Multiple locations in the Ann 
Arbor area are now offering the 
new COVID-19 bivalent booster 
vaccine. The bivalent booster — 
which was authorized by the Food 
and Drug Administration at the 
end of August — protects against 
the original, BA.4 and BA.5 strands 
of the highly contagious Omicron 
variant.
The University Health Service 
(UHS) 
in 
collaboration 
with 
Walgreens, is running pop-up 
COVID-19 bivalent booster and 
flu shot clinics for all University 
of Michigan students, faculty 
and staff. If available, individuals 
should bring insurance cards, prior 
vaccine records and photo IDs to 
the clinics. The bivalent booster is 
currently available to anyone age 
18 and up and is free of charge. 
Walgreens pop up clinics are 
open from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. or 
when supplies run out. Individuals 
may find vaccines at the following 
dates and locations:

Tuesday, September 13 – South 
Quad Transformer Room (next to 
the dining hall)
Thursday, September 15 – South 
Quad Transformer Room (next to 
the dining hall)
Monday, September 19 – Mosher 
Jordan (Upper Blue Market area)
Wednesday, 
September 
21 
– Mosher Jordan (Upper Blue 
Market area)

UHS 
also 
offers 
booster 
vaccines by appointment, which 
can be booked through the patient 
portal or by phone at 734-764-
8320.
CVS 
and 
Walgreens 
have 
boosters available at their Ann 
Arbor locations by appointment 
only. Appointments must be made 
online.
University spokesperson Kim 
Broekhuizen told The Michigan 
Daily 
over 
email 
that 
the 
University does not currently plan 
to require the bivalent booster. 

Since early June, State Street 
has been torn up between William 
Street and North University Avenue. 
Blockades seal off the area, leaving 
only a few narrow pathways for 
pedestrians 
to 
navigate 
from 
downtown Ann Arbor to campus. 
The 
construction 
blockage 
has 
also cut off vehicular access and 
taken away patio space from local 
businesses.
Jim Saborio, the owner of Comet 
Coffee, a local cafe nestled inside 
Nickels Arcade, said as the creation 
of social districts in Downtown Ann 
Arbor transformed Main Street’s 
culture over the past year, State 
Street’s business rhythms were left 
outdated. 
“I feel like the two areas of town 
are very, very different now,” Saborio 
said. “There just seems (sic) to be 
fewer people (visiting State Street) 
than before. I feel like this summer in 
particular, this area was quiet.”
In June as the construction 
project responsible for closing down 
most of State Street commenced. 

This project, funded by the City 
of Ann Arbor and the Downtown 
Development Authority (DDA), is 
part of the People-Friendly Streets 
initiative and will convert State Street 
into the City’s first curbless roadway. 
City officials hope the project will 
increase pedestrian safety, enhance 
foot traffic and strengthen local 
businesses, according to the project 
website.
The project is broken into two 
phases. The first and current phase 
was anticipated to finish around 
Labor Day. However, three months 
into the construction, the finish line 
is still out of sight. While the project 
has run into sporadic incidents, 
including a water main break in early 
June, Robert Kellar, communication 
specialist of Ann Arbor Public 
Services 
Administration, 
said 
the prolonged delay is due to a 
miscommunication 
with 
the 
contractor, and the construction will 
continue for the rest of the calendar 
year. 
“The basic reason for the delay is 
that the pace of the project did not 
go as the contractor expected, Kellar 
wrote in an email to The Michigan 
Daily. “There wasn’t one thing that 

caused it. The contractor’s schedule 
has the road reopening on Oct. 7. 
Work remains for the year, but they 
will do that by occupying the parking 
spaces.”
Maura Thomson, communications 
manager for the DDA, said once 
the construction is completed, the 
curbless street will bring direct 
benefits for State Street businesses. 
“One of the keys of this curbless 
design is it gives businesses the 
flexibility to use the space in front 
of their business,” Thomson said. 
“(Curbless 
design) 
allows 
for 
much more flexibility for the event 

organizer to arrange their tents, and 
the visitors no longer have to deal 
with the curbs or other trip hazards.”
AJ Davidson, president of Bivouac 
and the State Street District business 
association, said he is excited about 
the prospect of the project but 
recognizes the huge toll construction 
has taken on businesses.
“I think that the improvements 
will be overall good for the street, so 
I’m excited for them to occur, and I 
like the curbless design,” Davidson 
said.

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us know.

