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Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Ann Arbor, Michigan

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Meet the essential University workers Employees maintain campus amid crisis CLAIRE HAO

Daily News Editor

COVID-19 disproportionately affects Black population Washtenaw County residents discuss barriers in preventing virus JASMIN LEE

Daily Staff Reporter

Washtenaw County has more than 700 cases of COVID-19 as of this week. While residents who identify as African American or Black make up 12.4 percent of the county population, 48 percent of hospitalized cases are residents who identify as African American or Black. This pattern is consistent in coronavirus cases across that state and the nation. Detroit has almost

7,000 cases of COVID-19 and close to 400 deaths. Of those same cases, 57.7 percent are African American Detroit residents and 75.7 percent of COVID-19 deaths are African Americans. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has taken measures to address the increasing number of cases among African Americans in Michigan, including creating a minority taskforce to advise her on issues concerning the Black community led by Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist. She has declared a state of disaster and is working with the federal

government to get more ventilators and personal protective equipment. Susan Ringler-Cerniglia, communications and health promotion administrator, sent out an email to Washtenaw County residents highlighting data about race and zip codes. This email explained the disparities between the African American COVID-19 cases from Washtenaw County and the total population of African American residents from Washtenaw County. See COVID-19, Page 3

The University of Michigan feels like a ghost town. In any normal year, April might be one of the most active months on campus. As the weather warms up, students cautiously come out of hibernation. The Diag comes alive with picnickers and hammockers, resembling stock photos of an idyllic college campus. This is when freshmen venture down to Blank Slate to get their first ice cream scoops of the calendar year and when seniors frolic in caps and gowns, showing their families around a campus they have called home for four years. Instead, campus is almost entirely empty, which Music, Theatre & Dance and LSA sophomore Michael Hu, a student transit coach operator, said feels both terrifying and surreal. “Seeing the places that you’re so used to being filled with people, some of these areas you just never have seen without people,” Hu said. “And it’s definitely a crazy sight to see — the places are completely empty.” Since classes shifted online in mid-March due to the coronavirus outbreak, students were urged to

go home unless they “truly have no other alternatives.” Most students have left campus, leaving closed libraries and other University buildings behind. Following Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-athome executive orders, almost all University faculty and staff have been told to work from home as well. In response to uncertainties resulting from the pandemic, the University created an 80-hour “U-M COVID-19 Paid Time Off” bank on March 13 for all full-time employees for any COVID-19 related scenario. Starting April 1, the Federal Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act provides employees an additional 80 hours of PTO on top of the U-M COVID-19 bank. Michigan Medicine employees who need to self-isolate after contracting the virus are also eligible for a 120-hour time off work bank in addition to the other two banks. However, “certain employees designated as critical to infrastructure or public health and safety” continue to report in-person to work. Some are our custodians, the individuals who do the work behind reassurances from numerous University-affiliated offices that cleaning protocols have increased. See ESSENTIAL, Page 3

Proposed changes to tenure bylaws include refusal of severance pay in cases of alleged misconduct

Recommendations from working group alter Regents’ Bylaws 5.09, 5.10, streamlining process of reviewing cases LIAT WEINSTEIN Daily News Editor

The University of Michigan announced recommended changes to policies for handling the dismissal of tenured faculty members on Monday, more than six months after a tenure bylaw working group comprised of nine faculty members was formed to discuss these recommendations. These changes impact Regents’ Bylaws 5.09 and 5.10, which deal with procedures for dismissing tenured faculty accused of crimes or misconduct, in addition to severance pay policies. Changes to the bylaws include creating one streamlined process for cases referred to the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, forming a new SACUA Standing Judicial Committee and Hearing Committee of tenured faculty and implementing a policy that suspends a faculty member’s pay during the

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investigation if they were accused of a felony involving violence, among other revisions. The group also recommended the University not provide severance pay to tenured faculty members accused of “moral turpitude” or misconduct. In a statement, Susan Collins, interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, reiterated the University’s commitment to protecting the institution of tenure and mentioned the need to account for unusual circumstances requiring the dismissal of tenured faculty. “The academic freedom granted by tenure is at the core of everything we do at the University of Michigan,” Collins told The University Record. “However, there are some situations, though rare, that rightfully fall outside of tenure’s protections.” The Board of Regents is scheduled to discuss and vote on these revisions at their upcoming meeting on May 21.

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ALEC COHEN/Daily The University announces proposed tenure changes that could refuse severance pay in cases of misconduct.

In an email to The Daily, University spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald said the changes are a result of work done by the faculty working group.

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“This recommendation is largely the work of a group of faculty members, appointed by the provosts on all three campuses,” Fitzgerald said.

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ESSENTIAL From Page 1 Some are our dining hall staff, making sure students who remain in the residence halls can still depend on takeout meals. And some are our bus drivers, ensuring no matter how disorienting the world may get, you can still miss the bus to North Campus. Here are some of the many University essential employees, as they share how COVID19 has affected their lives, and what they want University students to know. Custodial Services According to an email to The Daily from Lukeland Gentles, custodial and grounds services director, the department is currently operating at approximately 30 percent capacity. Gentles wrote that staff have upped cleaning and disinfection of high-touch services, such as doorknobs and handles, light switches, elevator buttons, handrails and drinking fountains. When a positive case is reported on campus, Gentles wrote the team works with the Environment, Health and Safety Department to provide quick-response cleaning. Though the team regularly checks the majority of campus buildings, which Gentles wrote still have some level of activity, the team prioritizes areas critical to the University’s mission such as those which support essential research, animal care and remote learning. To protect custodians on the job, Gentles wrote the department provides personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves as well as training on how to use this equipment. According to Gentles, anyone who is sick is encouraged to stay home. “Our custodians play an essential role in slowing the spread of COVID-19 on campus,” Gentles wrote. “They are motivated about supporting the university. There is some anxiety, and like all of us, they worry about contracting the virus. We do as much as we

COVID-19 From Page 1

Also stated in the email were factors that could have contributed to the disparities in data, such as structural and environmental racism, access to health care and societal and economic factors. The county also shared that the COVID-19 cases are concentrated in Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township. Ringler-Cerniglia told The Daily that the Washtenaw County Health Department has been working on eliminating these disparities before COVID-19 occurred and is continuing to listen to the concerns of affected communities throughout the pandemic. “This isn’t something that we see only with Coronavirus. So it’s part of what we, as a public health department, are striving to do and improve all the time,” Ringler-Cerniglia said. “We have long standing efforts to work with community members and with organizations to identify where we see these types of impacts and work to approve that to improve them.” African Americans are more at risk to die from COVID-19 due to underlying health conditions that stem from systematic racism. Conditions such as diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure are more prevalent among African Americans, making them more likely to die from the virus. One initiative Washtenaw County has put together is a Community Voices for Health Equity Team. Alex Thomas lives in Ypsilanti Township and is a member of this team as a representative for West Willow. He has been working as a community advocate since 2016 and has worked with the University of Michigan to address the needs of the West Willow neighborhood. Thomas told The Daily that many factors impact the social determinants of health that make the African American population

