Whether you’re excited, terrified or somewhere in between, school time is rolling around once again.
This semester is gearing up to be the strangest—and possibly most exhausting—of our college years.
Attending classes in the age of COVID-19 has always been strange. From our fully online semester that drove many to the brink of cabin fever, to returning to a campus that lost much of its fervor, we’ve been through a lot.
But now, the university has outdone itself by making things somehow even more stressful. An impressive feat if you ask me.
To clarify, I’m talking about the decision to allow professors to choose between remote and in-person classes for the first two weeks of school.
Don’t get me wrong—I’m all for professors having more freedoms in the classroom and making decisions based on their comfort level. The level of agency over classes and faculty quite possibly should have been granted long ago.
That being said, I can’t be the only one whose schedule is a little chaotic because of this arrangement.
At this point, I would rather solely have online classes rather than my current situation of running across campus to make back-to-back online and in-person meetings.
While it’s important to allow professors to make their own decisions about classes, our worsening COVID-19 scenario was not the best backdrop to gear up individual liberties.
The omicron variant has people worrying for a multitude of reasons: the uncertainty of its severity, the unknowns of its transmissibility, the effects on the immunocompromised and more.
If it wasn’t for the massive, worldwide surge in cases, I wouldn’t be so frustrated. But at this point, I can’t help being worried about close social gatherings of any kind. I’ve been conditioned to stray away from that kind of thing as we approach year three of pandemic life.
Complaining about the pandemic and harping on regulations can seem almost trivial at this point, but I’m surprised the university still doesn’t have its act together after all these months.
I was almost convinced people learned staying home slows the spread of a communicable disease, but my faith unraveled after seeing the general apathy toward omicron.
Virtual learning isn’t always ideal, but it’s proven to be the safest option nonetheless.
Regardless, while I know nothing I’ve said will change the minds of university administrators to hold (at least) the first two weeks of classes remotely, I still stand behind the belief that our current setup is not the best idea.
Emily Davison is a 20-year-old anthropology and English junior from Denham Springs.