MADISON BLASZ
Special to The Leader
We all know that the college experience has been transformed by the pandemic, but how did this spring semester go at SUNY Fredonia?
Under the circumstances, the whole campus did better than last semester: cases were cut by half.
President Dr. Stephen H. Kolison Jr., said, “I think we did a lot better than last semester. We remembered what we had learned from last semester, which is the best practice. It has helped us to have a better semester.”
Last semester, Fredonia had over 200 positive cases, but this semester that was cut in half with only 110 positive cases.
Cases would have been lower, but due to the weekend after St. Patrick’s Day, 54 cases came back positive.
Fredonia has done a better job with the isolation process after that weekend and the campus now only has eight positive cases.
“We’ve done a better job, how to take care of students, faculty and staff. Even when it comes to instruction, our faculty is doing this for a second time, compared to the first semester not knowing what to expect,” said Kolison.
Testing provided on campus each week helps the campus keep COVID-19 under control. Through testing, Fredonia is able to identify people very quickly.
Kolison said, “If someone tested positive we are able to try to address that much more rapidly, so that it is not spread. Having testing every week keeps people safe.”
Everyone on campus is taking precautions during this pandemic, whether it be going to testing every week, washing their hands or getting the vaccine. This all helped Fredonia stay open for the entire semester.
“I have to give credit to students. Yes, we had some cases here and there, but for the most part, I think every student played a role in trying to keep COVID-19 under control,” said Kolison.
Having most classes virtual this semester and some on campus played a key role in helping cases stay low. Many other universities closed their campus completely.
But Fredonia saw there was a sincere desire to go to school without having to close, and is aggressive in trying to stay open.
Every Thursday, Kolison sends out emails to the students and the campus, reminding everyone when case numbers came in and what they were, constantly making sure our campus is sanitized and to remind people to go to weekly testing.
The campus works very hard, and with the help of students that makes a big difference.
“I’m very proud of our students, faculty and staff for really rising to the occasion. You know, it was difficult, I know that for a fact because I get all the complaints, I hear people. Everything comes to me by email, whatever the case may be. But I give credit to the fact that this campus really came together. Everybody was careful. Everybody kept in mind that we didn’t want to go too close,” said Kolison.
As the Spring semester starts to wind down, what does Fredonia want in the future?
Between now and the end of summer, the hope is that the majority of the university will be vaccinated and that students, faculty and staff will take advantage of that vaccine.
“I think that’s one way to be sure that we can have a regular fall semester. I hope that this coming fall we’ll be back on campus and we will have more face-to-face extracurricular activities, athletics and musical performances. These are the kinds of things that make this campus really alive,” said Kolison.
Fredonia hopes students will all return back to school in the fall, and have a fresh start and a great year.