News

Tuesday, April 14, 2020 — 3

can to mitigate the risk. We really appreciate their dedication to keeping this university operational.” Contrell Cooper, University custodian As of April 1, Contrell Cooper has been working at the University for exactly 20 years. He spent his first 17 years at the Michigan Union and when it closed for renovations, his move to East Quad was supposed to only be temporary. But Cooper decided to stay. “And what motivated me to stay where I’m at and why I like it so much, my birthday had came up,” Cooper said. “It was December 12. So, you know, I get to work and whatnot. And I see this birthday card on my custodial door… And all my students, they gave me some lovely birthday cards, cards that they made and stuff like that. It really, really made me feel good.” Starting March 20, Cooper decided to take two weeks off from the 80-hours paid time bank. When asked if he ever felt nervous going to work in light of the pandemic, Cooper said he both was and wasn’t. “I will say this, in a way I was, but in a way I wasn’t,” Cooper said. “And the reason why I said in a way I was because I just wanted to make sure that students knew exactly what was going on. And the other part of that question, we were pretty prepared for everything that was coming our way.” Cooper said he feels protected while working, as he never takes off his gloves. When asked if he has felt there’s been more work required of him and other custodial staff now that keeping the campus clean is a health priority, Cooper said he thinks additional work is necessary. “I think it’s good that we have to put in extra work because we try to keep everybody safe,” Cooper said. “And I thought it was a good idea for them to tell us to basically step our game up.” During the school year, Cooper said he bonded with all the students who lived on the floor he was responsible for. “I’m so used to everybody, every time I

came to work, somebody said ‘How you doing Cooper?’” Cooper said. “I call everybody on my floor my little brothers and my little sisters.” When students began to move out of the residence halls, Cooper said it upset him to see his students leave, even though he knew it was for the best. However, he said he hopes to see students moving in once again in the fall. “I wish I could have videotaped, I mean, people was crying, giving me hugs, like they didn’t want to leave,” Cooper said. “And I didn’t want to see them leave… And I know I’m jumping the gun when I say this, but I can’t wait until everybody get back… That’s my hope, that we could start on time and have everybody moved back and new students moving in. Because like I said, we can overcome this. We just got to stick together and just deal with what’s coming in.” Ann Washington, Student Publications Building custodian Production of The Daily, like most everything in the University, has moved entirely online. Once filled five days a week with dozens of staffers until late into the night, the newsroom is now empty and inaccessible to most of the staff. Other publications in the Student Publications Building — Michiganensian Yearbook, SHEI Magazine and Gargoyle — have vacated it temporarily as well. Yet, twice a week, Ann Washington, a custodian with A&G Cleaning and Janitorial Services, still comes to clean the building. She comes to take out the trash, sweep down the steps, vacuum and mop the floors. When asked if she thinks the building should be kept open, Washington said she will continue to come to work until her manager tells her to stop. “It wasn’t a whole lot of work,” Washington said. “It’ll really be up to them. If they feel like it should be closed, then they can close it. But with me, I don’t have no say. So how long it can stay open or anything like that, I just know as long as it’s running, I have to go to work. I know

that, that’s all I know.” However, Washington said she isn’t afraid of contracting COVID-19 by cleaning the Student Publications Building because she knows not many people frequent the building anymore. To protect herself, she sprays Lysol as she enters the building and wears gloves and a mask. If she were to have to clean a building frequented by a lot of people, Washington said she would not go to work. Until then, Washington said she wants students who usually use the Student Publications Building to know she is ensuring the building is safe and healthy for students when they return. “I’m going to make sure that when you guys do come back in that building, I’ve been disinfecting that building real good,” Washington said. “I’ve been disinfecting everything in there for just in case. I’m trying to keep everything safe and healthy for all of us… I have to look out for you guys, I have to look out for me, I have to look out for everybody in that building, and I don’t mind.” Transit Services Lisa Solomon, communications manager for Logistics, Transportation & Parking, said, in an email to The Dail, that about one-third of the department’s staff are still reporting to work on campus. “Like other units within Facilities & Operations, Logistics, Transportation & Parking continues to perform critical and essential university functions and in support of operations at Michigan Medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Solomon wrote. Solomon wrote essential services provided by transit employees include transporting front-line employees such as those at Michigan Medicine, moving materials and equipment to Michigan Medicine and providing waste management for the campus.

in Ypsilanti more vulnerable to COVID-19. Conditions such as poverty contribute to childhood trauma and housing stability as prevalent conditions in Washtenaw County. “Housing instability. If you don’t have a place to live, you’re kind of going to be more susceptible,” Thomas said. “And so we have a huge houseless population on the streets or … instability, that causes a lot of stress. And that’s an immunosuppressant that compromises the immune system stress and anxiety. And it’s very stressful anxiety if you don’t have a place to live… But if you spend 50 percent of your income on housing, you’re not going to have discretionary income and these needs are going to be unmet. And you’re going to have those impacts of stress and anxiety.” A K-12 teacher in Washtenaw County spoke to The Daily about her students. Due to fear of retaliation at her place of work, she will be referred to as Jane for the rest of the article. Jane is a teacher in Washtenaw County and notes that many of her students are essential workers in grocery stores. Many essential workers have been diagnosed with COVID-19, which makes them susceptible to fatal causes. She said she sees how COVID-19 is impacting students in her community through circumstances that harm their safety at home. “A lot of our students experience an overwhelming amount of trauma just within high school. Even going out for essential items, I see a lot of my students just outside,” Jane said. “I have to remember to not be the person to be like, ‘hey you need to go home’ because they are dealing with so much. So I think trauma at home makes them vulnerable. I definitely think a lot of them have asthma, and that makes them vulnerable. And I think there’s been a lot of the essential workforce in the community and their parents makes them vulnerable to it.” Yodit Mesfin Johnson, president and CEO of Nonprofit Enterprises at Work, told The Daily about the income disparity in Washtenaw

