2022-02-02 by The Michigan Daily

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Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Ann Arbor, Michigan

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Positive case of meningococcal meningitis confirmed in UMich community Exposed students are encouraged to fill out online UHS survey, receive antibiotic treatment immediately ASHNA MEHRA Daily Staff Reporter

Fired U-M President offered contract for tenured professor in Fall 2022 GRACE BEAL/Daily

Mark Schlissel could return as faculty member in MCDB, Microbiology & Immunology

GEORGE WEYKAMP, KAITLYN LUCKOFF, & KATE WEILAND Daily News Editors

After being removed from his term as University of Michigan President earlier this month, documents obtained by the Detroit Free Press reveal that Mark Schlissel could be returning to campus this fall as a tenured professor. Despite being terminated by the Board of Regents as president, Schlissel is entitled to his faculty tenure position under his initial contract with the University, according to an email from U-M spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald to The Michigan Daily. Schlissel currently retains appointments in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts as well as the Medical School. “Those departments are now in the process of officially absorbing him into the faculty and determining what his initial duties will be

as he makes this transition, which was the commitment they made in 2014,” Fitzgerald wrote. “There are a number of details that remain to be determined.” Fitzgerald wrote retaining tenure was a normal process for faculty members returning from administrative work. According to The Press, Schlissel was offered a salary of $185,000 dollars. It is still unknown whether or not Schlissel has accepted this agreement. In early January, Schlissel was fired from his position as president after an anonymous complaint in December 2021 led to an internal investigation, which revealed that he had been engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a University subordinate. This investigation is ongoing, as the University’s Board of Regents is currently investigating if Schlissel obtained University funds to engage in this relationship, Regent Sarah Hubbard, R-Lansing, confirmed in an interview with The Daily last week.

Hubbard said the Regents expect to know the results of the investigation relatively soon and will proceed accordingly. ‘We certainly don’t expect this to be something that takes six months to a year, it’s something I would hope to get some feedback on, you know, in (the coming) weeks,” Hubbard said. “I don’t have a specific end date, and until we know what they find, we won’t know what to do with the information.” Hubbard said initial results of the investigation – which revealed over 118 pages of email and text correspondence between Schlissel and his subordinate – led the regents to a unanimous decision to terminate. “Once the board saw the nature of the emails, we all had a lot of concerns about the nature of the relationship, particularly given the policy that was put in place last summer related to the supervisory relationship,” Hubbard said. Ultimately, this termination did not revoke

Schlissel’s tenure faculty appointment. The obtained documents require Schlissel to teach one class a year if conducting research, and two classes per year if not. Additionally, Schlissel would not begin instruction until the 2022-2023 school year. Prior to teaching, he will need to conduct research and obtain grants. In addition to teaching, he will be relied on to serve on faculty committees and mentor students. Bethany Moore, chair of Microbiology and Immunology at the University, wrote in the letter obtained by The Press that Schlissel must adhere to the conditions outlined in the letter. “Your appointment will be on a twelvemonth basis with major effort to be determined by discussion with the chair and followed up in writing,” Moore wrote. “Established research-active faculty in the

A University of Michigan student tested positive for meningococcal meningitis, according to an email from University of Michigan Chief Health Officer Preeti Malani and Lindsey Mortenson, University Health service medical directors Thursday night. The student was recently present at a Delta Kappa Epsilon event on Jan. 20 from 10:30 p.m to 12:00 a.m. They also attended an off-campus ticketed event at Michigan State University on Saturday, Jan. 22 at the Sigma Beta Rho house in East Lansing. The student started experiencing symptoms on Monday, Jan. 24. Meningitis is a rare and serious bacterial infection; however, vaccines can prevent it. It involves an inflammation of the brain and spinal cord and can lead to permanent disabilities. Common symptoms of meningitis include a fever, stiff neck, headache, rash and vomiting. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most people recover, but meningitis can occasionally lead to death within a few hours of contracting the disease. In a Thursday press release from the Washtenaw County Health Department, officials urged students who may have been in contact with the individual to complete an online survey through UHS. According to the Health Department, points of contact can include being coughed on, being sneezed on, kissing, sharing food or being in a crowded space with an infected individual. In the press release, WCHD medical director Juan Luis Marquez said the health department is currently working with the University to identify any close contacts and distribute treatment as needed. “This is not an outbreak and risk to the larger community remains low, but meningococcal meningitis is a very serious illness,” Marquez said. “We are working as quickly and collaboratively as possible to provide information and treatment options to anyone with potential and direct exposure to the known case.” The disease is spread by respiratory droplets such as those from saliva and is only treatable with antibiotics. In their email to the campus community, Malani and Mortenson said they are taking the case seriously and are encouraging any students who are worried they may have been in close contact with the positive individual to receive the necessary prophylactic antibiotic treatment as a preventative measure as soon as possible.

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LSA Student Government passed two resolutions that intend to create a more accepting environment for the Muslim community on the University of Michigan campus. One of the resolutions calls for condemning the global rise of Islamophobia, and the other supports a bidet initiative to make public restrooms more accomodating for Muslim students. The need to address Islamophobia on campus was brought to attention when a copy of the Quran was damaged at Arizona State University. Bilal Irfan, LSA SG representative and LSA freshman, said the resolution aims to break the pattern of Islamophobia worldwide, starting in Ann Arbor. “(The first resolution) kind of looks into the global trends of Islamophobia,” Irfan said. “(The resolution) also extensively cites some of the things from the Islamophobia Working Group (IWG) and what they found on Islamophobia on campus.” The IWG was established in 2016 to address Islamophobia in the U-M community and around the country. The IWG aims to create a safe environment for Arab, Muslim and MENA (Middle East and Northern Africa) students. Irfan said he and Maria Wajahat, LSA SG representative and LSA freshman, drafted the resolution in response to the ASU vandalism incident. Wajahat believes the new resolution will create a safer environment for

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Muslim students. “(The ASU vandalism) invokes a lot of fear in Muslims, especially on college campuses, and it’s not something that’s unfamiliar to the University of Michigan,” Wajahat said. “There’s no saying that it won’t happen again, or that it won’t happen here the way it did

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at ASU. I think that this was a really good way to sort of get ahead of that and try to make Muslims feel safer on campus and just feel more accepted.” Irfan also said other Islamophobic attacks rattled the country during the first two weeks of December such as an arson attack at a mosque in

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Albuquerque, N.M. on Nov. 29 and death threats against U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar. He argued the University has not done enough for Muslim students in recent years, and the resolution is a small step towards change.