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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on Instagram, 
@michigandaily

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

