
week of Jan. 1.
The updated Q&I policies
exclude
students
living
off
campus
from
University-
provided
accommodations,
according to Vice President for
Student Life Martino Harmon.
In a Jan. 6 email to students,
Harmon wrote students living off
campus who contract COVID-19
should “remain in residence” or
“relocate to another residence,
such as a permanent residence”
for the duration of the isolation
period. Harmon also said Q&I
housing was 11.5% occupied.
University
spokesperson
Rick Fitzgerald wrote in an
email to The Michigan Daily
the University was anticipating
an increase in demand for
Q&I housing at the start of
the semester and were thus
prioritizing on-campus residents
— a policy that, according to
Fitzgerald, has been in place
since last semester.
“With the start of the term
and
many
students
moving
back into the residence halls,
and anticipated increased need
for
isolation
for
on-campus
residents, Q&I space is being
prioritized
for
on-campus
residents and not available to
off-campus
students
at
this
time,” Fitzgerald wrote. “That
approach has not changed from
the fall term.”
In a separate email to The
Daily,
Fitzgerald
provided
additional resources for students
who test positive for COVID-
19, encouraging those who get
tested off campus to report their
results to the University.
“(Reporting positive tests) is
the quickest, most effective way
to get on the list for transfer to
Q&I housing,” Fitzgerald said.
“As our Student Life colleagues
investigate
some
of
these
situations, they are finding that
students are not uploading their
test results.”
Students can report their
positive COVID-19 test results
here.
As of Jan. 7, Q&I housing
occupancy is reported to be
at 33.3% capacity. University
spokesperson Kim Broekhuizen
wrote in an email to The Daily
that Q&I housing data is updated
every morning at 8:30 a.m., and
students who move into housing
after the data is posted are not
included until the next day.
“It is not real time data,”
Broekhuizen wrote. “As noted,
Q&I
is
constantly
moving
students
in,
and
out,
each
day. The numbers are always
changing.”
ANNA FIFELSKI
Daily Staff Reporter
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
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U-M instructors ‘e-pivot’ to
remote instruction for first
two weeks of semester
With COVID-19 case counts at a record high, some faculty members decide to shift online
The Graduate Employees’ Organization
and some faculty members at the University of
Michigan are calling on the administration to
pivot to remote learning, or “e-pivot,” for the
first two weeks of the semester in an effort to
curb the recent skyrocket in COVID-19 Omicron
cases.
On
Wednesday,
GEO
hosted
a
press
conference via Zoom to announce they
would take matters into their own hands,
teaching remotely until cases return to a more
manageable level
Rebekah Modrak, professor of Art & Design,
said the combination of rising hospitalizations,
no remote options for students who test positive
for COVID-19 and Ann Arbor Public Schools
going online for the week of Jan. 3 outweigh the
harms of two weeks of virtual learning.
“If we are willing to look at the present reality,
not as we may ideally want it to be, but as it is,
what we see is that instructors are reporting
high-numbers of frantic emails from students
notifying them of an infection, a need to isolate,
or delays in their travel plans,” Modrak said.
Positive COVID-19 cases at the University are
currently at their highest since February 2021.
The U.S. also recently reported over one million
new daily COVID-19 cases on Jan. 4.
Lecturers’ Employee Organization president
Kirsten Herold, who was also present at the
press conference, said while the Fall 2021
semester was successful, too much is unknown
about the omicron variant of COVID-19 to
mandate in-person instruction.
“A lot of (LEO) members want to teach
in-person,” Herold said. “We are calling on the
administration to allow instructor discretion –
at least for the first few weeks … . We find the
distrust in faculty members to make the right
choice really disheartening.”
Prior to Wednesday’s press conference, GEO
held an emergency general membership meeting
Tuesday to discuss the University’s decision to
have an in-person semester. After the meeting,
GEO sent an email, which was obtained by The
Daily, to their members, saying 95% of attendees
voted to endorse a motion to support an e-pivot.
