Luke Borgelt
Contributing Writer
It was Jan. 17 when I arrived on campus to move in for the spring semester of 2021. All seemed quiet at the time, but that soon changed. Within the coming weeks, many new faces appeared, and all were ready to face the new challenges that this semester would inevitably bring. It had seemed almost as if more students were on campus than in the fall 2020 semester. Last fall, many students were removed from campus because they did not follow the guidelines given to us to keep us safe from the ravaging COVID-19 virus. As we all know, this virus loves to pounce in the presence of large groups of people, and many did not adhere to the warnings. Multiple parties occurred which caused the entire campus to shut down, and we were no longer allowed to go to the store, to the gym, to the library or to play sports, etc. I am hopeful that we will not repeat the mistakes of the past, though I am everything but optimistic.
Last semester, we made it roughly a month before we were forced to start more restrictions following the shutting down of campus. With this new group of students came new rules, and I predict that we have three weeks before we will have to shut down again. The biggest problem that came to my attention was the crowding in Lowry. This has stressed out the employees, and they have started to show negative attitudes to the students. The lines just seem to be getting longer, and everyone wants to sit at the tables with their friends to share a meal. With the new restrictions, it is nearly impossible to interact with friends besides eating at Lowry.
I believe some of this crowding is because the fourth meal now closes at 10PM instead of 12AM like before. This forces people to go to Lowry at similar times, and we no longer have any food options past 10PM except for the Convenience Store. As college students, we need those food options later in the night so that we can power through our studies. I understand that the staff is minimal, and this causes the school to make some sacrifices, but I think we need to think about the chain reaction from this change.
Although the campus life is no longer optimal, it seems that students have found ways of entertaining themselves. From the snow dumped on us in the recent weeks, people have been writing in the snow and rolling snow boulders down the walkways from the Arch. I think this shows the resiliency of Wooster students, and I hope this continues so that we can have a safe and enjoyable semester.
