The first week of spring term is usually met with smiling faces, intriguing classes and lively conversations between students eager to finish off the academic year. However, once WSU Vancouver opened its doors on Jan. 10, the campus was met with an abrupt wake-up call. A spike of COVID-19 cases had been on the rise in Clark County since late December, largely due to the omicron variant. When returning to campus from winter break, the weeks that followed left classroom seats empty and anxiety-ridden students at home, pushing them to analyze WSU’s administration under a microscope.
“If we were able to bite the bullet in quarantine for another term, we might be better in the long run. How much longer are we dragging things out just to see the numbers rise?” – Daniel Arreola
Artemis Asbury, a senior English major, said at first they were comfortable returning for the spring term based on the lack of viral transmission last fall. However, within days, Asbury started experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and was forced to miss class.
“My experience has not been great. [The third day of spring term] was the first day that I was absent from classes. Neither of my classes that day had a Zoom option. So, I just completed the coursework from home and emailed my professor if I had any questions, which was fine by me,” Asbury said. “But then Thursday, both my classes had a join by Zoom option. So, I tried to do that, but they were having severe audio issues.”
Many students thrive in a face-to-face learning environment, however, several had expressed concerns over omicron’s high rate of transmission, as well as the lack of social distancing in classrooms.
“It’s just so strange to me that we don’t even have the option to do more online [classes] if we wanted to…. If we’re having to do all of these steps and numbers are still rising, wouldn’t it be safer to go back to online for a little while?” Arreola said. “I understand that it is better for many people to attend class in person. But when we’re talking about the issues of safety, if we were able to bite the bullet in quarantine for another term, we might be better in the long run. How much longer are we dragging things out just to see the numbers rise?”
As of now, Washington state does not require fully vaccinated institutions of higher education to implement social distancing on campus. Still, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention suggests social distancing for unvaccinated or immunocompromised individuals.
With concerns looming over rising COVID-19 cases, integrated strategic communication professor, Michael LeVan, said he structured his classes to prepare for the surge. While he believes students need face-to-face interaction, providing asynchronous work options within Canvas, Perusall and PackBack were the key essentials to keeping his classes successfully flexible.
“I try to set things up in advance so that it’s easily adaptable. I rely on a lot of stuff built into instructional technology; in such a way my classes would be virtually unchanged if we went remote. We would just be in breakout rooms on Zoom instead of discussion groups,” LeVan said.
In response to increased absences occurring systemwide, WSU released an email on Jan. 18 to all students and faculty, encouraging “professors and supervisors to practice leniency with students and employees who are absent due to illness.” WSU Vancouver’s chancellor, Mel Netzhammer, explained that while students are expected to call WSU Pullman’s Environmental Health and Safety office in the event of receiving a positive test, the current COVID-19 cases posted on WSU’s website are an underrepresentation of WSU Vancouver’s case count due to lack of student reporting. Students can view the current case count for their campus by visiting wsu.edu/covid-19/covid-cases/. Additionally, he said faculty have reported a 5 to 10% drop in attendance.
“[We encourage] faculty to be more lenient to work with the students in their classes. I think this is a hugely important point, because where I’m hearing anxiety from students is less about being back face-to-face, and more about the accommodations if they have to miss class,” Netzhammer said. “We’ve had to work with faculty on creating a culture that says ‘we’re all responsible adults, we want our students to behave responsibly. If they tell you they need to miss class because they can’t get into campus, then we need you to work with them and honor that.’”
In order to provide the necessary tools for WSU Vancouver to safely move forward during the semester, Netzhammer said 4,000 N95 masks are currently available to students on campus. These masks can be found in the Cougar Center, Office of Student Involvement, Public Safety, the library and the Environmental Health and Safety office.
Furthermore, the Associated Students of WSU Vancouver have partnered with the Vancouver Clinic to supply free testing to students on campus. Appointments can be made through the Student Wellness Center by calling (360)546-9238 or emailing at van.health@wsu.edu.
Overall, the biggest concern from students, staff and faculty is facing the strenuous two-year battle of adapting to constant life changes influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Regardless of differing opinions on whether the university should continue its face-to-face instruction, students will continue to voice their beliefs, needs and concerns in hopes the administration will listen.
Editor’s Note:
As of now, Clark County is on a downward slope of COVID-19 cases with 1,668 cases being reported on Feb. 2 in contrast to 2,553 cases reported on Jan. 28, according to The New York Times.
Emily is a senior studying integrated strategic communication at WSU Vancouver.