700 students who violated University of Michigan COVID-19 testing policy blocked from campus buildings

Students that hadn't completed a test in the last four weeks and have used their student cards to get into campus facilities were sent a notification on Monday announcing their lockout. Student's identification cards were locked, only allowing those people to get into residential buildings. While most students are attending class virtually, the university says it has 7475 undergraduate students that have at least one hybrid or in-person class.

In March, U-M locked out 375 students for the same reason. 136 of those students requested to have their Mcard reactivated after most received testing. 21 more requested a testing exemption, and had their cards reactivated.

"The notification sent on Tuesday should not come as a surprise to the recipients," Sarah Daniels, Associate Dean of Students and a member of the Compliance and Accountability Team, had said back in March. "Prior to this notification, students were sent reminders (via campus systems) that they needed to complete their weekly test because they are in the mandatory testing cohort."

"Despite our excitement and optimism around expanded eligibility and opportunities for COVID-19 vaccines, at this point of the pandemic, when around others we must continue the practices of social distancing, wearing a mask, routine testing and other proven mitigation strategies to slow the spread of the coronavirus," said Associate Vice President of Student Life for Health and Wellness, and Executive Director of University Health Service Robert Ernst in a statement.

In addition to locking student out of non-residential buildings, punishments proposed by the university rules include academic probation, canceled housing contracts, and referral for a formal student conduct process if students continue to not get tested.