KATIE LENDA
Staff Writer
On July 1, SUNY Fredonia released a reopening plan for students, faculty and staff returning to campus this upcoming fall semester.
Classes will be quite different from previous semesters with precautions such as social distancing, limited capacity in buildings and mandated face coverings being put into effect.
Various institutions are requiring students to be tested for COVID-19 prior to returning to campus. However, this is not being enforced at Fredonia.
Fredonia students Brad Brown, Elizabeth Hahn and Ava Knapp have written an open letter to SUNY and to Gov. Cuomo expressing their concern for this lack of testing.
A petition to advocate for a safer reopening plan is circulating online and is close to reaching 1,000 signatures.
Brown, Knapp and Hahn discussed the letter and petition with administration during the University Senate meeting on Monday, July 27.
The University Senate voted 42-1 to endorse the petition, however this does not mean testing will be mandated prior to students’ return to campus.
This means that the Senate supports the petition, but as of now, the requests in the letter are not being enforced.
Outside of Fredonia, junior exercise science major, Ava Knapp, and senior biology major, Elizabeth Hahn are organizing congressional meetings with Partners in Health Engage in order to organize an outbreak prevention plan.
Fredonia’s reopening plan does not follow all of the reopening guidelines from the United University Professions; therefore, Hahn and Knapp collaborated with Brown, a senior biochemistry major, to compose the petition and letter.
The United University Professions, according to their website, “is the nation’s largest higher education union, representing the faculty and professional staff of the SUNY system.”
Their guidelines for reopening were “developed carefully” with union representation, and align with Gov. Cuomo’s NY Forward plan.
A subsection of their reopening guidelines is devoted to the importance of testing for all students and faculty prior to their return to campus.
Hahn said that behavior-based prevention is not enough to keep Fredonia’s small population healthy.
A combination of social distancing and wearing face coverings along with adequate and regular testing will significantly decrease the likelihood of an outbreak on campus.
Brown, Hahn and Knapp believe that “SUNY Fredonia remains ill-prepared to handle inevitable outbreaks of COVID-19 on campus. The decision to bring students back to campus without any testing is shortsighted and purely motivated by profits and a complete disregard for the safety of our students, faculty and community.”
The letter and petition were sent to a plethora of leaders and administrators at Fredonia, including SUNY’s Interim Chancellor, Robert Megna, Interim Provost at Fredonia, Dr. Kevin Kearns, SUNY Fredonia President, Dr. Stephen Kolison and Vice President for Enrollment & Student Services, Dr. Cedric Howard.
The goal in writing this letter and petition is to ensure that SUNY Fredonia administrators reassess the reopening plans, which “directly contradict the best practices and guidelines for COVID-19 testing that were laid out by the New York State Reopening New York Higher Education Guidelines and the United University Professions,” Brown said.
In Summer Memo #4, however, Fredonia said that the CDC does not recommend entry testing of all returning students, faculty and staff for COVID-19 because it has not been systematically studied.
Despite this statement from the CDC, some private institutions in New York State such as St. Bonaventure University, Syracuse University and Cornell University are all mandating testing for returning students and school personnel.
COVID-19 cases are increasing and spreading among people in their 20s and 30s, and many of these people are asymptomatic.
Without adequate testing, students may return to campus unknowingly carrying the virus, thus spreading it throughout the campus community.
Senior molecular genetics major, Emilee Stenson, has also been a strong advocate for this issue.
She stressed the importance of continuing to call for proper testing despite Fredonia’s statement on the issue.
Stenson said that advocacy for this cause can be demonstrated in other ways.
For instance, students can continue to show their support for COVID-19 testing by speaking with administration and staying informed through credible, scientific sources.
Stenson recognizes that socializing is a major part of the college experience, but said that public health needs to matter more than economic profits and social discomfort.
“I urge the administration to seriously consider what could happen if testing is not provided to catch cases early on and the high likelihood that students may not follow guidelines,” said Stenson.
“Keep us safe, test the student body and wear masks.”
Senior political science major and class of 2021 president, Lylens Lubin, said that although he believes testing plays a pivotal role in maintaining a healthy campus this semester, SUNY is still hesitant to enforce testing due to the uncertainty of its effectiveness.
Lubin suggested that students take initiative and get a test prior to their return to campus, regardless of whether it’s mandated or not.
“The only people that can ensure the safest possible reopening are ourselves,” said Lubin.
“We should all have the human decency to keep each other and ourselves safe from exposure. Masks are here to protect us, not control us. The media has contaminated this situation with a bunch of false narratives that have turned it into a political problem rather than a human health problem,” he said.
If you believe you are having symptoms or have been in direct contact with someone who has COVID-19, please contact your primary care provider and locate a free testing site near you.
*This article was last modified on Aug. 6 to account for the misrepresentation of minor details.