Hey everyone,
In the wake of everything, we've seen the effects COVID-19 has had all over the world and whatnot in so many different ways, so Doug and I thought it'd be a good idea for me to just share what life on campus has been like since this pandemic began.
For those unaware, while I've been a reporter/writer for this site for roughly the last two years, I've also been a journalism major here at the University. I'm a senior, so yes, I've had the last semester of my senior year robbed from me. I was credentialed to cover the Big Ten Tournament in Indy (paid for my hotel and everything), which would've been my first time going. If the location was reasonable, I would've also covered the NCAA Tournament as well, which would've been my first time attending a tournament game. In-person classes have been canceled for the semester and our graduation has gone from canceled to now the University looking at other options to reschedule it after a petition gained a lot of traction.
So yeah, this has been an unfortunate last semester, but what's potentially more disappointing is how life on campus has pretty much ceased to exist. Bars and restaurants are pretty much closed. The only time you really see people are at either the Walgreens or County Market on campus. I don't think many other students have returned back to campus since Spring Break ended. I did because I'm paying rent on my apartment anyway, and my roommates are back so I thought it was worth it. Not many other people have moved back, though. Freshmen were given till last Saturday to move out of the dorms. International students or students with special exemptions were allowed to stay in the dorms and facilities such as dining halls are open for them. University buildings are open to all. Facilities like the ARC or CERCI (recreational facilities) are closed. Campus, overall though, is open.
But this place is a ghost town. Walking down Green Street during the day used to be packed, now there's a couple of people at most. But even though no one is here, Walgreens and County Market are both completely empty of toilet paper, so that's neat.
Our classes getting moved to online is going to completely fail for a lot of classes since they are obviously not built for online platforms. Several journalism classes are going to completely flop because you have to do a good amount of the course work in a lab. I honestly see a pass/fail option giving for classes this semester because I don't see how accurate grades can be given at all with the current conditions. Like I've been telling several people, how can my journalism class tell me to go outside and do in-person reporting if we're basically quarantined? Obviously you can do interviews over the phone, but for my advanced reporting class, only over-the-phone interviews is going to be a big problem. So I don't see how several classes similar to mine can really continue moving forward without drastically hurting grades. That's why I see a pass/fail option eventually being gave.
So that's a little insight on my current situation. I've been the most bored I've been in all my four years of college. This is the first time during my four years I haven't had a sport I needed to cover. It's honestly kind of insane to me. Now my days are spent playing NCAA '14 and online lectures. Not the worst thing, but would much rather life go back to the way things were before. Campus life is dead and that's where some of my best memories over the last four years have come from.
Thanks for reading, if you have any questions, feel free to ask!
In the wake of everything, we've seen the effects COVID-19 has had all over the world and whatnot in so many different ways, so Doug and I thought it'd be a good idea for me to just share what life on campus has been like since this pandemic began.
For those unaware, while I've been a reporter/writer for this site for roughly the last two years, I've also been a journalism major here at the University. I'm a senior, so yes, I've had the last semester of my senior year robbed from me. I was credentialed to cover the Big Ten Tournament in Indy (paid for my hotel and everything), which would've been my first time going. If the location was reasonable, I would've also covered the NCAA Tournament as well, which would've been my first time attending a tournament game. In-person classes have been canceled for the semester and our graduation has gone from canceled to now the University looking at other options to reschedule it after a petition gained a lot of traction.
So yeah, this has been an unfortunate last semester, but what's potentially more disappointing is how life on campus has pretty much ceased to exist. Bars and restaurants are pretty much closed. The only time you really see people are at either the Walgreens or County Market on campus. I don't think many other students have returned back to campus since Spring Break ended. I did because I'm paying rent on my apartment anyway, and my roommates are back so I thought it was worth it. Not many other people have moved back, though. Freshmen were given till last Saturday to move out of the dorms. International students or students with special exemptions were allowed to stay in the dorms and facilities such as dining halls are open for them. University buildings are open to all. Facilities like the ARC or CERCI (recreational facilities) are closed. Campus, overall though, is open.
But this place is a ghost town. Walking down Green Street during the day used to be packed, now there's a couple of people at most. But even though no one is here, Walgreens and County Market are both completely empty of toilet paper, so that's neat.
Our classes getting moved to online is going to completely fail for a lot of classes since they are obviously not built for online platforms. Several journalism classes are going to completely flop because you have to do a good amount of the course work in a lab. I honestly see a pass/fail option giving for classes this semester because I don't see how accurate grades can be given at all with the current conditions. Like I've been telling several people, how can my journalism class tell me to go outside and do in-person reporting if we're basically quarantined? Obviously you can do interviews over the phone, but for my advanced reporting class, only over-the-phone interviews is going to be a big problem. So I don't see how several classes similar to mine can really continue moving forward without drastically hurting grades. That's why I see a pass/fail option eventually being gave.
So that's a little insight on my current situation. I've been the most bored I've been in all my four years of college. This is the first time during my four years I haven't had a sport I needed to cover. It's honestly kind of insane to me. Now my days are spent playing NCAA '14 and online lectures. Not the worst thing, but would much rather life go back to the way things were before. Campus life is dead and that's where some of my best memories over the last four years have come from.
Thanks for reading, if you have any questions, feel free to ask!