GEO president Joey Valle said at the press
conference that hybrid learning is inevitable due
to high numbers of faculty members and students
testing positive for COVID-19 and having to
quarantine. Valle said the complications with
resuming in-person learning outweigh the
potential benefits.
“The University has repeatedly made the
claim that classrooms are safe and there’s no
transmission in classrooms, however after
repeated asking, they have not provided the
evidence of that,” Valle said. “ The University’s
stance that people need to be in person … despite
many unknowns on how omicron is transmitted
within our University’s campus represents a
situation that is very concerning for many of our
members.”
The GEO conference comes after U-M faculty
penned an open letter to the campus community
Monday advocating for a short period of remote
learning at the beginning of the term. The
rapid spread of the omicron variant has led
1,475 community members to ask for remote
instruction, according to the letter.
The letter highlights similar concerns from
students, faculty and families as hospitals are
overwhelmed with positive cases. The letter says
while the University as an institution continues
to push for in-person instruction, the e-pivot is
something faculty and students are personally
deciding to participate in on the individual level.
University
spokesman
Rick
Fitzgerald
told The Michigan Daily in an email that
the signatories to the open letter represent a
small percentage of faculty on the University’s
campus and those who signed the letter aren’t
necessarily instructors or planning on moving
their classes remotely. According to Fitzgerald,
the University has 5,200 instructors teaching
classes to more than 50,000 students this term.
“A classroom at U-M is, perhaps, the safest
place to be in the entire state of Michigan,”
Fitzgerald wrote. “As noted on our public
dashboard, 98 percent of all students are
vaccinated, 98 percent of faculty are fully
vaccinated and there is an indoors (sic) masking
requirement across the campus.”
In an interview with The Michigan Daily,
GEO Secretary SN Yeager said they would like
to see the University reassess their decision for
in-person learning after the e-pivot time period
is over.
‘I feel disrespected’:
UMich students face
long wait for quarantine
& isolation housing
NADIR AL-SAIDI, KAITLYN LUCKOFF
AND GEORGE WEYKAMP
Daily News Editors
‘U’ experiences delays, prioritize on-campus
residents in Q&I accommodations
TAMARA TURNER/Daily
In July 2021, Rackham alumni
Matthew Bernhard heard that the
Georgia Institute of Technology was
considering offering a job to then-
University of Michigan professor
Daniel Genkin.
Bernhard had repeatedly made
UMich
administrators
aware
of
Genkin’s alleged academic bullying in
the Computer Science and Engineering
department. He decided it was worth
making his concerns known one
more time, this time via a Twitter
direct message to an acquaintance
and faculty member in Georgia Tech’s
School of Cybersecurity and Privacy.
“Hey, so word on the street is
that (Georgia Tech) is making an
accelerated tenure offer to Daniel
Genkin,” Bernhard wrote in messages
obtained by The Michigan Daily.
“That’s possibly a really bad idea. Daniel
is horrifically abusive to students and
other faculty, a fact pattern that has
followed him from Penn to UMich.”
After receiving this message, the
Georgia Tech faculty member sent a
screenshot of it to the interim chair
of the School of Cybersecurity and
Privacy, Rich DeMillo, according to
emails obtained by The Daily under a
Freedom of Information Act request.
The Georgia Tech faculty member
introduced Bernhard to DeMillo via an
email, obtained by The Daily, sent later
that day.
Within
hours,
Bernhard
sent
DeMillo a multi-paragraph description
of Genkin’s alleged bullying at UMich.
A portion of Bernhard’s email to
DeMillo.
Bernhard
never
heard
back.
But DeMillo included Bernhard’s
allegations in a document obtained
by The Daily detailing the numerous
warnings Georgia Tech had received
about Genkin’s alleged behavior.
Document describing allegations
obtained by The Daily under FOIA.
Download
Two
weeks
later,
DeMillo
announced Genkin’s hiring to Georgia
Tech’s School of Cybersecurity and
Privacy.
