COVID Brings an Early End to Fall Semester
posted by Naomi Stevens | November 6, 2020 | In NewsCOVID-19 changed Fayetteville State University’s procedures and academic schedules the fall with November 14 being the last day of the semester. With all these changes, faculty and students have both had to adjust.
In order for students and faculty to cope with the pandemic and minimize COVID cases on the campus, the university decided to divide on-campus classes, with only half the classes attending each day.
According to Dr. Eugenie Almeida of the Department of Communication, Languages, and Cultures (CLC), remote classes did 8 weeks on Zoom, and the other 8 weeks were done in class, but the students were divided – half of them would show up on one day, while the other half showed up on the other day of class during the week. Dr. Almeida also said that in the upcoming spring semester, classes could be either face-to-face or online instead of doing Zoom, but remote-learning is also another option.
“I think that FSU should stick to mostly online classes in the future until the COVID virus has a vaccine and better cures for those who catch it. Our numbers are increasing rapidly all across the country, we are entering into what many specialists say will be a dark winter,” said Dr. Almeida.
“I think splitting the classes up will help limit the spread of the virus, but I feel having all classes completely online would be the better option. I prefer online classes because it’s safer for everyone,” said FSU student Joshua Dungee.
As of November 6, the Office of Human Resources and Student Health Services, there were a total of 129 confirmed COVID-19 cases on the campus since August 1 – 15 employees and 114 students. As of November 6, there were 3 confirmed active cases – 1 employee and 2 students. It is possible that following health and safety precautions issued by the Student Health Services played a contribution in the dropping of active COVID-19 cases on the campus.
In spite of the semester ending somewhat earlier than it regularly did in the past, one thing that was changed regarding the academic calendar was that there wasn’t to be any Fall Break. Though Fall Break was eliminated, there are some individuals that don’t mind the cancellation, and the change meant final exams would be from November 16 to the 20.
“I’m fine with Fall Break being canceled because our winter break got extended, so it honestly isn’t much different in my opinion. That’s also why I think it got canceled because they extended Winter Break,” said Dungee.
Even though the decision to cancel Fall Break was for the sake of ending classes before Thanksgiving or Christmas and the safety of staff and students, a few individuals, such as Dr. Almeida, felt like waiting for the semester to end without a break in between was exhausting.
“…I understand that administrators don’t want students to go home, possibly catch the virus, and then come back to school with it. That’s the reason for no breaks. Same for faculty as well. But to wait until the semester ends to have a break was really tiring,” said Dr. Almeida.
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