Don’t Blame the Freshmen
In April of this year, Santa Monica College (SMC) made the decision that classes would continue online for the Fall 2020 Semester. While it might have seemed early on to make the call, as the fall semester was four months away, the precaution allowed for SMC students to prepare themselves for the Fall course load, navigating which classes they’d rather wait to take until they could be held on-site.
Illustration by Carolyn Burt | The Corsair
In an email to students, SMC President Kathryn Jeffery noted the decision was not an easy one, “There is no replacement for teaching, counseling, and talking to you in person; at the same time, nothing is more important than your health and physical, emotional, and mental well-being.”
However, many colleges across the country did not follow suit. They encouraged students to come back to campus, assuring them that strict COVID-19 precautions were being implemented to ease the minds of students and parents. This move, however, was a reckless tactic in order for schools to secure tuition payments from their students. And no one was more eager or desperate to jump at this option than the incoming college freshmen.
The graduating class of 2020 has had one of the more somber educational experiences in recent times. For high schoolers, senior year is hyped up from the early days of elementary school, a grand send off with friends and classmates known for over a decade. A victory lap filled with Prom, Graduation, and other traditions anticipated since Freshman year. But for this year's seniors, it was one feeling of disappointment after another, featuring virtual proms and socially distanced graduation ceremonies.
For the past 7 months these young adults have felt trapped under their parents' roof, unable to escape to summer jobs or concerts with friends, due to reopening restrictions put in place. Students are jumping at the chance to fly the coop, grasping for anything that resembles the college experience they’ve romanticized, desperate to live on campus. Now left unsupervised from their parents, these 18-year-olds are soaking up their new found freedom, and breaking the rules.
It takes place every year -- freshmen partying in their dorm rooms and getting written up by their Resident Advisors for breaking policy. The big difference this time, however, is that the United States is still in the midst of a global pandemic, and by not following the rules, students are selfishly putting not only their lives at risk, but the entire campus population.
They’re falling victim to the societal norm of college peer pressure, romanticizing the idea that the first week of college sets the tone for the entire trajectory of their life, or thinking that by going out they could make friendships that’ll last a lifetime or meet that special someone. With the hefty price tag they’re paying for tuition, getting the proper college experience is of just as much, if not more, value to them as their education.
College administrations knew the risk they were taking by deciding to bring students back on campus. It’s similar to the toddler challenge that was going around back in May, where parents would leave out a bowl of snacks for their child, telling them not to eat it until they came back. No one was surprised that the toddlers began eating their goodies the second their parents stepped away, and no one should be shocked that these students gave into that same feeling of temptation, now that they too are lacking parental supervision.
Students are now having to, quite literally, pay the price for their actions. Northeastern University dismissed 11 Freshmen for the remainder of the Fall Semester after they were found together in a room. In addition to putting this group of students behind academically, their tuition is not being refunded.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ended up sending students back home and returning classes online just a week after they initially opened after the positivity rate for COVID-19 went from 2.8 percent to 13.6 percent in just six days. The call was not surprising to the many who followed along through the week’s viral videos on TikTok. They documented the large gatherings and parties with no social distancing or masks in site, including a makeshift slip ‘n slide on the grass outside of their Residence Hall.
To say these institutions didn’t know the likely outcome of returning in-person after an uptick in COVID-19 cases is naive and negligent. Out of fear that students would defer their acceptance thus losing the college money, they made the choice, and a selfish one at that, to allow students back to campus. They baited students with the desire for in person education, after months of online classes. Because of that, students who did follow protocol are also being sent back home, potentially exposed to the virus, and putting their families health at risk.
At the end of the day, this Freshmen class made costly mistakes, let their guard down, and are rightfully suffering the consequences for their actions, but they are not the ones to blame. The blame falls onto the administrations who opened up campus too soon and allowed classes to be held in person, far before our country is ready.
