After a year of experiencing restrictions induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, WSU Vancouver administration and ASWSUV student government teamed up to influence the university’s decision to hold more in-person classes this fall.
While surpassing a challenging year of remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, WSU Vancouver has officially announced students, faculty and staff can safely return to campus during the fall semester of 2021. With an abrupt decision, students were promptly notified on April 5 with an email sent out by Domanic Thomas, vice chancellor for student affairs and enrollment, stating “As the COVID-19 vaccination rate climbs in our state, WSU Vancouver is planning for more in-person classes this fall.”
Between 2020 and 2021, WSU Vancouver’s return to campus committee was tasked with making significant changes on behalf of public safety and COVID-19 protocol. The committee is co-chaired by Thomas, and Renny Christopher, vice chancellor for academic affairs. Christopher has played a major role in promoting the health of all students, staff and faculty and says it has been difficult trying to predict and plan for a safe return to campus when there are plenty of unknown variables to consider.
“We’re not planning based on what the situation is right now today, we’re always trying to predict what the situation will be at the start of next semester. … We’re predicting because of the rapid increase in the vaccination rate, it will be much safer in the fall. That’s also [four] months from now, so we’re kind of trying to gaze into a crystal ball,” Christopher said.
Christopher states the WSU Vancouver return to campus committee worked with Colleen Kerr, vice president for external affairs and government relations and chief legislative officer with WSU Government Relations. Based on Kerr’s conclusions and an emergency proclamation signed by Governor Jay Inslee on March 15, the state requires all public K-12 schools to be equipped with in-person education opportunities. Christopher is optimistic that the return to in-person instruction for higher education is expected to be safe as well by the start of the term.
According to Thomas’s email and based on current safety restrictions, students can expect to see classrooms of 30 or fewer enrolled offered 100% in person, classes of 31-50 having an in-person component and classes with more than 50 students remaining remote.
With these designations, Christopher also says students, staff and faculty will be provided with facial coverings deemed protective by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those on campus are expected to follow a 3-foot social distancing guideline, and classrooms will also be configured with taped boundaries and fixed seating. Additionally, those who are not comfortable with physically attending campus have the option to request accommodations through WSU Vancouver’s Access Center.
“We’re dealing with this unprecedented situation, this is something that none of us have ever dealt with before. So we’re always trying to put safety first, but also, pay attention to the needs of the students and try to enable students to make it through their educational journeys,” Christopher said.
As for the Associated Students of WSU Vancouver’s influence on the in-person decision, student government took initiative and acted on the voices of the student body.
Armando Antonino, ASWSUV’s president and junior majoring in integrated strategic communication, says he and his team have high expectations for next fall, and presented a letter to WSU Vancouver faculty urging for more in-person instruction opportunities on campus. Originally only offering a 10% capacity for in-person classes, ASWSUV highlighted that this percentage is comparably low to other WSU campuses across the state.
“We started to learn quickly that all campuses are unique. … All the other four-year institutions in the state of Washington declared in-person classes, and then we were sort of, I think the expression is, the ‘black sheep.’ We were the only ones who hadn’t done that. Multiple factors contributed to the letter, one of the driving forces being the [ASWSUV] senate,” Antonino said.
According to Evans Kaame, vice president of ASWSUV and junior political science major, sending the letter was a team effort. He says the compromise to have choices of a hybrid version with in-person learning and the option for students to continue learning online was a great compromise between the administration and ASWSUV.
“It’s community-oriented, that was our specific intent, to make sure our community mission is being in place here. … The second intent of the letter was to get consideration, it wasn’t a demand, we were only appealing to faculty, trying to get them to understand how we as student representatives and students collectively feel about online learning versus in person,” Kaame said.
Additionally, Antonino explains ASWSUV’s plans consist of encouraging students to get their COVID-19 vaccines and work with the Access Center to promote a safe campus experience throughout the semester.
“We will connect students with information and encourage them to do their part, because ultimately it’s up to us students to do our part of maintaining social distancing, wearing protective [personal equipment] and getting vaccinated if we’re eligible,” Antonino said.
As WSU Vancouver plans to reopen in August, Chancellor Mel Netzhammer is also looking forward to having the WSU Vancouver community back together on campus if safety precautions prevail.
“We get a lot of information every day, and we need to make decisions based on what’s likely to be the situation next August, not where we were in January or today. That’s hard to do because things change so quickly, but the evidence we have indicates that we will be able to bring students, faculty and staff back to campus with a focus on safety,” Netzhammer said.
Editor’s Note: All WSU campuses will be requiring students and staff to be fully vaccinated in order to attend in-person classes in the fall semester of 2021.
Olivia is a senior studying English at WSU Vancouver.