ALISA OPPENHEIMER
News Editor
As COVID-19 continues to impact our world, our campus and community is not the exception.
This past week in COVID has been a chaotic one, to say the least.
Starting Monday, Aug. 31, there were a total of 10 positive COVID cases, according to the COVID-19 dashboard on Fredonia’s website.
By Wednesday, Sept. 2, the number of positive cases doubled, with a total of 22 cases.
Throughout the week, that number continued to rise day after day.
By Sunday morning, the number skyrocketed 64 positive cases, and hit 72 by Monday morning.
With the rapid increase in cases after only the first two weeks back, students have developed genuine concern.
“I don’t feel safe sitting in a classroom full of students when I see the number of cases increasing daily,” an anonymous source said.
“I’ve emailed my professors explaining my concern, and they all seemed to be understanding about the situation,” they said.
It’s also evident that various professors have opted out of the classroom setting at this point, as well.
“Two of my classes were changed to online in the past week,” said Lauren Collorone, a senior video production major.
While concern for health is one thing to worry about, there has also been discussion of poor treatment toward students in quarantine on campus.
One parent, in particular, took to Facebook to voice their complaints.
In this specific post to social media, the parent discussed how their child was rushed out of their dorm with little to no information and had to drag their bags alone to Hendrix Hall.
The student was then apparently placed into an unsanitary room.
According to the parent, their child is given two meals per day, while being charged for three and has been treated with disrespect throughout the entire process.
On Fredonia’s website, you can find information about quarantine and isolation.
In this particular section of FAQ’s, Fredonia said that yellow wagons are provided to all students to transport their items to Hendrix Hall.
Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case for this student.
Regarding food, the site said that breakfast is usually served with the previous night’s dinner, so that may be where the confusion with food came in.
Either way, why isn’t breakfast fresh?
As for the disrespect, there’s no excuse.
During this anxiety-ridden time, no student should have to go through this.
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With this, it’s being questioned whether or not our school will be shut down sooner rather than later.
Looking at other SUNY schools, it’s likely that Fredonia will, unfortunately, follow in the footsteps of Oneonta.
In the last week of August, Oneonta announced their plan to go remote after they reached a total of 105 positive COVID cases.
On the morning of Sept. 1, their COVID-19 dashboard increased to 177 cases, and in only a few hours, that number rose to 245.
With all of their classes completely remote, Oneonta’s dashboard says they have a total of 597 cases altogether since the start of their fall semester.
If anything is indicative of Fredonia’s future for this semester, it’s that our policy of prevention is significantly similar to Oneonta’s.
For example, students at both Fredonia and Oneonta were not required to be tested before returning to school.
Both of the school’s policies include other guidelines of prevention, like masks required on campus, mandatory cleanings and social-distancing.
Although many of these guidelines may help, certain ones become difficult to enforce off-campus.
Oneonta has specifically and publicly emphasized their disappointment toward their students and their behavior resulting in their closing.
On their COVID dashboard, Oneonta president Barbara Jean Morris said: “It is deeply disappointing that following the severe action SUNY Oneonta took just days ago to shift to remote learning for all students, we are still faced with the reckless and irresponsible behavior of a few that are damaging the reputation of our campus and our dedicated students who followed the safety rules every day and were looking forward to a great semester on campus.”
Similarly, students at Fredonia who have disregarded guidelines have recently made an impact.
On Sept. 1, various posts on social media received attention in the Fredonia community.
These posts referenced an alleged party that took place off-campus, where an attendee had COVID-19.
Party-goers apparently paid money at the door to get inside, and according to the posts on social media, the first person to contract the virus would win the money.
While no credible evidence has come out to confirm this, the story got the attention of various news and media outlets.
On the same day the social media posts went up, a campus-wide email was sent, informing the community that 13 students were suspended.
Nine of the 13 students suspended are on Fredonia’s hockey team.
The email from the President’s Office said, “We are writing today to let you know that 13 students have been suspended from Fredonia for violating the Student Code of Conduct related to COVID-19 and off-campus gatherings. Any Fredonia student who endangers others by disregarding public health precautions will face serious penalties. Those who fail to respect their responsibility to our community during the pandemic will find that the Student Code of Conduct and local governmental restrictions will be enforced.”
The email also thanked students who have been following protocol during this time.
The email provided little to no details about the alleged party itself, and put more emphasis on a lesson of how students should behave during the current pandemic.
Still, there have been no confirmations made as to whether or not this party was indeed a “COVID party.”
When asked about the situation, University Police Chief Brent Isaacson declined to comment.
Vice President Dr. Cedric Howard responded and said that a “message [was sent] to all students on the first day of class pertaining to on-campus and off-campus expectations.”
“All students were suspended for violating the student conduct code by being involved in an off-campus social party. Each student will receive due process, and adjudication of all suspensions will follow due process protocol for students,” he said.
In regard to what was meant by the term “suspension,” in the campus-wide email, Howard said, “When any student receives temporary suspension, on-campus privileges are reduced or eliminated until the student’s hearing (administrative or hearing board) has occurred.”
Whether the party was a “COVID party” or not, there should be no parties.
Being a student is hard as it is, but being a student in the middle of a pandemic is worse.
Don’t make it harder by violating any preventional guidelines in the first place.
We all want next week in COVID to be better than this one.