This article has been updated to correct errors in the initial reporting. 

In the past week, Student Senate President Eric-John Szczepaniak and other members of Student Senate met with members of Faculty Senate to discuss how to best move forward surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States and Michigan. In the meetings, many things were discussed, including moving elections back to the fall semester.

“All of our elections and everything are all going to be postponed till the first two weeks of the fall semester,” Szczepaniak said. “So, I will just be kind of like the caretaker and president for the summer.”

Szczepaniak said this is a big change because usually the summer is used for the newly-elected officials to learn what is expected of them and begin to prepare for the next academic year. However, with the next few months being very uncertain, that just wasn’t a possibility this year.

Another topic discussed was about expanding broadband and accessibility for students that don’t have access to computers at home.

“We’re working with our faculty partners to make sure the university supports those students because we know there’s data that shows GPAs are worse for students when they only have a cell phone, and trying to do homework on that.”

Lastly, the drop with a “W” deadline will be extended from its original date of March 7. The date will be moved to either late March or early April.