County and how the division of wealth in Washtenaw has contributed to underlying factors that make communities vulnerable to COVID-19. “Washtenaw County is the third wealthiest county in the state of Michigan, yet 40 percent of the people who live in this community live at what we call ALICE levels, Asset limited income constrained,” Johnson said. “So these are people who are living check to check or in poverty. Forty percent of our communities are living at or below poverty. And of that 40 percent, 60 percent of those people are African American and reside on the east side of the county in Ypsilanti, Willow Run, and Ypsi City. I think that’s also important because this is a story of ‘A Tale of Two Cities.’ People perceive us as this progressive liberal, wealthy bedroom community of Detroit, but we have people literally barely making ends meet in the third wealthiest county.” Alfred Young Jr., professor of sociology at the University, conducts research on low-income, urban-based African Americans. Young told The Daily many African Americans are not able to stay inside as they must continue working in order to survive this crisis. “Many African Americans, particularly of low-income circumstances, do not have the luxury of thinking about staying at home as the best means of surviving the crisis,” Young said. “They have little to no financial reserve. Therefore, as much as many Americans think that staying home ensures survival, struggling African Americans, if employed, feel that they must go to work in order to survive. Delivering food and groceries, stocking store shelves and any other kind of service work that they do — which actually enables more privileged people to remain comfortably at home and survive during the crisis — is precisely what African Americans who are in the working poor have to do in order to survive.” Catherine Lee, an Ann Arbor resident,

is a mother of three. One of her sons is immunocompromised and her family has a history of diabetes. She said her family is working to manage these health conditions by incorporating a plant-based diet, but Lee acknowledged many families are not able to find better alternatives to manage these health concerns. “(Underlying health conditions are) mostly due to systematic racism. (African Americans) are sicker as a whole due to lack of education and resources when it comes to health. I know for our family, we started practicing a plant-based diet about three years ago and for a lot of people who look like us, that’s foreign,” Lee said. Racial bias in the medical field has also contributed to African Americans becoming more susceptible to COVID-19. Studies show doctors are less likely to test African Americans for COVID-19, which forces them to go through multiple visits before they can get a test. Engineering freshman Temi Akinbola lives in Ypsilanti and touched on how African Americans are not treated equally by doctors due to a misconception that they are stronger. She said this misconception is preventing African Americans from getting tested for COVID-19. “There’s also the fact that African Americans, just in the healthcare system, even if they have money, still aren’t treated the way they’re supposed to be treated,” Akinbola said. “There’s no reason that I’m three to four times more likely to die in childbirth than my equal counterpart. There’s a stigma that doctors have like, ‘African Americans are stronger, and stuff like that.’ But that’s not a reason to not pay attention to like whatever their patients may be saying and stuff like that. So there’s also the fact that some doctors just won’t test them based on race.”

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Opinion

4 — Tuesday, April 14, 2020

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OWEN STECCO | COLUMN

In defense of “that woman from Michigan”

s Gov. Gretchen Whitmer tackles the COVID-19 crisis, she has been met with criticism and attacks from President Donald Trump. The president neglects to mention her by name and instead resorts to “that woman from Michigan.” During his phone interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News, the president expressed concerns about our governor’s knowledge of the situation at hand. He went on to discount her efforts by claiming she was young and had no idea what was going on. While the president’s attacks seem out of place in the midst of a global pandemic, Gov. Whitmer and women in politics are all too familiar with persistent criticism and attacks meant to undermine their successes. At the time of publication, the state of Michigan sits in fourth place for the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States. In response, Gov. Whitmer has stepped up to issue shelter-in-place orders, the closure of nonessential businesses and the suspension of the in-person school year for public schools. The federal government has taken a free-for-all approach when it comes to the states and has pushed for governors to bid on supplies and not rely on the federal government’s support. In addition to this approach, President Trump advised Vice President Mike Pence not to call “the woman from Michigan” because she does not treat him right, again neglecting to refer to her by name. The lack of recognition or support from colleagues is nothing new to Gov. Whitmer. She started her State of the State speech this year by saying “This is not the red carpet. Please, I urge you, focus on the substance of my speech. It’s about issues, not appearances.” This came after countless articles and posts shaming Whitmer for her appearance after her first address to the state as governor. Gov. Whitmer and other women in the public eye face societal

stigmas as viewers and voters frequently focus on what they are wearing rather than what they are saying or doing. There is always a need for women in politics to be one step ahead and overly prepared in the face of misogyny. This reality is heavily perpetuated by the president as he elects to attack Gov. Whitmer rather than uniting a country facing mass casualties and economic catastrophe.

This leadership by the governor has been overlooked and undercut by the president. The extra hurdle women must clear in order to be at the same standing and consideration as men was personified by the “electability” argument in the 2020 Democratic primary. As many are painfully aware, the primary field began as the most diverse in history with a crowded race of women, racial minorities and the first major LGBTQ+ candidate. But, the f lawed electability argument of how someone’s neighbor would vote and who could beat Donald Trump left us with a duo of white men over 70 years old. This argument for electability turned out to be a veil of internalized racism and misogyny as the party that represents the broadest coalition of people of color and minority groups found itself with two privileged candidates. The electability narrative allows for a greater level of criticism as 33 percent of Americans believe their neighbors and community members wouldn’t support a female candidate. The knowledge that those around us are apprehensive or unsupportive of women in positions of power has seemingly excused individuals’ lack of trust and support of women in politics. While

women like Gov. Whitmer, a former Democratic Senate Leader and prosecutor, are qualified for the offices they hold, it is all too common to write them off as aggressive, young, inexperienced and pushy. While President Trump has focused on how Gov. Whitmer’s calls for support are unappreciative, let us instead look to what she has done for our state during this time of unprecedented uncertainty. Within three days of our first cases, Gov. Whitmer announced the closure of our schools, banned large gatherings and announced restrictions on entry to health care and juvenile facilities to reduce the spread of the virus. Since her early response and action, Gov. Whitmer rolled out a long string of legislation, executive orders and trailblazing moves to limit COVID-19 in Michigan. This leadership by the governor has been overlooked and undercut by the president. His inability to address Gov. Whitmer by name, along with advice to withhold support from our state as we are overwhelmed by the virus, is reprehensible. Our president frequently undermines the successes of public officials and attacks those at odds with his mission. While he does this, we must pay close attention to how he and those up and down the political totem poll treat and speak about women in positions of power. Many Americans assume those around them do not have faith in women in the political sphere as they write off and criticize women in relation to men. It’s past due for us to take it upon ourselves to look at the policies rather than the outfits and not participate in the herd mentality of electability when determining who is “best suited” for the job. And it’s past due for our president to refer to the governor strained for supplies and support by her name. Owen Stecco can be reached at ostecco@umich.edu.