INDEX
Vol. CXXXII, No. 92
©2022 The Michigan Daily

NEWS............................1

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

STATEMENT.............. . . . . . . . 6

M I C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

O P I N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 1
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michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, September 21, 2022

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY ONE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

IRENA LI
Daily Staff Reporter

Michigan Medicine has failed 
to bargain in good faith with its 
nurses, the University of Michigan 
Professional 
Nurse 
Council 
alleges.
With 
the 
union 
and 
the 
University of Michigan at a 
stalemate 
after 
six 
months 
of 
negotiations, 
6,200 
MNA-
UMPNC nurses have worked 
without a contract since the 
previous one expired June 30. In 
that time, the union has organized 
rallies and created a community 
petition to call attention to its 
demands 
for 
safer 
working 
conditions for nurses. 
The union’s demands include an 
end to understaffing by way of safe 
nurse workload ratios, fair wages, 
and an end to mandatory overtime. 
Unfair labor practice charges filed 
against the University allege that 
the administration has violated 
state law by refusing to bargain 
with the union over nurse-
to-patient staffing ratios and 
retaliating against nurses who 
engaged in union activity. 
On Aug. 15, the MNA filed 
a lawsuit with the Michigan 
Court of Claims alleging that the 
University’s refusal to bargain over 
nurse workloads was a violation of 
the Public Employment Relations 
Act 336 of 1947. The lawsuit seeks 
an injunction that would force the 
University to negotiate staffing 
ratios with the union. 
In an interview with The 
Michigan Daily, Renee Curtis, 

UMPNC president and registered 
nurse, said safer workload ratios are 
the union’s most significant demand 
because they ensure quality patient 
care and a safe working environment 
for nurses.
“The basis of our profession is 
… the service that we provide for 
our patients,” Curtis said. “When 
we’re unable to provide care for our 
patients due to understaffing due to 
issues relative to workload, it causes 
more trauma not only for the nurses, 
but it puts patients at risk for adverse 
events, and it creates poor patient 
outcomes as a result of not being 
able to have a registered nurse at the 
bedside.”
Though the union views workload 
ratios as a necessary component of 
negotiations, 
the 
administration 
of University of Michigan Health, 
Michigan 
Medicine’s 
clinical 
division, says otherwise. Michigan 
Medicine 
spokesperson 
Mary 
Masson wrote in an email to The 
Daily 
that 
the 
administration’s 
stance is supported by state law.
“Under decisions of the Michigan 
Employment Relations Commission 
and Michigan appellate courts, the 
determination of employee staffing 
levels is a “non-mandatory” subject 
of bargaining — something that a 
public employer has no obligation to 
bargain over — unless the staffing 
requirements 
are 
inextricably 
intertwined with the health and 
safety of bargaining unit employees,” 
Masson wrote.
Masson wrote that the proposal, 
which the University believes is 
“compelling and generous,” includes 
a 21% base pay increase for nurses 
over four years, a safe elimination 

of mandatory overtime, a $4,000 
bonus for members of the union’s 
bargaining team and expanded 
staffing guidelines. 
On Sept. 2, 96% of the over 4,000 
MNA-UMPNC 
members 
voted 
in favor of a strike authorization, 
which allows the union’s bargaining 
unit to call for a work stoppage at 
any time. Though state law does 
not allow strikes by public sector 
employees, a FAQ section on the 
union’s website says nurses would 
only engage in a work stoppage to 
protest unfair labor practices, not 
to call for higher wages or to change 
the terms of their work. 
A Sept. 2 UMPNC statement said 
the bargaining team would only call 
a work stoppage if they deemed it 
“absolutely necessary.” Curtis said 
a strike would be a last resort and 
that the union just wants to openly 
discuss workload demands in its 
negotiations with the University.
“We do not have a shortage of 
nurses willing to work, we have 
a shortage of nurses willing to 
work in the working conditions 
of our hospitals,” Curtis said. 
“We would like to do everything 
possible to avert any type of work 
stoppage, and we are prepared 
and willing to meet at any point in 
time and continue any discussions 
necessary.”
When asked about a potential 
strike, Masson wrote that the 
hospital has extensive staffing 
plans in place if the union were to 
call for a work stoppage.
“Patients in our hospital can 
expect our standard of care to 
continue,” Masson wrote. “We are 
concerned about future access, 

but we have extensive plans in 
place as we’ve been preparing 
for the possibility of a strike 
authorization.”
In an interview with The 
Daily, 
Anne 
Jackson, 
MNA-
UMPNC member and registered 
nurse, said despite the union’s 
size and 48-year tenure, the 
administration was failing to 
respect nurses’ basic rights.
“This is all about holding 
the University accountable and 
(making) sure that they follow 
the law,” Jackson said. “We 
believe that they have failed to 
bargain in good faith. They’ve 
made improper changes to our 
working conditions … We believe 
they’re undermining the largest 
union on campus.”
The possibility of a work 
stoppage in response to poor 
working conditions is not unique 
to nurses at Michigan Medicine. 
On Sept. 12, 15,000 members 
of 
the 
Minnesota 
Nurses 
Association went on strike to call 
for safer staffing and improved 
quality of care for patients.
MNA-UMPNC has signaled 
support for Minnesota nurses, 
writing in a tweet that going on 
strike is not an easy decision to 
make.
“It’s a heavy decision made 
with care and yes, with grief,” the 
tweet reads. “But also resolve, and 
dedication, and a responsibility 
to protect our patients and 
our profession. Shame on the 
administrators who push #nurses 
to this point.”

