By Michael McCarthy, Staff Writer
Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges have announced that to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19, also known as the Coronavirus, the amount of students on campus will be minimized and classes will move online. Effective from Monday, March 16 to Monday, April 6, this marks an unprecedented move by the Bi-Co in response to an international pandemic itself unprecedented. The Bi-Co joins a long list of universities nationwide opting for online classes and removing as many people as possible from campus to slow the spread of the Coronavirus.
Students are required to leave campus and return home if they are able. Those who have no option but to remain on campus are allowed to stay. Dining and health services will continue to function, though Dining services will be limited in order to minimize the risk of infection. Faculty support will also be available for students even though professors will not be on campus nearly as frequently as before. The campuses of Haverford and Bryn Mawr remain fully open.
In an email sent to the student body, Haverford Dean Martha Denney listed five reasons a student could remain on campus. First, students can remain if they hold an F-1 visa and do not wish to return. Second, a student can remain if their home country has been given a risk level of 3 or 4 by the State Department/CDC. Third, if a student’s locality is currently a hotspot of confirmed cases, the student needn’t return home. Fourth, a student does not need to return if they lack a stable home to return to and if this is known to their dean. Fifth and final, a student can remain if they are experiencing symptoms of the Coronavirus. Any student with such symptoms should immediately self-quarantine for 14 days. Dean Denney also noted, as has Bryn Mawr President Kimberly Cassidy, that students who face a financial barrier to returning home will receive the necessary financial assistance.
As of this writing, 156,800 people worldwide have been infected with the Coronavirus. At least 5,762 people have died while well over half of those infected have fully recovered. The virus targets older people and those with pre-existing conditions such as heart or lung disease; most people who contract the virus do not become gravely ill. There have been 2,815 confirmed cases in the United States, including Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. Pennsylvania has confirmed 63 cases with 7 cases being in Delaware County where Haverford is located and 24 in Montgomery County where Bryn Mawr is located. A link to the New York Times’s free coverage of the Coronavirus can be found here.
Student groups, campus events, and sports teams have all been affected by the measures taken by the Bi-Co. Unable to meet in person, clubs have had to postpone all activity, which is especially problematic for theater groups who depend on weekly rehearsals. An example of a common dilemma facing student groups, Haverford’s Spotlight Theatre Group has yet to decide how it will move forward with its productions. All campus events have been cancelled or postponed, though efforts are being made to see if some speakers could utilize an online platform to carry through with the event. All events for sports teams, at home and traveling, have been canceled until Haverford and Bryn Mawr deem it safe to resume athletic activities.
The disruption to the traditional learning experience of the Bi-Co will surely run into myriad complications. The platform on which classes will take place has not been decided uniformly; each professor has had to find their own platform to use. President Wendy Raymond stressed in an email to students that, “there will be challenges, and we don’t pretend to have all the answers . . . hence ‘Week 1’ and its focus on preparation.” Seniors, busily attending to their senior theses, face considerable difficulty completing their work now that they have been cut off from the physical resources of their respective schools.
The Coronavirus has interrupted the usual flow of the academic year. First-years must cope with a pandemic while handling the stress of the first year of college. Seniors must accept a chaotic end to their four-year experience and navigate the unmapped world of online classes to complete their theses and final projects. Sophomores and Juniors must contend with the same stressors as they begin work on final projects. Summer internships have been thrown into uncertainty, especially those outside of the United States.
In the whirlwind of developments, changes of plans, and limitations on movement, it is crucial to remain and prevent concern from devolving into panic. The CDC has issued guidelines on how to protect yourself from infection alongside other information about the Coronavirus. Students should observe these practices by washing hands for at least 20 seconds, maintaining a social distance of 3-6 feet, and covering coughs and sneezes with the inside of the elbow. On a deeper level, we must remain a community. As President Raymond said in her email to the Haverford student body, “We all feel frustrated and deeply affected by the disruption to the semester. We are still coming to terms with the hardships and sacrifices these challenges are imposing on us all. We are all in this together, and will succeed together–as Haverfordians, our staff, and our faculty have done so many times before.”
Her message rings true for everyone throughout the Bi-Co.
Image credit: Patch.com