What we can learn from Korea

s much a s I would love to f ind a dif ferent topic to w rite about, t he COV ID 19 pa ndemic ha s been t he only releva nt topic t hat ha s been updating itself for t he pa st few weeks. The Universit y of Michiga n encouraged a ll st udents to ret urn to t heir perma nent residence, so I lef t A nn A rbor to f ly back to Sout h Korea la st Sat urday. When I f ina lly stepped out of t he a irpla ne f ull of people sha ring t he sa me objective of reaching t heir homes af ter about 14 hours of t ravel, I could see t hat my home count r y was dea ling w it h t he whole pa ndemic sit uation in a radica lly dif ferent ma nner. It usua lly ta kes about 10 to 15 minutes to get t hrough t he pa sspor t cont rol a nd pick up your luggage at t he Incheon Internationa l A irpor t. However, this time it took me an hour a nd a ha lf. Severa l tea ms of a irpor t staf f members a nd public hea lt h workers lined up t he pa ssengers where t hey checked if a ll incoming pa ssengers had dow nloaded a self-diag nosis t racking application on t heir phones. I wa s g iven more t ha n enough information a nd expla nation rega rding t he application a nd t he need for us to dow nload it to keep t rack of our hea lt h. Then, when I f ina lly reached t he act ua l checkpoint, a public hea lt h of f icia l checked my temperat ure w it h a simple elect ronic t hermometer. I recorded 98.6 deg rees a nd wa s g iven a piece of paper t hat read “qua ra ntine cer tif icate.” I wa s t hen a sked to f ill out brief paper work t hat a sked for my address a nd phone number. When I a sked t he of f icer collecting t he paper work what t his was for, he kindly a nswered t hat t he Korea n government newly ma ndated a ll its ret urning citizens to practice selfqua ra ntine for 14 days a nd t hose pieces of information were needed for t he loca l government of my residence to check on my stat us. Out of curiosit y, I t hen a sked if t here would be lega l repercussions if I broke t he self-qua ra ntine a nd t he a nswer wa s, a s expected, yes. Noncomplia nce to t he selfqua ra ntine order is punishable by up to a yea r of imprisonment or a f ine up to 10,000,000 won, which is equiva lent to a lmost $10,000. South Korea had two unique strategies dealing with COVID-19 that the United States did not. The first was testing. Korea was much quicker to react to the global health crisis when compared to many other countries, partly because of its past experience with Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2015. As soon as the first confirmed COVID19 case from China was announced, Korean companies jumped in on developing test kits. Beginning in late February, soon after the Lunar New Year holidays, Korea started to develop the capabilit y of testing about 20,000 people a day and now has about 10,000 tests run per one million people, which is the highest confirmed data among all affected countries. The second strateg y was heightened, yet relatively wellaccepted, surveillance on citizens. This does not mean that the Korean government wiretaps phone calls or collects all private information

to track certain individuals down. Rather, the government effectively utilized the recent trend of cashless transactions and spiked use of smartphones to track people who came in contact with a confirmed patient. Korea has the highest proportion of cashless transactions and one of the highest phone ownership rates in the world. In addition, the government was able to successfully trace those in mandatory 14-day self-quarantine; the application I was told to download upon arrival was not only for self-diag nosis reporting but also for location tracking to notif y the desig nated local government official if I leave my self-quarantine spot. The desig nated local government official calls me every morning to check if I am still in my self-quarantine spot and asks if I am showing any symptoms. Korean citizens, including myself, do not have much problem with being possibly traced or receiving phone calls from the local government every morning. Except for some outrageous cases of noncompliance to the self-quarantine order, including a South Korean student traveling to Jeju Island with her mother a day after arriving in Korea from the U.S., most citizens are taking social distancing fairly seriously. I am certainly not an expert in biomedical industries of either country but I doubt the U.S. lacks the technolog y or capital to develop testing kits. One of the crucial differences between Korea and the U.S. was the government’s attitude. President Trump dismissed the potential severit y of the virus when it first emerged as a global health threat while consistently labeling it the “Chinese Virus.” President Trump had also poorly reorganized the National Securit y Council (NSC) so that it was not fit to react to pandemics like COVID-19. The Obama administration had done the same but restored the original NSC structure after going through the Ebola crisis in 2014. In addition, the Trump administration was recently found to have told the federal agency to classif y COVID-19 deliberations, keeping crucial information like the scope of infection and quarantine restrictions from the public. While Korea learned from MERS in 2015, it seems as if the U.S. did not learn much from Ebola in 2014. I am not saying the U.S. should implement such a strict enforcement on self-quarantine and social distancing without much consideration. Americans could certainly react differently than Koreans if they were legally obligated to not leave their homes and local government agents kept track of them constantly. However, given the recent trend of everincreasing cases, some form of mandatory social distancing does not sound too eg regious. The disease is not successfully being contained, especially in Michigan where the cases only continue to rise. Maybe the societ y as a whole really should consider a hard-hitting method like that of Korea to possibly bring the Min Soo Kim can be reached at kiminsoo@umich.edu.

Opinion

5 — Tuesday, April 14, 2020

ANIK JOSHI | COLUMN

Bernie 2016, 2020 and beyond

en. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., will not be the Democratic nominee for president in 2020, just as he wasn’t the nominee in 2016. The 2016 run was the first time a number of left-wing ideas were reintroduced in the public square and they (and Sanders) consistently polled well. Though Hillary Clinton won the race, some Sanders supporters saw a moral victory and many saw better odds for him in 2020; he was seen as one of the frontrunners from the first day of speculation surrounding this race. How did it all fall apart? A primary reason is that people drew the wrong conclusions from the 2016 primary and thus went into 2020 with a misshapen strategy. 2016 was a unique primary for the Democrats — no one except Clinton was really in it. She immediately cleared the field as the Clintons have been bastions of Democratic politics since the 1980s, and there was no reason for people to risk crossing her when, in all likelihood, she would come out on top. Hillary and more broadly, the Clintons, were wellliked within the party apparatus but she was thought to be better liked by the voters within the party than she actually was. In other words, she was something of a paper tiger which Sanders (and his campaign) readily took advantage of. Photos of Sanders’s 2015 announcement of his first run are incredible in how sparsely attended they are. Within a year of this conference, Sanders was able to summon ten thousand to

an arena with three days notice. Sanders wasn’t especially known but he was also not especially hidden — he had been on The Daily Show back when Jon Stewart was hosting it. Sanders won more than 20 contests in the 2016 primary but still lost by millions of votes nationwide. Because he was seen to have performed so strongly, there was immediate speculation about his 2020 plans. As the most left-wing candidate since George McGovern in the 1970s, Sanders was seen by many to be a frontrunner from nearly the day he entered the race. However, it faded slowly and eventually, former Vice President Joe Biden effectively locked up the nomination after a triumphant victory in South Carolina and a strong Super Tuesday showing. The problem with Sanders’s 2020 campaign was that it was built off the presumption that he did well in 2016 because people liked him. While this was part of it, a much bigger part of his support seemed to come from those seeking “ABC,” or “Anyone But Clinton.” The problem with building a strategy centered around having an incredibly unpopular person as the frontrunner is that it only works when there is an incredibly unpopular person as the frontrunner. There was one of those in 2016 but there wasn’t one in 2020 and as a result, Sanders saw far worse results. Beyond this, the Sanders campaign was built on an expectation that the splintered field would endure far longer

than it actually did. President Donald Trump was able to win the nomination in 2016 because there was no single anti-Trump candidate. There was former Gov. of Ohio John Kasich, Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and so many more. None of them were able or willing to exit the race and so they continued splintering the vote. That wasn’t a problem on the Democratic side this year. Right before the start of Super Tuesday a number of moderate candidates who would have split Biden’s vote dropped out, including former Mayor of South Bend, Ind., Pete Buttigieg, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. After this, Biden held a Texas rally where many former candidates (including ones that had dropped out earlier) endorsed him. This support, combined with Biden’s strong Super Tuesday showing ensured he would be the nominee. Looking forward however, not all is lost. Biden will probably have a more liberal platform than either of the previous times he was on the top of the ticket. Consequently, his governance will in all likelihood be to the left of Barack Obama. But, if Sanders (or someone subscribing to his theory of politics) is to run and win, they must first accept that both a strategy of having an unpopular avatar for middlebrow liberalism and a strategy of counting on a splintered field are good ideas in theory, but don’t tend to hold in practice. Anik Joshi can be reached at anikj@umich.edu.