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Businesses lament loss of customer traffic amid 
State Street construction

UMich finalizes settlement 
with Anderson survivors

Bivalent booster shots now 
available in Ann Arbor

KRISTINA ZHENG
Managing News Editor

MATTHEW SHANBOM
Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

A $490 million settlement between 
the University of Michigan and 
survivors of late U-M athletic doctor 
Robert Anderson has been approved 
and 
finalized, 
the 
University 
announced Friday evening.
The settlement — which was 
first reached in January — required 
approval from 98% of the claimants, 
a benchmark which was recently 
reached according to the Friday 
press 
release. 
The 
finalization 
process lasted eight months and 
was facilitated by Robert F. Riley, a 
third-party mediator appointed by 
U.S. District Court Judge Victoria A. 
Roberts. 
Division of the settlement funds 
will be decided among claimants and 
their attorneys, and the University 
will not be involved in the process, the 
release says.
Board of Regents Chair Paul Brown 
apologized to survivors in the press 
release, saying the University still has 
work to do to combat misconduct on 
campus.
“The University of Michigan 
offers its heartfelt apology for 
the abuse perpetrated by the late 
Robert Anderson. We hope this 
settlement helps the healing process 
for survivors,” Brown wrote. “We 
consider this settlement just one of 
the steps we have taken in a process 
we began more than two years ago 
to fully understand what happened, 
make amends and enact reforms. 
Our work is not done until U-M is 
considered the leader in creating a 
campus environment that is safe for 
everyone.”
In May 2020, the University hired 
law firm WilmerHale to investigate 
sexual misconduct allegations against 
Anderson and released the report a 
year later in 2021, finding “no doubt” 
that Anderson engaged in decades-
long patterns of abuse and that the 
University had known as early as 
1975. Settlement negotiations began 
in October 2020 and represented 
over 1,000 survivors who have come 
forward with allegations against 
Anderson — possibly the largest 
number of allegations against a single 
person in U.S. history. 
Anderson was employed by the 
University from 1966 to 2003. During 
this time, he was a team physician 
and director of the University Health 
Services. In 2008, Anderson died and 
was never investigated or tried for his 
crimes.
Survivors of Anderson have made 
a noticeable impact on the campus 
community in recent years. Jonathan 
Vaughn, 
an 
Anderson 
survivor 

CHEN LYU
Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

‘Hail to the Victims’ leader wants University 
apology for response

Sidewalk closure drives away consumers, hurts profits on popular corridor
MoJo to host vaccination sites, UHS, 
pharmacies offer appointments

ADMINISTRATION

NEWS
ADMINISTRATION

Michigan Medicine nurses and supporters attend a picket for safer conditions and a fair contract organized by the University of Michigan Professional Nurse Council at Fuller Park in July.

What’s happening with nurses at 
Michigan Medicine?

Union demands safe staffing, end to mandatory overtime

and former U-M football player, 
spearheaded 
multiple 
protests 
advocating for greater protection of 
students and increased transparency 
from the administration. For over 
100 days, Vaughn camped outside 
of 
former 
University 
President 
Mark Schlissel’s house in protest 
of the University’s handling of 
the allegations against Anderson. 
His campsite was removed by the 
University after 150 days of protest.
Though 
the 
University 
has 
issued an apology for Anderson’s 
perpetuation 
of 
abuse, 
Vaughn 
released a statement Friday evening 
saying that the administration has 
yet to apologize for its own handling 
of the allegations.
“This will never compensate the 
pain and suffering we the survivors 
have gone through,” Vaughn wrote. 
“Regent Chair Paul W. Brown 
apologized for Dr. Anderson, but not 
for (the) University of Michigan’s role 
in this atrocity.”
Vaughn added that seeing the 
University being held accountable is 
a step in the right direction, and that 
he hopes all who have been affected 
can begin a journey of healing.
“After being involved in this 
fight for over 2 1/2 years University 
of Michigan is finally formally 
being held accountable for their 
involvement,” Vaughn wrote. “I 
hope this day can bring peace & 
healing to all the survivors affected. 
I am not John Doe. I am Jon 
Vaughn!”
University 
Interim 
President 
Mary Sue Coleman wrote in the 
press release that the settlement is 
another move towards securing the 
safety of the campus community. 
“This 
settlement 
allows 
the 
university 
to 
protect 
future 
generations of students and everyone 
in 
the 
university 
community,” 
Coleman wrote. “It complements a 
separate settlement reached earlier 
this year that adds a Coordinated 
Community Response Team to the 
best practices now in place. We are 
committed to a safe, welcoming 
environment 
for 
everyone 
at 
Michigan.”
Friday’s settlement with the 
Anderson survivors was finalized 
after another settlement was reached 
in March between the University and 
attorneys representing U-M students 
in a class-action lawsuit. The March 
settlement involved a promise to 
create the Coordinated Community 
Response Team (CCRT) in an effort 
to address misconduct and increase 
transparency with the University’s 
response to sexual assault and 
harassment on campus.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

TESS CROWLEY/Daily

Construction causes road closures on State St. Tuesday afternoon.
JENNA HICKEY/Daily

