4 CAMPUS & COMMUNITY
BAMMERAJ@MIAMIOH.EDU
MONDAY, AUGUST 23, 2021
‘Most things will look more like pre-COVID’:
Miami plans for fall semester
CONTINUED FROM FRONT Rivinius said the university hopes the incentive program will drive the Miami community to get vaccinated. “We are hoping [the program] further incentivizes people who were on the fence or just hadn’t gotten around to it to just go ahead and get vaccinated,” Rivinius said. “We think vaccination [is] the most effective way to fight COVID.” Miami, following CDC recommendations, is also encouraging students, faculty or staff who travel to the U.S. from international travel, regardless of vaccination status, to get tested within 3-5 days after travel. Unvaccinated individuals who traveled internationally are also encouraged to self-quarantine for 7 days after travel. Individuals who have received at least one dose of a two-dose COVID vaccine that is not approved by the FDA or WHO must also quarantine after international travel, as Miami is not recognizing vaccines not authorized by the FDA or WHO. Receiving a vaccine after international travel to the U.S. does not exempt individuals from protocol recommendations. COVID-19 tests will be given at the Health Services building. Students who have uploaded their vaccination records to MedProctor or have shown proof of a positive COVID-19 test in the last 90 days are exempt from testing. At-home antigen tests will also be available for students at various locations on campus, including Armstrong Student Center and King Library. Move-in & residence halls Last year, move-in for underclassmen took place over the course of one week to allow for social distancing. This year, it took place over two days, beginning Aug. 19. Upperclassmen and student organizations signed up to help students move in, a service that was not available last year. Any students that did not upload their vaccination records were required to go to Millett Hall before arriving at their residence hall to get tested or show proof of vaccination or a positive COVID test within the last 90 days. Students could also opt to get the first dose of their vaccine at Millett during move-in. Students who were vaccinated and moving onto campus could forgo move-in testing and go directly to their residence hall to move in as long as they uploaded their vaccine records to MedProctor.
Robert Abowitz, associate director of residence life, said Miami will continue to keep an eye on COVID in the residence halls and try to minimize cases. “Based on testing, we are likely to continue to have the color coding of the residence halls,” Abowitz said, “so that we can publicly acknowledge where we see outbreaks, and we can react so we can reduce those outbreaks.” Along with the color-coding system, which identifies how many students in a residence hall have tested positive for COVID-19, Miami will also set aside space for on-campus students to isolate or quarantine. It hasn’t been confirmed which buildings will be used. Abowitz said he is anticipating full occupancy in the residence halls, compared to only 60% occupancy in the 2020-2021 school year. The Office of Residence Life is planning to hold more events in person, such as corridor meetings, the fire safety fair and other hall programs. “Most things will look more like pre-COVID than they [did] last year,” Abowitz said. COVID guidelines in the residence halls will follow what’s set by Miami University, Butler County Health Department and the CDC. Masks will be required in public areas of residence halls, however, there will not be any capacity limits for public areas or student rooms. Dining Dining halls will also return to full capacity, according to an email sent to students by Campus Services on Aug. 6. Other than that, most aspects of dining halls will be similar to the past school year. “All commons locations will have full seating capacity,” the email read, “and food will be served in compostable, to-go containers at the start of school with the hopes to return to china plates and cutlery as the semester progresses.” Along with using to-go containers, dining halls will also be closed for portions of the day. Unlike last year, however, they will operate on a staggered schedule. On weekdays, there will always be at least one dining hall open. Dining hall hours of operation can be found on the dining services website. “Unemployment, supply chain, product availability and operational changes in the food and beverage
industry are challenges seen nationwide and are affecting us,” the email read. According to the dining services website, Cafe Lux will be open this fall, but Bell Tower Commons will remain closed. Student life As Miami begins a new semester, Abowitz said outreach to sophomores, who haven’t had the normal college experience yet, is important. “There’s a small committee right now that is planning the ‘second-year surge,’” Abowitz said. “These will be events and programs directed towards second-year students. I think we’re going to be doing some encouraging of second-year students to attend some of what we consider the traditional first-year programs.” Mega Fair is scheduled to take place in person on Sunday, Aug. 29. Art After Dark, another popular event, will return as well. Armstrong Student Center will take event reservations for the fall semester with no capacity limits. Study rooms in Armstrong also no longer have capacity limits, and all the furniture in Armstrong’s Shade Family Room has returned. Katie Wilson, director of Armstrong, said she is excited to have more students and events in Armstrong this year. “We’re looking forward to seeing a more vibrant student center next semester and having everybody back and creating the kind of Miami experience that we’re known for,” Wilson said. Kimberly Vance, director of Student Activities and Fraternity and Sorority Life, said even though student organizations are able to host meetings and events indoors with masks, they are encouraging largescale events to be held outside when possible. “What we’ve advised organizations to do is, yes, you can host an event … and if that is an event that will work outside, where people can naturally distance from each other a little bit or they’re just not all closed up in a room — if you can do your event that way, great,” Vance said. “It’s a recommendation, it’s not a requirement.” Vance said she plans to send out an email to student organization leaders so that they can stay up to date and plan their meetings and events this fall. “We know that what we’re probably dealing with is, we went so long
