Administration Prepares for Possible Coronavirus-related Campus Closure

Tues., March 10 was supposed to be a scheduled staff development Flex Day, but instead, it was changed to accomodate an evolving COVID-19 preparedness effort. To prepare for the possibility that Santa Monica College (SMC) may close its campus and move classes online, faculty members were invited to participate in both hands-on and webinar-based classes to learn about internet education. This comes amidst a smattering of statewide school closures to decrease campus-wide risk of contracting coronavirus.

Superintendent Dr. Kathryn Jeffrey emailed faculty and staff on Sunday, stating the change was “to allow time for faculty, staff, and administrators to participate in training and make other preparations in the event that a campus closure becomes necessary.”

SMC’s emergency task force, co-chaired by Chief of Police Johnnie Adams and Director of Health Services Dr. Susan Fila, currently has an emergency action plan in the event of a coronavirus-related campus closure, flexible according to different levels of severity.

According to Vice President of Academic Affairs Jennifer Merlic, SMC’s decision regarding a campus closure is dependent on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

“We can decide to do what we think is appropriate, but what we think is appropriate is to follow the advice of public health officials,” said Merlic. “We are waiting for public health officials to indicate that there is a reason for us to suspend on-ground instruction… They are not indicating that there is enough risk for us to make a change at this time.”

SMC administration plans to temporarily suspend classes for its Emeritus program, a program that focuses on catering to the older adult community with non-credit classes. The Emeritus campus will be closed to all except its employees.

When asked if this procedure applies to students over the age of 60 at other SMC campuses, Merlic said, “That is up to them and their physician… we would follow the same procedures we do any time a student is sick.”

The administration also cancelled “all non-essential travel for college employees and for students,” including events such as conferences and study abroad programs. The college has not yet decided to cancel athletic events.

As of March 10, a variety of schools around the nation, including those within California, are transitioning a majority of courses into online versions to avoid large congregations of students. UC Los Angeles, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, Whittier College, Stanford, and UC San Diego are among the many schools in California digitizing their curriculum. Out of state, the University of Washington in Seattle, Berea College in Kentucky, and Harvard University in Cambridge are also taking steps to preserve the health of their students.

Despite a lower number of Coronavirus cases in the state of Kentucky than there are in the city of Los Angeles alone, Berea College is closing its classes. In the March 10 statement, the College said “after careful analysis, [we have decided] that it will not be possible to adequately assure student and employee safety in the circumstance of a case of COVID-19 occurring on campus, we have decided that the College will cease instructional activities as of the end of the day on this Friday, March 13.”

Gene D. Block, the Chancellor of UCLA said in a statement “like many of you, I have been carefully following news about the novel coronavirus… I believe that it is important for communities to look out for one another and do what is best for our global and UCLA communities.” He then proceeded to announce the immediate transition from in-person classes to online, with winter quarter finals to be taken remotely.

Katie Gorak, a freshman at the University of Washington, decided to come back home to Southern California for the last two weeks of her quarter following a campus-wide move to online classes. The Film and Education double major says she believes the university is not handling the situation as well as it could.

“I think there’s a lack of transparency and a lack of communication, which is incredibly frustrating,” said Gorak. “It’s a tough situation, because you don’t want to cancel class. Obviously, you want students to be healthy. It’s really hard, since coronavirus is really prevalent in Seattle…. but I don’t think they’re handling it to the best of their ability.”

She, like many other students impacted by the current events, feels as though her education is negatively affected.

“I think, for me, it’s really hard to be motivated to do stuff when I’m laying on my couch at home,” Gorak said. “If we don’t go back next quarter, it’s going to be really difficult to do all those classes online. I’m sure I wouldn’t get a fraction out of it that I would if I actually went to class.”

A UC Berkeley computer science (C.S.) major, Sohrob Eslamieh, described the online classes there, saying “It’s just going to be different. I’m a C.S. major, so all of my C.S. classes have already been webcast. They’re 800-person classes... The C.S. department is very well-equipped for this. But all of my humanities classes… [are] going to be really different.” 

Stanford sophomore Cooper deNicola says the university is deciding things “on the fly.”

“On Friday night, we were told around 5pm that there were two students being tested for possible exposure to coronavirus who were self-isolating. A couple hours after that, Stanford informed us that they were cancelling classes for the remainder of the quarter,” said deNicola.

DeNicola added, “so much of learning comes from collaborating with people in class, being able to talk to your professors, and I think a lot of that is sadly lost by this system.” Despite this though, he believes “it is the right call to make...  they’re making the best decisions for the health and life of the people around them.”

“We need a little bit more time to get our faculty ready,” said Merlic. “I want to have a plan for how we’re going to have faculty ready to make this move, because [something] does seem likely to occur.”

Closing her email to the SMC staff, Dr. Jeffery said “I deeply appreciate your flexibility, cooperation, and collegial collaboration at this time of uncertainty.”

Jackie Sedley contributed to this report.