ANNA GETZINGER | CONTACT CARTOONIST AT GETZINGA@UMICH.EDU

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

EMILY ULRICH | COLUMN

Before you place your next Amazon order ...

here have been four global recessions to date: 1975, 1982, 1991 and 2009 with 2020 currently being added to this list. The economic downfall that we are experiencing due to the COVID19 pandemic is predicted to exceed any of the previous recessions. Over ten million Americans applied for unemployment benefits in March alone. The number of jobs lost due to COVID-19 in the last two weeks is comparable to the total jobs lost over a span of two years during the Great Recession. The intense restrictions placed on businesses are leading to not only a deep but also long-lasting downturn in the economy. Every region of the world is experiencing this financial crisis. However, there is one business that seems to be booming during this cataclysm — Amazon.com, Inc. People are lenient to spend money right now, but the money that is being spent is concentrated in online delivery businesses. While most companies are laying off employees, Amazon. com Inc. is expected to hire 100,000 new employees in order to meet the consumer demands for home deliveries. The convenience of having groceries, toiletries, dog food, etc., arriving at your doorstep is appreciable, especially during a pandemic. However, convenience comes with a cost, and Amazon employees are paying the toll. While most of the world is motivating people to stay home and flatten the curve, Amazon is encouraging the opposite. The company raised wages $2 an hour and offered overtime at double the hourly rate. Instead of doing everything to protect its workers, Amazon is going against government shelter in place orders and jeopardizing employee health. At some locations, employees are working without masks, proper gloves, hand sanitizer or wipes, making Amazon warehouses playgrounds for the virus. More than 50 of their warehouses already have confirmed cases of COVID-19. The company informs its employees only after word has already leaked to the press about confirmed cases. Many employees walked off the job

once they heard of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in their warehouse, leaving the remaining employees with twice as much work to do. Amazon employees have organized workplace walkouts and held protests outside the warehouses trying to prove that their health is just as essential as any package. Amazon agreed to pay for two weeks of sick time off for individuals that were diagnosed with the virus. Many employees who believed that they needed to self-quarantine due to compromised immune systems or because they had come in contact with others who tested positive were not eligible for this paid time off. Owing to this policy, many employees worked while exhibiting symptoms since they had to wait for their test results to receive the time off. These employees could have been spreading the virus abundantly throughout the warehouse for up to two weeks. Additionally, there is limited access to COVID-19 tests, making paid time off even less attainable. This policy has been mildly adjusted to accommodate employees who are caring for family members with COVID-19. The warehouse in Queens, New York, had the first publicly known case of COVID-19. The company shut down the warehouse for two days for cleaning, but employees returned to work as normal shortly after. Frustrations have risen among warehouse workers as they continue to move extraneous products. It is hard to comprehend that the company would risk the health of hundreds of thousands of employees to ship items such as puzzles or books. The divide between what is essential and nonessential seems to be misinterpreted by Amazon headquarters. Home delivery orders are surging for all kinds of products and fulfilling these orders is asking workers to put themselves at risk. Corporate profit is being valued over employees during this public health crisis. Before placing a nonessential order, we must consider if the convenience is worth the cost. Emily Ulrich can be reached at emulrich@umich.edu.

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Arts

Tuesday, April 14, 2020 — 6

ARTIST TRIBUTE

Rest easy, John Prine: you were the best to ever do it JIM WILSON

Daily Arts Writer

John Prine was the best to ever do it, plain and simple. It’s the objective truth. When Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, three giants in the American songwriting scene, all claim that someone is the best American songwriter of all time, you have no choice but to listen, and John Prine was that someone. In terms of commercial success, Prine pales in comparison to the aforementioned behemoths, but in terms of legacy and influence, he’s right up there with them, maybe even a tier above. Since 1971, he has had a steady outpouring of music, having released his most recent record, the outstanding Tree of Forgiveness, in 2018. His music has influenced artists ranging from Bon Iver and Kurt Vile to Kacey Musgraves and Jason Isbell, among countless others. On Mar. 19, his wife Fiona announced she had been diagnosed with COVID-19. However, she assured fans that Prine had been quarantined in their house apart from her. On Mar. 26, she revealed Prine had been admitted to the hospital due to corona-like symptoms. He was later intubated and in critical condition as of Mar. 28. A few days ago, on Apr. 7, he died of complications related to COVID-19, at age 73. Prine was a fighter, having beaten both squamous cell cancer on the right side of his neck in 1993 and cancer in his left lung in 2013, returning to the tour circuit after only a few months of recovery. Given his age and compromised immune system, though, he just couldn’t get past coronavirus, despite taking extensive measures to protect himself. It’s hard to accept that he’s gone, especially considering the circumstances, but it’s clear that he will not be forgotten. It may be cliche to say this, but his spirit will live on through his music. John Prine was the first artist that really stuck with me. And when I say stuck with me, I mean that he grabbed me and never let go. I remember the very first time I heard a John Prine song. I was in middle school, frenzied to find something to replace the tired old songs that, thanks to the disc jockeys at the local classic rock

station, spewed endlessly from the radio in my parents’ kitchen. It’s not that I hated these songs, but I had heard them all thousands of times. I needed something fresh, so every night before I went to sleep, I would spend hours creating and wading through Pandora stations, waiting for something to grab my ear. After one especially late night, I finally found exactly what I was looking for. I had never heard anything like it before, but I knew that it was just what I needed. It was a live version of “Illegal Smile” from Prine’s self-titled debut album, recorded in 1988 at The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. It was love at first listen. It was everything I had hoped for. It’s a silly song about smiling at things that aren’t funny, aided perfectly by a gently looping acoustic guitar. Prine’s charisma is immediately apparent as he banters back and forth with audience members and adlibs phrases like “Well done / Song of a gun / Hot dog bun / Attilla the Hun / My Sister … is a nun!” It’s hard not to be spellbound by “Illegal Smile.” It has everything that makes John Prine the best to ever do it, from the simple but not dumb lyrics to his friendly, familiar croak. It’s sharp, funny and empathetic, even if its lyrics don’t always make sense. It was the perfect introduction to John Prine. Though it was impossible for Prine to become acquainted with all his fans — although I’m sure he would have liked to — he had the unique ability to touch each and every person who listened to his records. He simply understood people and did what he could to help them. Everyone has their own favorite John Prine song and few have the same favorite John Prine song because his songs covered every state of the human condition. Take 1978’s “Fish and Whistle,” for example. Prine ponders why we choose the paths we go down in life and the mistakes that go along with those choices. “Father forgive us for what we must do / You forgive us, we’ll forgive you / We’ll forgive each other until we both turn blue / Then we’ll whistle and go fishing in Heaven,” he sings on each chorus that rests between descriptions of undesirable scenarios. Prine carefully examines situations like working a job only to quit because

