A total of 375 students at the University of Michigan have been locked out of their non-residential campus buildings after the university deactivated their ID cards for not complying with the school’s COVID protocols.
Following multiple attempts by the university to contact students who had not received a COVID test through the university in over three weeks, the school’s Compliance and Accountability Team sent email notifications to the students, warning that their ID cards — or M-cards — would be deactivated.
The deactivation locked the undergraduate students out of non-residential buildings, meaning that these students are now barred from entering buildings that are conducting classes or holding social events.
The email notification should not have come as a surprise to students, according to Sarah Daniels, associate dean of students. “Prior to this notification, students were sent reminders via email and ResponsiBLUE that they needed to complete their weekly test because they are in the mandatory testing cohort,” she said.
To have their building access reactivated, students need to get tested or submit a request for an exemption stating why they should be excluded from the mandatory testing cohort.
Colleges Crack Down on Student Behavior
UMichigan is not the only institution penalizing students for refusing to follow mandatory testing policies. As part of their efforts to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, school authorities have been dishing out suspensions, sanctions, and even expulsions to students for disregarding social distancing mandates.
Last year, Pennsylvania State University imposed more than 1,200 sanctions on students for violating mandatory COVID restrictions. The sanctions included warnings, probation, and loss of on-campus housing.
Others, such as Northeastern University and New York University, have suspended over a dozen students over their failure to comply with safety measures. Ohio State University suspended 228 students even before the semester began after they were found partying in large numbers.
Repeated reminders by schools to follow health and safety measures have gone unheeded with multiple instances of COVID violations across college campuses. The latest move by UMichigan is one of the many “accountability measures put in place to address student compliance with COVID-19 policies.”