AS STUDENTS BEGIN MOVING BACK TO CAMPUS, MANY COVID POLICIES REMAIN UP IN THE AIR. PHOTO BY CAROLINE BARTOSZEK
without typical functions of student organizations, that there’s an inevitable loss of information on how to do certain things,” Vance said. “So we’re trying to be very diligent and deliberate on creating some field workshops and other things that we probably normally wouldn’t have to bring student leaders up to speed.” Vance said the only restriction student organizations need to worry about is the indoor mask requirement for right now. Vance also noted that guidelines for fraternities and sororities largely depend upon national chapter rules, as well as the City of Oxford’s decision on mask mandates and/or gathering limits. As student organizations return to meeting in-person, Wilson thinks it’s important to ease into it and to accommodate those who may not be comfortable being back in-person yet. “Maybe you set up chairs three
feet apart instead of right next to each other, just giving people a little flexibility to create six feet around them if they need to do that in order to keep compliant with the university guidelines of maintaining distance indoors if you’re unvaccinated,” Wilson said. “Just giving people that option as they transition back into going to events.” As shown by the return of masks while indoors, COVID-19 is unpredictable, and all current policies are subject to change. “If the university changes requirements, or the CDC or Butler County, then we could possibly have to adapt accordingly,” Wilson said. “Be ready to be flexible if we need to change what the parameters are.” @cosettegunter guntercr@miamioh.edu @nwlexi whitehan@miamioh.edu
Oxford divided on masks as City Council fails to vote on mask mandate SEAN SCOTT ASST. CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR By the end of the Aug. 17, Oxford City Council meeting, an ordinance mandating masks within the city was neither passed nor denied. The meeting was standing room only as residents showed up to speak both for and against the proposed mask mandate. Council was set to decide whether to pass an emergency measure requiring masks to be worn indoors and on public transportation in response to the rapid spread of the delta variant of COVID-19 across the United States. However, emergency ordinances require a supermajority of six out of seven councilors to vote in favor to pass. Councilors Chantel Raghu and Jason Bracken were not present Tuesday night, forcing the measure to be tabled. Raghu sent a letter to City Manager Doug Elliott explaining her absence from the meeting and offering support for the mask mandate.
Raghu’s parents, who live in Texas, were both infected with COVID-19 despite being vaccinated. Her father remained in the hospital for eight days on oxygen before returning home to continue oxygen therapy. Days later, her mother was rushed to the hospital. “I have watched my normally chatty dad gasp for air as he tries to tell me his wishes for after he passes,” Raghu wrote. Raghu compared the situation in Texas, where COVID cases have skyrocketed and the governor has avoided passing mask legislation, to the situation in Oxford, where cases remain low but could soon be impacted by the return of Miami students to campus from around the country. “While the governor of Texas plays games,” Raghu wrote, “people will continue to die and hospitals will continue to be overrun.” Because both Raghu and Bracken weren’t present, any vote on the mask mandate would have been as a regular ordinance rather than an emergency measure, meaning it would need to be revisited at the next meeting before going into effect.
City Attorney Chris Conard said Council could also call a special meeting to vote on the measure when six or more councilors would be present. Even though the ordinance wasn’t voted on, Council still heard comments from the public and offered their own opinions on whether a mask mandate would be necessary. Resident Kathie Brinkman spoke in support of the mask mandate, saying she worried for the health of her grandchildren who are not yet old enough to receive the vaccine. For them, she said, masks are their only line of defense. “We’re not asking people to be mandated to receive the vaccine,” Brinkman said. “We’re asking people to put a cloth over their face.” Nadia Hoffman, an Oxford resident since 1983, said a mask ordinance was in the best interest of the community, even if some individuals disagreed with it. “With individual rights also come responsibilities, and that includes responsibilities to the common good,” Hoffman said. Other residents disagreed with the mask mandate, however.
Dana Dunnegan said she accepted the personal risk of not wearing a mask and that others should be free to do so as well. “If we look around the room, those who want to have a mask on have a mask on,” Dunnegan said. “If you don’t want to risk your life — I see many of you have your masks on — that’s your choice.” For Eric England, changing guidance from scientific experts made it hard to accept a mask mandate. While he might wear one in crowded rooms out of common courtesy, he said, he was against an official mandate. “Science has data, and it’s an opinion for a moment, until it changes,” England said. “The world’s flat until it’s not. The vaccines are effective until they’re not … No one chooses when and where [to die], and I appreciate that we may want to consider the other person’s well-being, but to mandate that, I think, is overstepping bounds.” Vice-mayor Bill Snavely said individual freedoms ended when their choices had a direct negative impact on others. “I think for example that I have
the freedom to swing my arms, but that freedom stops when I hit my neighbor’s nose,” Snavely said. Councilor Glenn Ellerbe agreed with Snavely and compared the pandemic to the angel of death in Exodus. Vaccines and masks, he said, are like the mark that protected Jewish households when the angel came to Egypt. While Ellerbe supported having a mask mandate on hand, he didn’t think it should be enforced until Butler County’s healthcare system says rising COVID cases warrant its implementation. “I believe that a mask mandate needs to exist on paper,” Ellerbe said. “I do not believe that it needs to be enforced today, but the moment that our healthcare system says the needle has moved and we need it … zero issue, pass the mandate.” Council will meet again at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 7, in the Oxford Courthouse unless councilors decide to call a special meeting to vote on the mask mandate before that point. scottsr2@miamioh.edu