ATLANTIC

you’re afraid of bees and are only being paid 50 cents an hour, or joining the army and repairing heavy machinery only to use your time off to go out drinking. Prine knew that everyone regrets some of the things they’ve done in the past, but that these things are the only way a person can grow and become who they really are. And in the end, everyone will end up in the same place, regardless of what they’ve done. This song, and all of Prine’s songs for that matter, are why he resonates with so many people. At times, Prine was even defiant. On “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore” off his 1971 self-titled debut, he protested the senseless killing and false valor that comes with war. He sets it all up in a way that only he could: humorously, with great care and sensitivity. In the opening verse he sings, “While digesting Reader’s Digest / In the back of the dirty book store / A plastic flag with gum on the back / Fell out on the floor,” going on to describe the feeling of superiority and pride that comes with displaying your patriotism for everyone to witness, even going as far as to stick these little plastic flags all over his car and his wife. However, he denounces this overt patriotism in the chorus as he softly lampoons, “But your flag decal won’t get you into heaven anymore / They’re already overcrowded from your dirty little war / Now Jesus don’t like killin’, no matter what the reason’s for.” The song

provides scathing commentary on the suffering that blind patriotism can cause and demonstrates Prine’s astonishing ability to tackle difficult subjects with grace and poise while also making sure that each word he sings drives his point deeper and deeper into his listeners. John Prine found himself at home making songs to fit a variety of moods, but he was often at his best when he was making heartbreakingly warm and saccharinely sad music, a tone he employed in much of his late music. His final record, The Tree of Forgiveness, is filled with this type of music. The most notable example, however, is the record’s closing track “When I Get to Heaven.” The song is largely a spokenword list of the all things he’s going to do once he gets to heaven, only breaking form during the chorus as he erupts, “And then I’m gonna get a cocktail: vodka and ginger ale / Yeah, I’m gonna smoke a cigarette that’s nine miles long / I’m gonna kiss that pretty girl on the tilt-a-whirl / ‘Cause this old man is goin’ to town.” Prine knew his time was bound to come and decided to use this song to make sure that something as sad as his death would be thought of as a happy thing, a way for him to do all of the things that he couldn’t do while he was alive.

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FILM REVIEW

‘Tigertail’ brings the conventions of memoir to film ANDREW WARRICK Daily Arts Writer

“Tigertail” is a triumph. As in the best movies, its characters leap off the screen and will be remembered like old friends. The story in “Tigertail” is so fleshed out, so filled with emotion, that it feels like a memoir, not a fictional narrative. The film tells the life story of Pin-Jui, a Taiwanese immigrant to the US. It flashes between Pin-Jui’s elderly self, played excellently by Tzi Ma (“Arrival”) and his memories — chronicling his childhood, teenage years and how he left his life in Taiwan for the States.

NETFLIX

Quiet moments, like older Pin Jui washing dishes and making tea, are filled with decades of formative memories. They run from sublime peace, like young Jui running along a river babbling through a rice field, to wrenching heartbreak, like teenage Jui leaving the love of his life. Tzi Ma is the anchor of it all, giving a piercing, yet painstakingly subtle, performance. He can convey a lifetime of emotions without uttering a word. In most other movies, Pin-Jui’s older self would be a background character, or even an antagonist. He’s cold, quiet and angry. There’s a particularly jarring moment when he screams at his young daughter Angela

(Christine Ko, “Stumptown”) for crying after triumphs and losses reflected in every frame. a botched piano performance. This distance This does not come across as inauthentic, as and harshness continues as Angela grows up everyone gives their own memories hyperbolic and worsens once his wife leaves him. Yet Pin- weight. Jui’s memories explain this mindset, showing While Taiwanese culture and history are his arranged marriage integral to the film, and choice to move to responding to a kind the States in search of of representation opportunity, leaving needed in 2020’s his girlfriend and cinematic landscape, mother in Taiwan. there’s a universality For Pin-Jui and his to his story that wife, the American fits all walks of life. Dream was a rundown Hasn’t everyone left Netflix apartment complex home at some time or Now Streaming in 1970s New York, another and regretted where nobody spoke it? One will end the their language. film in contemplation, Jui worked at a perhaps even deciding pharmacy day in and to change one’s own day out, ignoring his life, taking that visit loneliness, isolation to Mom or calling that and culture shock. While he made money, it long lost friend. cost him his loved ones. The film shows his “Tigertail” is the type of authentic, attempt to get them back. piercing cinema that only comes around once Is he too far gone? Can one go so far away in a while. There’s no conventionality, no from home that there is no going back? over-sentimentalized, happy ending and no Writer-director Alan Yang (“Master of stereotypes. Just humanity, plain and simple. None”) is a master of setting, and his eye for In a time when people are growing increasingly imagery frames Pin-Jui’s life with an almost divided, movies like this serve as reminders mythic visual excellence. Be it a neon-tinted, that the silver screen is the great equalizer. No Taiwanese nightclub or a crumbling house matter where we come from, we just want to overgrown with tropical foliage, one sees Jui’s find our way back home.

Tigertail

Sports

7 — Tuesday, April 14, 2020

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

‘One of those classic races’: Kevin Sullivan and the 2000 Olympics SPENCER RAINES Daily Sports Writer

Kevin Sullivan stood at the line and took it all in. It was the Canadian’s first Olympic games, and it was electric. 110,000 people filled Stadium Australia on the night of Sept. 29, 2000. They were anxiously waiting to see one of the deepest fields in Olympic history try to capture glory for themselves and their country. “It’s like you’re in Michigan Stadium for a track and field meet,” Sullivan, now the track and field coach for the Wolverines, said. “It’s not something you see every weekend. So from that perspective, it’s a little bit of an eye opening experience.” On your mark. Sullivan hunched over, anticipating the sound of the gun that would send him and 11 other men into a race that could define their careers. The official raised an arm high into the night sky and fired. The runners were off. *** Flashback to the summer of 2000, Sullivan was preparing to qualify for Sydney after missing out on the 1996 Olympics due to injury. He was confident and running as well as he ever had before, setting personal bests in the mile, the 1500-meter and 1000-meter all in the months leading up to the trials in August. As expected, he qualified and then set his sights to September’s Olympic games. “When you miss one (Olympic games), you’re not sure if you’re ever going to get back again,” Sullivan said. “So, for me there was that sense of oh yeah, I’m still the athlete I was four years ago or better.” Sullivan built a level of confidence heading into Sydney. Leading up to the start of the games he beat every runner in the field except

