YPSILANTI, MI - First-year students braved 90-degree heat, and a slew of new COVID-19 protocols, to move into Eastern Michigan University dorms on Thursday.
While families and students said the new COVID-19 rules are easy to follow, the university’s teachers’ unions issued a statement on Aug. 26, saying not enough measures are in place to prevent virus spread.
Move-in started Thursday, Aug. 26, and runs through Sunday, Aug. 29. Classes begin on Aug. 30.
EMU instituted a vaccine mandate for all students living in university housing, giving them until Sept. 3 to receive their final shots and submit proof of vaccination to the university’s COVID Vax Certification system. Non-vaccinated students must undergo weekly testing until they reach full vaccination.
Read more: Weekly COVID testing required for non-vaccinated at Eastern Michigan University
Incoming students and family also needed to screen for symptoms prior to arriving on campus, as well as wear masks and physically distance while inside dormitories. The process was smooth, said incoming freshman Parker Sparrow from Whitmore Lake.
“It’s been a pretty easy, smooth ride,” she said. “We’ve gotten plenty of emails that lay it all out.”
Fellow freshman William Facen, from Detroit agreed, adding that university staff members have been good in helping students comply with guidelines.
“If I ever had a question, I just call and they pick up right away,” he said.
Sparrow, Facen and the hundreds of families on the Ypsilanti campus, however, agreed on one unavoidable negative: It was hot, hot, hot. Temperatures climbed in the early afternoon with around 50% to 60% humidity.
Eastern Michigan University President James Smith overseeing move-in day for first-year students. Aug. 26, 2021.Sam Dodge | MLive.com
Other than that heat and humidity, EMU President James Smith was happy to see students move in with protocols that promote the safety and wellbeing of the campus community.
“We’re always concerned, but we’ve had a really good year of safety protocols and a great advisory committee working with us,” Smith said. “We’re excited about bringing back lots of students who have lots of options to learn -- hybrid, all online and all in-person.”
EMU has seen 424 positive COVID-19 cases since last fall semester, according to its coronavirus database. This is relatively small compared to 6,667 cumulative cases at neighboring University of Michigan, according to the UM database, though EMU was mostly virtual all last school year.
Read more: For first time in 2 years, University of Michigan move-in day (mostly) normal
Despite this success, two EMU teacher unions said the university is “not fully prepared to prevent the spread of COVID-19.” The EMU Federation of Teachers and the EMU-American Association of University Professors accuse the university of having “patchwork vaccine requirements and lax enforcement.”
“We want everyone at EMU -- students, faculty and staff -- to be as safe as possible when we start the fall semester,” said EMU-AAUP President Mohamed El-Sayed. “We are particularly concerned for members who are immunocompromised or have children who can’t yet be vaccinated. Many of our members agreed to teach in-person courses in very different circumstances.”
A joint statement from the two unions calls for a full campus-wide vaccination mandate for all students, faculty and staff. They also seek better measures to verify a student’s proof of vaccination, more notification on classroom exposures to COVID-19 and the ability to teach solely online without losing wages.
“We all want to be back on campus,” said Daric Thorne, EMUFT president. “But we want to make sure that our students, faculty and staff are as safe as possible in the classroom. The best policy to keep EMU open is vaccination, frequent testing, and masking. EMU is moving in that direction, but we have to move faster.”
The unions also want a requirement that members of the campus community test every 72 hours if they are not vaccinated.
Smith pointed to the university’s relatively low case numbers as testament to EMU’s success in preventing spread, but acknowledged challenges lie ahead.
“As I’ve said many times over the last 18 months, this only works if students are compliant and work with us,” Smith said. “I wish there was wood I could knock on right now, because obviously we’ve done really well in the last year or so, but we’re into a new year and a lot more folks are living on campus this year. So it’ll be a bit more challenging.”
Smith continues to encourage vaccination for everyone not living in campus housing. Opportunities to receive the vaccine on campus at clinics or elsewhere can be found here. Students may apply for medical or religious exemptions here.
COVID-19 concerns, however, were not top of mind for students, such as Sparrow or Facen. For Facen, it’s the standard freshman interest of joining a new club, such as the Brotherhood Scholars.
Sparrow is excited to finally go to EMU after deferring for a year.
“Finally, after a year off -- it’s been a long time -- I’m ready for new experiences,” she said. “Meeting new people. It was worth the wait.”
Read more from The Ann Arbor News:
University of Michigan football game day shuttles coming from Ann Arbor’s TheRide
Parents want most teachers, students vaccinated, University of Michigan poll says
Larger, diverse incoming class of 9,200 students coming to Michigan State University this year
"smooth" - Google News
August 27, 2021 at 03:35AM
https://ift.tt/3jn0SyO
Move-in day at Eastern Michigan University smooth despite COVID concerns from teacher's union - MLive.com
"smooth" - Google News
https://ift.tt/30JhCVH
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Move-in day at Eastern Michigan University smooth despite COVID concerns from teacher's union - MLive.com"
Post a Comment