Administration

Three days after University of Miami’s president, Julio Frenk, sat for a contentious live interview on national television where he was pressed about the total number of Covid-19 cases at UM and refused to answer, UM has updated it’s Covid-19 dashboard to display cumulative statistics. However, the numbers are different than previously reported, raising more questions.

“Working with local Miami-based historians, our group investigated Merrick’s past and discovered much evidence confirming that George E. Merrick boldly held and acted upon, racist segregationist beliefs throughout his life, including in his role as head of the Miami-Dade Planning Board,” the petition read.

UM faculty are pushing to be given a choice as to whether their classes will be conducted remotely or in-person. Concerned for their own personal health, many feel a return to campus this fall is not the right move.

President Julio Frenk first arrived at the University of Miami in 2015 during a moment when its students, faculty and staff were grappling with racism on its very own campus. Now, five years later, his administration is working once again to move UM towards racial justice.

Under President Julio Frenk, the number of Black faculty at the university increased 26 percent from 159 to 200 individuals, making up 5.1 percent of the faculty.

Students put together a list of 11 recommendations for the university, including requests to increase the number and retention of Black faculty, staff and students through a strategic hiring plan, to implement diversity and sensitivity training across the university and to allocate more money to infrastructure dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion.

A University of Miami lecturer, who was out of a job after a pornographic bookmark was spotted on his computer during a March 26 Zoom class session, says he was pressured by the university to resign.

University of Miami President Julio Frenk is confident that in-person instruction will resume come August. However, during a Zoom roundtable discussion with student media leaders on April 30, Frenk said the campus environment students return to will be very different.

While many students praised UM for supporting students through this difficult situation, some said they wished the administration was more proactive and clear in their communications.

Following the University of Miami’s decision to move online for the remainder of the spring semester, senior Anuj Shah started a petition on March 17 calling on UM to make a pass/fail grading option due to some of the issues coronavirus is causing for the student body. Less than a couple of days later, it received more than 5,000 signatures.

Joining over 135 other colleges and universities, the University of Miami announced in a message Thursday, March 12 that it would move to remote learning starting March 23 until April 4.

UM Communications stated that while the officials at the university do not believe the coronavirus poses any immediate health risk to its campuses, the administration will be taking proper precautions.