More than two weeks after moving onto campus, some Miami University students have yet to receive the result of the first COVID-19 test they took before moving into their dorms.
From the outside, Maple Street Commons looks just like it has in previous years. One step inside the front door, however, and that notion is quickly dispelled. In order to comply with COVID-19 protocols and ensure students stay safe when getting their grub, Miami’s dining halls look drastically different than they have in previous years.
The verdant grounds and broad walkways of Miami are no longer desolate when the clock reads 11:40 a.m. or 1:15 p.m. However, the ever-present issue of COVID-19 and the fact that some students opted to stay remote for the semester have led to some interesting changes in how professors are conducting classes this fall.
On Tuesday, Miami’s Vice President for Student Affairs, Jayne Brownell, announced a new coronavirus monitoring system for residence halls.
In the hallways of their dorms, students pass each other in their masks. They try to smile, to make a friend, but are unable to tell who they are passing. The girl from 204? Someone down the hall? They ask themselves one question: Can I make friends and stay safe?
The week before classes start each fall, around 250 students dot the football field at Yager Stadium, each on a specific mark. Practicing morning to night, they create a wall of sound that fills campus. Once school starts, they are the life of football games and beacons of school spirit. This year, the stadium is silent.
Last March, musical theatre group Stage Left and improv comedy group Sketched Out accidentally scheduled their performances in the same room at the same time. The groups were able to work it out, but the incident showed how different performing arts groups were disconnected from one another.
Online classes to online activities to online events. With this being the life of a college student for the past six months, many were excited to branch out and do something outside of a computer screen. On Sept. 24, Miami Activities & Programming (MAP) hosted its first face-to-face event of the semester, “Plant Your Roots,” where free succulent plants were available for students to pick up near the Armstrong Student Center.
More than 100 students marched through Oxford for a Black Lives Matter protest on Friday, Sept. 25.
Farmers markets have a long history of providing fresh food, art and a center for communities to come together. The Oxford farmers market is no different, bringing the community together for decades, a tradition that has continued despite challenges faced during a pandemic.
Permanent Oxford residents have mixed feelings about Miami University’s decision to continue with its phased return to campus, bringing even more students into Oxford.
“I get off task more often, but this is because I simply have more free time, and it lets me get off task,” Jakubowycz said. “I feel like I’ve been doing overall worse but not so drastically worse so I’m falling apart.”
As I walk up the long stretch of stairs to the Recreation Center (Rec), a staff member in a red t-shirt sprays and wipes the railings. Inside, there is caution tape where water fountains used to be. Almost every machine is being used and students on benches stay inside a barrier of yellow tape. Some students walk to the next area with a rag and spray bottle in hand. Surprisingly, it is not a complete ghost town.
Though Miami University carries a reputation of being relatively conservative, Oxford has been a small blue bubble in an overwhelmingly red county for the past several elections.
The usually full social calendars for the members of the Miami Greek community are virtually empty with pandemic safety precautions limiting gatherings of more than 10 people. With coronavirus continually changing our social world as we know it, Miami Greeks are trying to find as much normalcy as they can during these unprecedented times. Instead of the normal mass gatherings for chapter, weekly chapter meetings are now conducted virtually through a screen.
These past two weeks have proven to be quite eventful for Miami University. Underclassmen began to move into dorms Sept. 14, and simultaneously, the viral video of a police officer confronting a student having a house party while positive for COVID-19 made headlines from news sources ranging from TMZ to The Washington Post.
In the face of a pandemic, the Butler County Board of Elections and local political organizations have both been working to allow Oxford residents to vote as safely and efficiently as possible this coming November.
With Miami’s positive case rate on the decline, Provost Jason Osborne said it is “unlikely” that the campus will completely vacate again like it did in March.
To all the freshmen who just moved to campus: welcome. Though it’s an odd semester for all of us, you’ve arrived at a nice time — basically missing the sticky, humid, end-of-summer sunshine — and instead greeting lower temperatures and the promise of fall foliage.
The whole family packed into the room, piling duffle bags and boxes onto the bed and the floor. Clanking noises from one particular bag, full of Kylie’s coffee mugs, echoed around the quiet hallway.