FILE PHOTO/Daily

Michigan coach Kevin Sullivan came in fifth place in the 2000 Olympic 1500-meter race in Sydney, his best-ever finish in the Olympics.

the eventual gold and silver medalists — Moroccan runner Hicham El Guerrouj and Kenyan runner Noah Ngeny. He knew he could compete with the best runners in the world, and he was ready to show it. *** Sullivan jostled for position on the back straight, and the race started shaping into what he had expected. Moroccan runner Youssef Baba grabbed the lead around the 200-meter mark and strung out the field with a blistering pace. Baba wouldn’t be able to keep this up and he knew that, this was just to help his teammate El Guerrouj — the world record holder in the 1500-meter — by turning it into an honest race just as El Guerrouj likes it. The Moroccans employed this strategy frequently whenever they had a second runner alongside El Guerrouj. “As soon as the second Moroccan made the final, our coaching staff and I were pretty confident in what was gonna happen,” Sullivan said. “So

from that perspective, it wasn’t a surprise when it went out that way, we were pretty prepared for that.” Led by Baba, that first lap went by in a scorching 54 seconds. Sullivan described that beginning as a “shock to the system” after having run two races earlier in the week. But, standing back around eighth place, he wasn’t panicking. He was ready to move up. Then, the second lap came and with it, a blessing to everyone in the field — except El Guerrouj. Baba fell off pace earlier than expected and posted a 60-second lap that allowed the entire field back into the race. Sullivan worked his way up into sixth place, a spot that put him in position to cover a move by El Guerrouj. *** But first, before looking at Sullivan’s finish, it’s important to look back at how he even got to the finals. A few hundredths of a second separated him from his opponents in the semifinals. If not for those key seconds, he’d have missed the chance

to compete for a medal on the world’s biggest stage. Sullivan always found preliminary races to be more stressful than finals. His heat of the quarterfinal is an example why. It was a tactical race early on, with no one wanting to take the pace out of themselves. So, they ran together, congested, waiting for someone to make a move. As the race started heating up, all the runners were fresh and could keep up with the pack. “With 200 to go, all 12 guys were still in it,” Sullivan said. “So that one is one where it’s a super stressful situation until it really starts rolling. And then, when you’re in that last lap it’s more about trying to be in position, and trying to make sure you’re going as hard as you need to, and hopefully being able to conserve a little bit so that you got something left on the home stretch.” Sullivan conserved just enough for that last 100 meters. He powered down the home stretch to come in fourth place and earned one of the

automatic qualifying spots. The runner in seventh place — the first spot without an automatic qualification — was just 0.26 seconds behind Sullivan. The semifinal went more smoothly. Sullivan had a great race and came in second in his heat, securing the bid for the final. He now had only one race left in Sydney. And it was one where he could prove everything if he finished highly enough against the elite runners that awaited him. *** Whether it was the taxing races leading up to the final or the breakneck speed of the first lap, Sullivan didn’t respond very well to El Guerrouj’s move with 600 meters remaining. He got shuffled back to seventh as the pack strung out once again. As the bell sounded signifying the final lap, all eyes were on El Guerrouj. He was in first place followed closely by Ngeny and Bernard Lagat of Kenya. Sullivan was in sixth place just behind Spain’s Andrés Diaz. With 300 meters to go, he found his way into

fifth. Sullivan was still out of reach of the leaders. “In hindsight, I don’t know if I would’ve been in a medal position, ” Sullivan said. “But I could’ve been closer to fourth had I positioned myself better a little bit in the middle of the race.” Sullivan became merely a bystander to what unfolded in the front pack over the final 200 meters. El Guerrouj was desperately holding onto first place fueled by the expectations of his country and the world, but Ngeny and Lagat were breathing on El Guerrouj’s neck. With 100 meters to go El Guerrouj tried to open up, but the effects of leading for the last 500m weighed on him. Ngeny had just a little bit more to give. He sprinted past a pained El Guerrouj and snatched the gold. He posted an Olympic record time of 3:32.07. He was closely followed by El Guerrouj — who would have to wait until 2004 to finally capture an Olympic gold — in second and his teammate Bernard Lagat in third. Meanwhile, Sullivan sprinted away from the rest of the chase pack over the final 300 meters to capture fifth with a time of 3:35.50. After two more Olympics, it would still be his highest ever finish. “2000 was obviously the highlight for a couple of reasons,” Sullivan said. “It was my first games, it was the one I performed the best, and it was the best in terms of the venues, the atmosphere and the crowds, those were all better experiences than Athens and Beijing.” Sullivan fondly looks back at this race and the spectacle of it all. The talent, the storylines, everything that came together to make this one of the most memorable Olympic 1500meter races ever. Or, as Sullivan put it, “One of those classic races.”

CLUB SPORTS

Boxing, taekwando teams face removal from club sport status BRANDON TRACHTENBERG

Daily Sports Writer SOFIA URBAN

Daily Staff Reporter

In the midst of collegiate sports being canceled due to COVID-19, Michigan’s boxing and taekwando club teams have found themselves in limbo. The University of Michigan’s Recreational Sports Department, in collaboration with the office of Risk Management, decided to revoke both teams’ status as a club sport based on audits, forcing them to become Voluntary Student Organizations (VSOs). “Their initial argument is about risk management,” Michigan Boxing Club President Maya Irigoyen

said. The Recreational Sports Department did not respond to The Daily’s request for comment in time for publication. The physicalities of both of these sports were enough to drive the University to take severe action despite the value that the partnerships provide. Michigan’s taekwondo club — founded in 1964 — is the oldest collegiate taekwondo club and continues to represent the University at the national and international level. Aside from the success members of the team achieve on each level, they also represent a variety of cultures and communities throughout campus. “This eclectic mix of people coming from all

over the world creates an environment that transcends cultural bounds, commonly held thoughts about who does sports ... and an environment who is accepting of all,” taekwando club president Liam Blanchard said. “As much of a cliche as it is, taekwondo is a family.” The removal of club status would harm its ability to provide the same level of resources to its members. “All of our practices require practice space, which is largely provided to us at no extra cost through Club Sports,” Blanchard said. “This change would then have us rent all of our space, as many of the free spaces on campus cannot accomodate a group of our size. With the price of insurance, cost of renting space, and our

current club funding, this would essentially lead the club into financial ruin.” The Michigan boxing club plays a similarly positive role to its members. Without sponsorship, the club will also be hampered. “Losing sponsorship for club boxing would mean we would have to become a voluntary student organization to remain on campus, which is not viable,” boxing club treasurer Michael Zlonkevicz said. “We lose the ability to use any U-M names, logos, or indicia. This will impact our reputation on campus and our ability to fight in collegiate tournaments.” Added Zlonkevicz: “Losing sponsorship would mean we are no longer able to participate in Giving Blueday.

