Enough whiplash for USD students
Enough whiplash for USD students
by Catherine Silvey / Managing Editor
As San Diego County clears a crucial parameter for in-person instruction, USD students face another opportunity to be disappointed by their university
It’s August and it’s time for University of San Diego students to start the fall semester. However, there are a few key differences — summer ended a couple weeks early this year, but more importantly, students sit isolated in front of computer screens, many in their childhood bedrooms.
Just four weeks ago, President James T. Harris III, D.Ed. announced that the optimistic plan to welcome Toreros back on campus had been canceled due to rising COVID-19 cases in California and San Diego. However, he assured that the university task forces would continue working to prepare for a mid-semester transition to in-person classes if state and county regulations allowed. The news was disappointing and frustrating to many Toreros, but left a glimmer of hope that students could potentially return this fall.
And now it seems that door might unlock sooner than anticipated. On Aug. 18, the second day of the school year, San Diego County was removed from the California watch list for meeting the benchmark of less than 100 cases per 100,000 residents for three days in a row. If San Diego County is able to keep their cases low for the 14 days following this achievement, K-12 schools could be allowed to return to in-person instruction in early September, possibly acting as a catalyst for colleges such as USD to follow suit.
However, given the whiplash USD students have experienced over the past few months, it is questionable that a mid-semester return would truly be a viable option.
The announcement that classes would begin online came less than three weeks before the first day of fall semester. Year-long leases had been signed, flights arranged, furniture purchased. First years were faced with a fast-approaching deadline to decide if they wanted to defer their acceptances and take a gap semester. Students and parents pulled up online bills to be met with an increased tuition, left wondering if a virtual semester was worth this cost. But however painful that process was for many students and their families, the nationwide attempts of American colleges to facilitate in-person instruction paint a worrisome picture of what could be next for USD students.
A cautionary tale of sorts has unraveled at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; after just one week of in-person instruction, the university pushed students off campus once again after reporting 135 new COVID-19 cases. It seemed that just as soon as students arrived they were forced to pack up their living spaces and go home, costing precious time and money. A near identical situation occurred at University of Notre Dame, where 146 students contracted COVID-19 after a mere eight days of classes.
It’s hard to imagine that things would play out much differently at USD. While students and faculty alike are eager to return to a much-anticipated sense of normalcy, the track record for colleges’ attempts to open their campuses is bleak, indicating that a return would most likely result in another wave of disappointment and frustration for everyone involved.
Perhaps later in the semester conditions will improve and colleges will find success in returning and staying on-campus. However, USD should take a look at what isn’t working for others and recognize that their good intentions in the past have not always generated good results. Now is not the time for hasty decision-making.
“The views expressed in the editorial and op-ed sections are not necessarily those of The USD Vista staff, the University of San Diego, or its student body.”