Daily Archives: August 16, 2020

college students, personal responsibility

An open letter to all college students living on or near campus this fall

Leave a comment

Dear Residential and Off-Campus Student,

It’s on you this fall. And the clock already has started.

You want to be away from home and living on or near campus, right?

You want to be surrounded by as many of your friends as possible, right?

You want to be taking classes on ground, right?

Well, then you’d better get your act together. Starting right now.

You can’t have it both ways for as long as coronavirus remains unchecked.

You’ve got to either scale back, way back in fact, your social activities and wear a mask and practice social distancing, or you can choose to screw up and soon head home.

If you select the former, then that means no parties and no large social gatherings. It also means constantly wearing a mask when you’re outside your dorm or apartment. It also means being vigilant about staying at least six feet from another person.

Yes, I know, none of that is easy.

If you select the latter, then that means being an absolute ignoramus about the dangers of coronavirus to you, your friends, your faculty and your family. Once there’s a sufficient number of ignoramuses around you, you and all of your living-on-campus fellow students will be sent home. And classes almost certainly will shift to online.

Don’t be an ignoramus.

Oh, you’ve got a couple of weeks maximum to make your decision.

There’s no reason to publicly announce your choice; we’ll all know what you decide.

academic administrations, college students, colleges and universities, health issues, higher education, Oklahoma State University, public health, University of North Carolina

Bad day for colleges and coronavirus: 23 sorority members in quarantine at OK State; another outbreak of cases at UNC

Leave a comment

America’s colleges and universities beginning the academic year with as many on ground classes as possible will be in a precarious position if faculty, staff and students don’t adhere to safety protocols.

The early indications from at least two major, public institutions: The students are going to do what they want. And we know that means they’re almost certainly going to catch — and spread — coronavirus.

One sorority at Oklahoma State University and one dorm at the University of North Carolina serve as reminders that ignoring the virus will have major consequences.

CNN has the details about the Oklahoma State sorority.

Last night OSU officials learned of 23 positive COVID cases in an off-campus sorority house. The rapid antigen testing was performed at an off-campus health care facility,” a statement from the university read.

The entire sorority house is in isolation or quarantine after the confirmed cases, and residents “will be prohibited from leaving the facility,” the university said.

Meanwhile, WRAL-TV examines what’s happening in Chapel Hill, NC.

To date, more than 140 students have tested positive for the virus, according to a live UNC coronavirus dashboard. 

More than 8% of student tests have come back positive, the dashboard shows. Between August 3 and August 9, the school reported 10 students tested positive for the virus and one employee was positive.

There have also been concerns at off-campus housing, where large gatherings at the pool have not followed safety measures like social distancing and masks.