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UMich Strike Over

The graduate student union at the University of Michigan has ended its strike after more than a week, Inside Higher Ed reports.

The union, it adds, had been seeking improved COVID-19 testing and tracing as well as the option for graduate students to choose how they teach, increased support for international students, and more. IHE notes, however, that it is illegal in Michigan for public workers to strike and that the university had sought in court a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order against the strike. 

"We need a fair and just pandemic response," Jeff Lockhart, a PhD candidate in sociology and union member, told IHE in an earlier article. "The university is disregarding all of the best evidence and advice from its own experts in terms of how they should be reopening."

According to IHE, the union accepted an offer from the university on Wednesday night that included transparent COVID-19 testing protocols, childcare support, support for international graduate students, and more.

Also at the University of Michigan this week, faculty members came close to a vote of no confidence in President Mark Schlissel for his handling of the school's re-opening, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports. It notes that 957 faculty members voted in favor of a motion of no confidence, while who voted against it and 184 faculty members abstained, but the senate secretary said abstentions were counted as negative votes and the motion failed.

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