Editorial: We do COVID-19
“We do community.”
The remark is plastered on walls in hallways across campus. Hallways that fewer students walk down nowadays out of fear for their health and safety.
“We do community.”
Signs flaunting the three words are propped up in blooming flowerbeds that cannot be enjoyed by the students who are isolated inside their residence hall rooms.
"We do community."
The phrase replays in the minds of professors as they return to a contaminated campus every day to teach in-person classes and then must return home to their families.
It is time to stop being passive with messaging and slogans. It’s time to communicate.
“We do community” is a fine sentiment, but right now, students need honesty. We need leaders on campus to give us clear expectations and not mixed messages. Reactionary, stern emails from administrators will not do much to keep us on campus.
After a 980 percent increase in reported COVID-19 cases this past week, parents are questioning whether they made the right choice sending their children to CMU's campus. They will have to make another decision whether to send them back to their residence halls after the Labor Day weekend.
Few students are optimistic that we will finish face-to-face classes before the fall semester ends. On the first two days of classes, students placed bets on how long classes would remain face-to-face in front of professors risking their personal health coming to campus.
In President Bob Davies’s email acknowledging the 54 newly-reported COVID-19 cases, he mentioned the university’s months-long preparations for our return to campus.
“Part of this planning has involved preparing for an inevitable increase in positive cases of COVID-19, and we have processes in place to address these new cases," Davies wrote.
If the increase of COVID-19 cases was inevitable, why did CMU bring back students back without on-site testing or strict enforcement of rules for student gatherings? Solutions to those problems are just now being put in place.
While the university formed an initiative to make sure students had masks, clinics in Mount Pleasant are being overrun by students in need of testing.
CMU cannot expect students to spend their hours outside of class in isolation watching Netflix. They need a way to connect with friends they have not seen since March. They need outlets for entertainment and recreation. Those opportunities are missing and are being not provided by the university. That's why you see students attending crowded pool parties and gathered in parking lots outside apartment complexes.
It is clear that this university, even with this preparation, was not ready for students to return.
As of today, the Central Michigan District Health Department has identified 106 COVID-19 cases associated with the start of the semester. Expect that number to continue to increase.
Be respectful of the communities around us — Mount Pleasant, Union Township and the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe – because their health and safety depends on the choices we make.
If we want football games, if we want bar crawls, if we want the experiences in the spring that we lost this fall, then we need to do our part as students and do what the university cannot do — make the right choices for us.
We cannot, as students, expect the university to remain open while we take chances. Don't host large parties – limit gatherings to 25 people. Take advantage of the last few weeks of warm, sunny weather. Wear your mask and wear it properly. It's up to us, not administrators and police, to hold each other accountable.
We believe there will be time to celebrate, but we need to get through this fall semester first.
Despite all the craziness surrounding this semester, one thing is certain. CMU has put its stamp on the world of higher education. Today, all eyes are on us. And so far what we've proven to everyone watching us is that at CMU we do COVID-19.