A Michigan Daily investigation
found
numerous
previously
undisclosed allegations of abusive
behavior
against
Genkin.
These
allegations span Genkin’s time at the
University of Pennsylvania, where
Genkin was previously employed as
a postdoctoral researcher, and at the
University of Michigan, where Genkin
was a faculty member in the Computer
Science and Engineering department
from 2018 to 2021.
The allegations range from pressure
to falsify data to comments and actions
insinuating physical violence. They
also include alleged misogynistic and
racially charged comments, emotional
manipulation
and
unprofessional
workplace behavior.
The Daily’s investigation also
found that administrators at UPenn,
UMich and Georgia Tech were
repeatedly made aware of these
allegations, according to dozens of
emails, messages and other documents
obtained by The Daily.
The
Daily
also
found
that
complaints against Genkin were
reported to UMich’s then-Office for
Institutional Equity (now the Office for
Equity, Civil Rights & Title IX). At least
one of these complaints prompted an
investigation into Genkin’s behavior.
The status of this investigation remains
unclear.
In an email to The Daily, Genkin
disputed these allegations.
“These
[allegations]
were
investigated by Michigan’s CSE and
found to be inaccurate or exaggerated,”
Genkin wrote. “As a result, no
disciplinary actions were taken. I was
never contacted by OIE and have a
clean disciplinary record across Penn,
Michigan and Georgia Tech.”
Genkin’s statement to The Daily.
Blair
Meeks,
Georgia
Tech’s
Assistant Vice President of External
Communications,
wrote
in
an
emailed statement to The Daily that
“all of (Georgia Tech’s) typical hiring
procedures
including
background
checks, criminal record checks and
reference input” were followed when
hiring Genkin.
DeMillo
declined
numerous
interview requests, writing in an email
to The Daily, “I am unclear what story
you are asking me to share my side of.”
“Some of your questions refer to past
events at Michigan about which I have
no first-hand knowledge,” DeMillo
wrote in a later email to The Daily.
“Other questions appear to be based on
allegations that are flatly untrue.”
DeMillo declined to comment
on specific allegations and didn’t
note which ones he believes are
untrue.
Michael Wellman, the current
Chair of UMich’s Computer Science
and Engineering department, said
in an interview with The Daily that
the department effectively addressed
complaints against Genkin.
“In this case, the actions … we
implemented to address concerns
about faculty behavior were effective,”
Wellman said. “We investigated
immediately,
we
supported
the
students, we set clear expectations
for the faculty member for correction
and improvement. We took decisive
action, CSE did, in this case as soon as
relevant information was brought to
our attention.”
This is not the first allegation of
improper workplace conduct to be
raised against professors in UMich’s
CSE department. In February 2020,
The Verge reported allegations of
sexual harrassment against CSE
professor Jason Mars. In May 2021,
The Daily published an investigation
regarding
UMich’s
handling
of
allegations of sexual misconduct
against former CSE professor Walter
Lasecki.
The CSE department has also
experienced
rapid
turnover
in
leadership. Chair Brian Noble stepped
down in February 2020, weeks after
allegations were reported against
Mars. Later that year, Interim Chair
Peter Chen abruptly stepped down in
July 2020 for “personal reasons.” In
January 2021, Chen was charged with
criminal sexual misconduct, and that
case is currently pending trial.
Wellman told The Daily that CSE
is more committed to improving the
department’s culture than ever before.
“CSE is, based on our experience,
arguably more aware than just about
any other departments about the
necessity to ensure and to establish
a strong community with a positive
climate,” Wellman said. “And our
faculty and staff are working on many
fronts to achieve this.”
ELISSA WELLE
Daily Staff Reporter
Daily investigation finds administrators knew of bullying claims against former CSE professor
Previously undisclosed allegations of abusive behavior revealed against Daniel Genkin
See ‘I Feel Disrespected’, Page 4
See OVER 1,800, Page 4
See DAILY, Page 4