“The University quarantining students in their dorms is a little strange to me considering the fact that dorms are such tightly enclosed places. Students are bound to break that quarantine whether it be for daily necessities or leisure. I think the University is doing the best it can to manage a growing situation but it is only a matter of time until this campus can’t operate safely due to the amount of COVID-19 cases.”
Olivia James | @afroliviaa
“Quarantining students in their dorms with their roommates and having them share facilities with uninfected students is both greedy and counterintuitive. If the University really cares about the safety of their students, they wouldn’t risk their health by keeping them in contact with the virus. It is clear this move was made to save money and it’s incredibly two-faced for an administration which claims to care so much about our health to blatantly disregard said health.”
Domenic Purdy | @tigerdom16
”Trying to control a pandemic in a college dorm setting seemed doomed from the start. This new development appears even more unsustainable. Is it even possible for a student to truly quarantine in his or her dorm room? As far as I know, there aren’t many dorms with private bathrooms. It would be ridiculous for anyone who has been exposed to COVID-19 to share bathrooms and hall space with those who have not been exposed.”
Evan Leonhard | @evan_leonhard
“The University allowing students to quarantine on campus poses a myriad of problems and potential threats. The original plan for moving students to an off-campus quarantine site was reasonable and seemed at least semi-thought out. This sudden and unadvertised change in policy seems suspect, especially since information about infected students is not divulged to RAs. A lot of the dorms feature hall bathrooms and most students on-campus have roommates, so allowing sick students to stay in their on-campus spaces seems really risky. The fact that the University hasn’t really released any information to the public about this new change is also very worrisome. It kind of makes you wonder what else they aren’t telling students.”
Marie Plunkett | @MarieC_214
“Although the University couldn’t anticipate Hurricane Laura and the subsequent influx of victims into Baton Rouge, the scarcity of quarantine spaces on- and off-campus nevertheless represents careless preparation for COVID-19. Leaving students to quarantine in their dorms endangers their roommates and hallmates, especially in buildings with hall baths. The new quarantine policy makes it clear the University is only superficially addressing the COVID-19 spread on campus, concerned more with managing their public image than with actually protecting faculty and students.”
Cecile Girard | @_cegi_
“I am not very fond of the idea that the University is quarantining students in their dorms. I think this does the opposite of ‘slowing the spread.’ Before school started, administration officials had to know there was a good chance students would be exposed to the coronavirus and would need a place to quarantine. Knowing that, there should have been a better plan in place to separate possible COVID-19 carriers from other students. Instead, this is a gateway for the virus to spread in close quarters such as on-campus housing. Hopefully a better plan will be put into place soon.”
Elizabeth Crochet | @elizabethcro_
“I’m really glad I’m not being forced into the dorms like a freshman or an RA this year. From everything I’ve read and heard, it seems more like a prison with infected students in some wings than the ‘home’ they advertise it to be.”
Gabby Martinez | @martinez_g0
“In theory, if everyone followed the rules perfectly, if all suitemates were also quarantined and no one left their suites, then I would say quarantining students in dorms that have suite style rooms isn’t a bad idea. While I hope that our fellow Tigers follow their quarantine carefully for the safety of everyone on campus, setting the system up like this makes it inevitable someone will break protocol and leave their suite. It seems that the safer option would be to move students into designated quarantine buildings to minimize the risks.”
Claire Sullivan | @sulliclaire
“It’s difficult to understate just how nonsensical the administration’s handling of the pandemic has been thus far. The University — and its student body — knows how COVID-19 spreads. Quarantining infected students in dorm rooms means nothing when they’re sharing bathrooms and A/C with uninfected students. Does the administration assume we’re ignorant to these facts? Are we simply waiting for someone to die? Be transparent. ”
Kevin Doucette | @kgdouce
“I honestly feel like quarantining students on campus is the best option for the University. Students should not be forced to return home where they can possibly spread the disease to their families. Also, they could spread the disease as they travel. This is the best option for out-of-state and international students. These students contracted the virus on campus, so it is the most optimal decision to undergo quarantine on campus as well as long as there are strict procedures to keep the rest of the student body protected.”
Tamia Southall | @tamiabrem_
