This story is written by reporter Olivia Eldredge. Additional interviews and help was provided by VanCougar staff member, Emily Baumann.
WSU Vancouver shut its doors on March 25 at 5 p.m., due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, campus operations were open for students to access essential campus resources while practicing social distancing. Governor of Washington Jay Inslee, addressed the public on March 23, endorsing a “shelter-in-place” action, mandating that individuals maintain social distancing by only leaving their homes for essential purposes. In compliance with the new stay-home order, WSU Vancouver will be open in limited capacity, causing administration to find alternative ways to keep university operations going, while supporting students, faculty and staff.
University updates and notes from administration:
According to Chancellor Mel Netzhammer, the buildings on campus will be locked, and many resources will be closed to the community. This includes the cafeteria, the Bookie, Library, Student Wellness Center and computer labs. However, the chancellor explained students will be able to access loaner laptops and communicate with campus security if they need to access materials.
Loaner laptops are available from the Library from noon to 2 p.m. on weekdays. Students can still request food from the Cougar Food Pantry, and Office of Student Involvement care packages are available from noon to 2 p.m. on weekdays in Firstenburg Student Commons.
“One of the reasons we’re closing the Library is that over two days, there have really just been fewer students, and you can count on one hand who [uses] the Library for computers. We had some students who came in to work on group projects and a faculty member who came in to tutor students. But those are things that can be moved online pretty easily and consistent with the governor’s order. We want those moved online, so the plan is if there are still students who don’t have computer access, that we still have loaner laptops that we can put in their hands,” Netzhammer said.
The chancellor added that he has been in communication with chancellors from other WSU campuses, who intend to have a comprehensive system response to issues surrounding COVID-19.
When asked about WSU Vancouver’s possibility for positive tests for COVID-19, Netzhammer said WSU Vancouver will continue to work with Clark County Public Health to monitor the situation. He also said requests have been put out for personal protective equipment, which requires help from Campus Safety and the biology department.
The chancellor explained that WSU Vancouver is trying to keep employment steady for those who work on campus. Only a select amount of staff, including faculty researchers, a small number of graduate students and a few other essential employees, like Public Safety, are able to work on campus. For others, this includes maneuvering around physical barriers and giving employees as many teleworking opportunities as possible to continue paying them.
“I’ll be meeting with the Associated Students of WSU Vancouver leadership, the new president and vice president coming in. I’m working hard to stay connected to students,” Netzhammer said. “We are doing our best to keep as many people employed, including students.”
For classes and final grades, Netzhammer said solutions are being discussed systemwide.
“We would look at grading policies and give students the opportunity to take a course pass [or] fail. So some of the pressure of grades would be reduced, or the federal government is talking about using an ‘X/C’ grade, which is basically an incomplete because of COVID-19. Students who [take] that option would have to finish up. Some students who had practicum courses, or things where they could not actually complete them, this would be an option for completion at a different time,” Netzhammer said.
The Office of the Provost sent out a system-wide email on Monday, March 30, announcing that students can change their classes to a Pass/Fail grading option and the deadline has been extended to June 1. The Pass/Fail option is applicable to UCORE and honor courses for the 2020 spring semester. The email encouraged students to reach out to academic advisers to check if the Pass/Fail option appropriately fulfills students’ major requirements. The Office of the Provost has also provided the opportunity for students to withdraw from courses until May 1, and allows for six course withdrawals instead of four. According to the email, “Other grading options are being investigated.”
Instructors have been encouraged to use Zoom, an online video conference application, to host or record lectures online, to use Blackboard frequently and communicate with students by email. Netzhammer said this will assist students who may have other pressing responsibilities due to the pandemic, such as childcare or working at home.
During a pandemic, things change quickly every day, the chancellor explained it is hard to predict what will happen for the rest of the spring, summer and fall semesters of 2020.
Administration is discussing implications of the virus affecting the graduating class of 2020’s commencement. The chancellor said commencement will be attended by a virtual audience, followed by an in-person graduation much later when it is safe to congregate again.
Pullman’s postponed commencement is scheduled for August 8, according to a university-wide email sent by WSU President Kirk Schulz, but WSU Vancouver’s postponed commencement date has not yet been announced.
“The plan at the moment is that there will be a virtual commencement on May 9 for the system, so that we can acknowledge the end of the semester. Then, there will be face-to-face commencements in August, or soon after August, as can be arranged on each of our campuses,” Netzhammer said.
WSU Vancouver is trying to keep communication open between students, staff and faculty. Chancellor Netzhammer will host a Campus Conversation through Zoom from noon to 1 p.m. on Thursday April 2 and the community can tune in and ask questions via the chat option in Zoom.
During this time, it is recommended that students check their emails frequently for more information about COVID-19, keep up with their classes and stay healthy at home. WSU will continue to post daily updates about the pandemic on the WSU COVID-19 website.
Reactions, opinions and concerns from students, staff and faculty as of March 11 announcement:
When WSU Vancouver announced on March 11 that classes would be continued online after spring break, shockwaves were sent throughout campus. Students and staff had varying opinions and concerns regarding this change.
Jana Lowry, a sophomore majoring in sociology, explained that the campus transition to online school is a necessary decision, but comes with challenges.
“I think it’s the right thing to do, I think it wasn’t handled super well as both of the instructors I’ve had today found out from students when they got the email. I had to show the email to one of my instructors because she did not believe that it happened,” Lowry said.
Lowry explained how instructors were not notified properly of the distance learning change, causing problems for the planning and execution of spontaneous online course instruction.
“I don’t take online classes on purpose because I don’t do well in an online situation, it’s not the best learning environment for me,” Lowry said.
Another student, Nhan Nguyen, a junior electrical engineering major, said online instruction will be a good safety precaution to protect the community but creates difficulty in his project-based classes.
“We have tried to address this [online] problem with the professor, but the thing is that even they don’t know what’s going on. The only thing they can think of is sure, assign us more homework, which is unnecessary,” Nguyen said. “I feel like with most people, they’re just gonna get super lazy [at home].”
Ryan Hanrahan works in the WSU Vancouver Integrated Technical Department and commented on the situation. Hanrahan believed the change to be positive, limiting the possibility for contagion of COVID-19, but as an IT staff member, he expected that there would be an increased need for technological support.
“We’ll still be coming into work to do IT, and I’m guessing we’re going to need to do a lot of support for the people who are going to be remoting into their classes. We’re gonna take it as it comes,” Hanrahan said. “I think considering the way it has spread and what our country has done in general about the spread of it, I think our university is doing just fine.”
If you are a student who has been significantly impacted by changes in the university caused by COVID-19, or would like to share your opinions with The VanCougar, please contact reporter Olivia Eldredge at olivia.eldredge@wsu.edu.
This story will continue to be updated.
Olivia is a senior studying English at WSU Vancouver.