Shrinking a substantial revenue stream for us and likely causing us to raise dues, which no one wants. We would lose U-M insurance coverage as well, adding to our new costs if we were to be a VSO.” The teams were granted a year extension for the appeal deadline — moving it back to April 1, 2021 — in order to accomodate for the COVID19 crisis. The decision has not been made final, and both teams continue to put together appeals in an attempt to regain their club status. “We have been working on our appeal,” Irigoyen said. “We’ve been … citing a bunch of rules from the rulebook that establish what the safety precautions are. … We’ve been getting personal

statements, reaching out to alumni, current members, other schools just to show the impact that this would have.” The efforts to petition are ongoing, and diverse. Alumni and even other teams from other schools have offered assistance, as well. “In light of our decision, boxing clubs from Ohio State, Wisconsin and Georgetown have written letters speaking on our impact in the sport and how boxing has impacted their campus communities,” Zlonkevicz said. Added Irigoyen: “It is just a very frustrating thing when it feels like the school, who is supposed to be sponsoring a team who has won them many championships and who represents the school very well … are just coming after us to get rid of us.”

Sports Quinten Johnson preparing for bigger role in sophomore year 8 — Tuesday, April 14, 2020

THEO MACKIE

Managing Sports Editor

Quinten Johnson knew that he didn’t go to Michigan to star as a freshman. Recruited as a multi-dimensional fourstar defensive back in the Wolverines’ 2019 class, he knew he wouldn’t immediately usurp their crop of established starters. What he didn’t know is that he would spend his entire freshman season watching from afar, sidelined by a groin injury that required season-ending surgery. “He was a guy who was always playing, always on the field, always doing something for us,” Mike Ward, Johnson’s defensive coordinator at St. John’s College High School in Washington D.C., said last week. “And being injured, it isn’t easy, especially when you’re used to being a dude.” That pain of not seeing the field, though, was countered by a knowledge that 2019 was a part of the process. Most around the program envision Johnson as a VIPER — a position where he has an immediate path to playing time in 2020 after Khaleke Hudson’s

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graduation. And with multiple potential positions for him in Michigan’s secondary, Johnson knew he could spend his freshman fall learning from those around him. All of that was supposed to build toward the 15 practices that comprise spring ball. It’s a time of year seemingly custom-built for players like Johnson, with seniors already departed, but without the frenzied stress of fall camp.

Then came March 12. Just four days before the start of Michigan’s spring practices, the NCAA canceled all winter and spring sports amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of returning to the field and making his case as Hudson’s successor, Johnson was suddenly heading home to Washington. He spent the next week working out at St. John’s to stay in football shape, before it too canceled

classes, shutting down its football facilities in the process. Now, he’s trapped at home, attempting to fill the void left by spring ball’s cancelation with workouts that the Michigan staff has sent home to every player. Still, Ward isn’t concerned about his development. “I think it says a lot about (Johnson) that the first day he’s home, he comes into St. John’s and works out,” Ward said. “… (He) is not one of those guys that you have to

worry about getting better.” Even with the departures of Lavert Hill at cornerback and Josh Metellus at safety, it’s a development path likely aimed toward VIPER, where he and junior Mike Barrett are the leading candidates to replace Hudson. Though St. John’s doesn’t play with a VIPER, the position — which acts as a hybrid safety/ linebacker in defensive coordinator Don Brown’s defense — maximizes many of Johnson’s strengths.

COURTESY OF MIKE WARD

Sophomore Quinten Johnson will have a chance to compete next year at VIPER, alongside Michael Barrett, after missing his freshman season.

“(Brown) is gonna put kids in a spot to be successful where their skillset lies,” Ward said. “And I think (Johnson) is obviously physically gifted, but he’s very intelligent, he can cover, he has great ball skills, he can tackle, he’s big, he’s strong. He did a lot of the same things — in terms of us having the VIPER position, no, but in terms of what’s asked of the VIPER position, yes.” It’s the reason Brown and his staff recruited Johnson to Ann Arbor two years ago, even without seeing him play the position in high school. “I just think it was a perfect fit,” Ward said. “A lot of times, you’re like, ‘Why is this kid going here?’ And with Q, just in terms of the academics, the fit with coach Brown, the fit with coach (Jim) Harbaugh, the fit as a program, I thought it was a great marriage all the way around.” Now, of course, it’s also where the loss of spring ball hits hardest. Stuck at home, Johnson can recoup some of his missed lifting sessions and workouts. But on the field, there’s no replacement for those 15 missed workouts.

In shock move, Christopher spurns ‘M’ for Arizona State at final hour DANIEL DASH

Daily Sports Writer

On Monday night, Juwan Howard’s first recruiting class had the chance to come full circle with the addition of five-star guard Josh Christopher. But as it turns out, Christopher had other ideas. The 10th-ranked recruit in the 247Sports composite rankings, he spurned Michigan — the perceived leader in his recruitment — when he announced his commitment to Arizona State via Twitter. He would’ve been Michigan’s highestranked recruit since LaVell Blanchard, the No. 6 overall prospect in the class of 1999. From the Wolverines’ side, Christopher’s formal commitment punctuates a lengthy recruitment that began only a week after Howard was introduced as the new Michigan men’s basketball coach last May. While UCLA was initially viewed as the team to beat in his recruitment, multiple reports claimed the sweepstakes ultimately evolved into a two-horse race between the Wolverines and Arizona State. In January, recruiting analysts began identifying Michigan as the leader, and eleven consecutive Crystal

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Michigan coach Juwan Howard lost out on prized prospect Josh Christopher late Monday night after a monthslong recruitment. Christopher ultimately chose Arizona State.

Ball predictions in the Wolverines’ favor trickled in on 247Sports over the span of six weeks. But 10 months after becoming Howard’s first offer, Christopher is Tempe-bound. Christopher’s older brother just finished his freshman season at Arizona State, where he played sparingly. Christopher chose

the Sun Devils over Michigan, the hometown Bruins and Missouri, where his cousin is the men’s basketball strength and conditioning coach. Many view Christopher as one of the elite scorers in the 2020 class, but his passing and perimeter defense also stand out from his game tape. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound shooting guard

already has a pro-ready body. He likely would’ve been part of Michigan’s starting backcourt next season, and his ability to score at all three levels could’ve provided instant offense. Even without Christopher’s pledge, the Wolverines boast the nation’s No. 4 recruiting class — their highest-ranked haul since

247Sports’ rankings began two decades ago. The class features five-star power forward Isaiah Todd, fourstar center Hunter Dickinson, four-star guard Zeb Jackson, four-star forward Terrance Williams and three-star walk-on forward Jace Howard, Juwan’s son. With Christopher’s commitment to Arizona

State, Michigan has one remaining scholarship available for the 2020-21 season. The Wolverines remain in contention for five-star power forward Greg Brown, who is set to announce his college decision on Apr. 24, though Texas and Auburn are widely considered the favorites in his recruitment.