Art by Ellie Duvall
In July, Pepperdine reversed its decision to hold in-person classes this fall. Many other American universities, including Harvard, Princeton and Stanford, made a similar choice. Colleges that decided to open took a gamble on whether they could control the spread of COVID-19 on their campuses. For some students and faculty, the gamble is not paying off.
The Pepperdine community should congratulate the University for safely steering students and faculty away from discomfort, disease and death by holding classes online. Other universities are experiencing a tidal wave of COVID-19 cases after foolish endeavors to reopen in-person classes. As a result of campus outbreaks, some universities are switching to remote instruction, contributing to student relocation stress, increasing travel expenses and risking further COVID-19 spread.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reported 31% of its community members tested positive for COVID-19 during the week of Aug. 17. A decision was then made to halt in-person classes and send the majority of students home, some with the unwanted gift of the virus.
Universities in states like Florida, where governors are pushing for schools to stay open, are struggling to contain campus outbreaks. The University of Miami has virus outbreaks in multiple student dorms despite investing in extra precautions, such as creating a virus tracking app and a symptom checker app, setting up on-site virus testing, installing plexiglass barriers, hiring extra healthcare staff and providing free masks. The University is now sending some students to a hotel as quarantine space runs out.
These universities’ attempts to create safe in-person classes failed. With some faculty and students already in the hospital, damage has been done. Subpar in-person classes are not worth the potential loss of life and long term health consequences.
Furthermore, the quality of in-person instruction is undeniably lacking.
University of Miami first-years Tatum Hawthorne and Noah Ferber report challenges with their face-to-face classes, such as assigned seating and plexiglass shields that prevent them from seeing the professor and the board.
While Ferber attends some classes in person, he said he still watches the lectures on Zoom because he can see the content significantly better. Hawthorne said she regrets selecting in-person classes and living on campus because of the constant risk of getting sick.
“It’s scary because you are seeing people get the virus,” Hawthrone said. “Classes the other way would be safer.”
Second-year University of Alabama student Tyde Lacher wrote that he expected “a full-on ‘Lord of the Flies’ or ‘Purge’ situation to break out on the campus within two weeks tops.” Although he said he still felt comfortable attending his in-person classes in a mask, he was “definitely expecting school to go completely to online.”
Only two weeks after the start of classes, the University of Alabama already has 1,201 positive COVID-19 cases among students and staff.
Lacher said he uses humor to cope but no longer finds the situation at his school amusing. Students are not allowed visitors in their dorms, and all in-person social events have been canceled.
To contain COVID-19, partying needs to stop; however, the value of being in-person significantly diminishes without live events.
When reflecting on Pepperdine’s decision to keep classes online, sophomore Caden Benedict said he appreciated not being brought to campus only to be sent home a few weeks later. He said he is comfortable taking his general education requirements from his home in Tennessee, where COVID-19 numbers are much lower than in Los Angeles County. He is finding silver linings in the experience, pointing out that “whenever a crisis happens, there is room to grow.”
Benedict said students should use this time to take as many general education classes as possible because they are most amenable to online learning.
One advantage of remote instruction is that even Elkins auditorium lecture classes can feel smaller and more interactive thanks to Zoom’s breakout room and chat functions.
Sophomore Audrey Robison said “some professors have been in flying colors” online. Robison and first-year Frank Mundo said online math classes are still strong thanks to small-group learning, frequent feedback on problem-solving and easily accessible online review materials.
Seeing friends at other universities struggle with in-person classes and dorm life during the pandemic is a harsh reality check. COVID-19 is proving a tricky beast to contain. After processing the initial letdown of losing an in-person semester, students should appreciate that Pepperdine made the right choice for the safety of its students, staff and the broader community.
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Follow the Graphic on Twitter: @PeppGraphic
Email Joshua Evans: Josh.Evans@Pepperdine.edu
