At Northern Michigan UniversityÕs campus in Marquette, Wildcat Willy sports a pillow mask to showcase one of the safety measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Journal photo by Jackie Jahfetson)

MARQUETTE — Northern Michigan University announced it is suspending its $50 per credit online fee for all distance learning courses for sessions I and II this summer.

This includes not only the courses that had been originally scheduled as on-campus, in-person courses, but also courses that were scheduled to be done by remote instruction.

“While the online fee is critical to supporting the university’s ability to offer high-quality remote instruction, removing the fee for the summer is one way Northern can quickly assist students in navigating unexpected financial challenges related to the COVID-19 crisis,” NMU President Fritz Erickson said on the NMU COVID-19 web update page at www.nmu.edu/covid/.

NMU also announced it will offer a credit/no credit grading option in addition to letter grades, rather than the previously announced satisfactory/unsatisfactory option.

The university has had a significant number of concerned and compelling voices from both students and faculty regarding limitations and fairness of the satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading scale. After a lengthy discussion with the Academic Senate on Wednesday, NMU is making the adjustment.

A credit grade is the equivalent of a passing grade of D- or higher. Courses graded “CR” are counted as earned hours but are not included in a student’s grade-point average. An NC, or no credit, grade is issued when a course has been completed at a level below that required to earn academic credit.

NC grades are included in attempted hours, but not earned hours, nor in the grade-point average. All NMU students will receive letter grades as usual.

Students will have until 5 p.m. May 22 to request a credit/no credit grade if they choose for one or more of their courses. This is a temporary accommodation for the winter semester only, based on impacts resulting from the COVID-19 crisis.

Crews available

The Superior Watershed Partnership is offering its new COVID Community Crews to assist Upper Peninsula communities, tribes and nonprofit organizations. The crews are available at no cost to assist with a wide variety of projects needed to be completed due to unexpected impacts created by the pandemic.

Projects could include: loading boxes at regional food pantries, conducting environmental monitoring, reopening local parks, improving regional hiking trails, posting related signs, erecting fencing, and helping with contact tracing or providing labor for other projects related to COVID-19.

Each CCC crew will be equipped with a truck, tools, training and safety equipment.

Under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive orders, most SWP personnel have been classified as essential due to working on critical infrastructure projects or coordinating low-income assistance programs such as the Michigan Energy Assistance Program.

Ideal CCC projects will be outside, but crews also will be available for some indoor projects that provide adequate social distancing. Four- and two-person crews are available depending on the project.

Crews are tentatively scheduled to be available beginning in May. To schedule a project, email carl@superiorwatersheds.org or call 906-228-6095 ext. 14.

MUCC reacts to ruling

Whitmer announced Friday that the ban on motorized boats has been rescinded.

Although neither the word “boat” nor “motor” ever appeared in Executive Order 2020-42, law enforcement officers, under direction from Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Director Dan Eichinger, have written tickets citing anglers for violations of the executive order specific to motor boating, according to the statewide conservation group Michigan United Conservation Clubs.

The governor’s announcement and signing of the new Executive Order 2020-59 came two days after a judge agreed to hear testimony regarding a temporary injunction filed by MUCC.

MUCC filed an initial complaint in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan on Sunday. On Tuesday, MUCC filed a motion for a preliminary injunction. Judge Paul Maloney acknowledged that the boating ban “confusion puts members of MUCC in a precarious situation” and set a formal hearing for Wednesday.

MUCC Executive Director Amy Trotter said the organization’s members, supporters and stakeholders were instrumental in helping to prevent further wrongful prosecution of anglers and boaters.

“The MUCC lawsuit placed discernable pressure on the governor’s office and DNR to reconsider the unconstitutional and ambiguous language that was being enforced,” Trotter said in a news release. “The grassroots power of MUCC proved that individual anglers’ voices can be heard and that they do matter.”

The new order explicitly states that outdoor activities, including boating, are now allowed while “remaining at least six feet from people from outside the individual’s household.”

Christie Mastric can be reached at cbleck@miningjournal.net.