The coronavirus issue | Columbia Chronicle | May 11, 2020

THE NEW NORMAL

ZACHARY CLINGENPEEL/CHRONICLE

ZACHARY CLINGENPEEL/CHRONICLE

MAY 11, 2020

VOL. 55 ISSUE 22

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COLUMBIA IS ‘ON PAUSE’: ADMINISTRATORS ADDRESS INSTRUCTION IN THE AGE OF THE CORONAVIRUS

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STREET MUSICIANS TAKE ‘HELL OF A HIT’ FROM CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

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JOE BIDEN WINS ILLINOIS PRIMARY; SOME ILLINOISANS GO TO POLLS DESPITE CORONAVIRUS FEARS

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SKYROCKETING SEX DRIVES AND VIRTUAL CHECK-UPS: THE CHRONICLE’S GUIDE TO SEX DURING A PANDEMIC

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‘THIS IS THE NEW NORMAL’: STAY-AT-HOME ORDER GIVEN, OFFICIALS URGE PEOPLE TO STAY CALM

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COLUMBIA ‘ANXIOUS,’ WHILE OPTIMISTIC FOR FALL 2020 ENROLLMENT DESPITE PREDICTIONS OF NATIONAL DECLINE

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‘I DON’T FEEL LIKE I HAVE A HOME ANYMORE’: STUDENTS SCRAMBLE AFTER DORMS CLOSED

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MOST COLUMBIA STUDENTS TO RECEIVE GRANTS, BUT CARES ACT WON’T ENTIRELY OFFSET COLLEGE LOSSES

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MUSICIANS AND VENUES ARE HIT HARD BY THE CORONAVIRUS, BUT THE MUSIC COMMUNITY IS BANDING TOGETHER

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COLUMN: FROM EDGEWATER, WITH LOVE

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STUDENTS IN UPROAR AFTER GRADUATION CEREMONY CANCELED: ‘CANCELING COMMENCEMENT IS LETTING THIS PANDEMIC DEFEAT US’

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COLUMN: SHUTTERSHOCK, OR HOW IT FEELS FOR A PHOTOGRAPHER TO LOSE HER CREATIVE OUTLET

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GLOBAL PANDEMIC CREATES A WORLD OF PROBLEMS FOR COLUMBIA’S INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

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COLUMN: ANGRY FILMMAKER YELLS AT CLOUD, AND OTHER THOUGHTS ABOUT PROCRASTINATION

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COLUMBIA ‘AUTHORS THE CULTURE OF ITS TIME’ WITH PLANS FOR DIGITAL MANIFEST

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COLUMN: FAMILY AND BUSINESS IN THE AGE OF THE CORONAVIRUS—LOVE AND TIME LOST

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CORONAVIRUS-INDUCED RECESSION CAUSES UNCERTAINTY FOR GRADUATING SENIORS

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OPINION: WE ARE NOT ‘IN THIS TOGETHER’ WITH THE WEALTHY DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

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‘VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE’ OR ‘RARING TO GO’? STUDENTS AND FACULTY HAVE MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT GOING ONLINE

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OPINION: HEALTH CARE WORKERS NEED MORE THAN APPLAUSE RIGHT NOW

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SUMMER STUDY ABROAD PROGRAMS ARE LATEST CASUALTY OF TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS

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EDITORS

Editor-in-Chief | Alexandra Yetter Director of Photography | Mike Rundle Managing Editor | Mari Devereaux Managing Editor | Kendall Polidori

Senior Video Editor | Ignacio Calderon Senior Graphic Designer | Shane Tolentino News Editor | Paige Barnes Opinions Editor | Margaret Smith Deputy Director of Photography | Camilla Forte Sales Manager | Cale Holder ADVISERS

Faculty Adviser | Curtis Lawrence General Manager | Travis Truitt

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REPORTERS

Isaiah Colbert Dyana Daniels Nick Forsythe Mateusz Janik June Keating Lauren Leazenby Myer Lee Jonah Ocuto Ryan Rosenberger

PHOTOJOURNALISTS

Justin Anderson Zachary Clingenpeel Mengshin Lin Jacqueline Luttrell Steven Nunez

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Blaise Mesa

COPY EDITORS

Summer Hoagland-Abernathy Brooklyn Kiosow Ella Watylyk

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

Jennifer Chavez Wesley Enriquez Lucas Smith

MEDIA SALES REPRESENTATIVES

Sunjoy Walls Kathryn Williams

The Columbia Chronicle is a student-produced publication of Columbia College Chicago and does not necessarily represent, in whole or in part, the views of college administrators, faculty or students.

All text, photos and graphics are the property of The Columbia Chronicle and may not be reproduced or published without written permission.

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Editorials are the opinions of the Editorial Board of The Columbia Chronicle.

Columns are the opinions of the author(s).

attendance, and major. Other readers should note their city of residence and occupation or employer, if related to the letter’s subject matter.

Views expressed in this publication are those of the writer and are not the opinions of The Columbia Chronicle, Columbia’s Communication Department or Columbia College Chicago. Letters to the editor must include full name, year, major and phone number. Faculty and staff should include their job title. Alumni should include year of graduation, or

All letters are edited for grammar and may be cut due to a limit of space.

The Columbia Chronicle holds the right to limit any one person’s submissions to three per semester.

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COURTESY COLUMBIA COLLEGE CHICAGO

THIS IS OUR FIRST DRAFT OF HISTORY. LET IT HAVE A GOOD ENDING » ALEXANDRA YETTER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF A COMMON DISCUSSION in our newsroom for at least the

past two years has been the value and role of the weekly print edition as we produce a steady stream of digital content throughout the week. It’s a debate many news outlets worldwide are having as advertising revenue declines for newspapers.

I had always been in favor of going entirely digital, but having to move to a remote newsroom over these past few weeks has left me melancholic for having a newspaper in my hands.

Our staff is so in love with producing a newspaper every week that some of us even smell the inky pages of our final product when it arrives in bulk on Monday mornings. We’ll notice if the colors were particularly vibrant that week, or perhaps if the paper was crisper or a different shade of white.

The weekly print issue was the light at the end of the tunnel for us. It was the summation of all our hard work and long hours from the prior week—a collective triumph of every person on staff. As the editor-in-chief, there was nothing as heartwarming as telling a reportCORONAVIRUS SPECIAL ISSUE

er, a photojournalist or a graphic designer that their work was going to be on the front page—the creme de la creme of the issue.

Now—without a weekly print issue due to our staff working remotely and no campus community to deliver it to—there is nothing to smell on Monday mornings, and all of our work sometimes feels as though it has just been dropped into a bottomless void of digital content.

Though we’re proud of the vast improvement to our website and online coverage in the past year, I never thought I’d miss the 12 or more hours it took every Friday to put together 16 pages of paper. But I really do.

So, when the idea was brought up that we could produce a digital version of our print issue, it was an immediate “yes” from every editor.

After figuring out how we’d put it together remotely, we also decided that the issue should be a little different than how we usually put together our newspaper. Typically, our print editions operate as a “highlight reel” of all the best or most important content we produced the prior week.

Instead, we decided to pull together all of the most important pieces we have produced since the day the news broke that Columbia’s classes would be transitioned online.

As you digitally flip through these 38 pages, you’ll see in chronological order how everything transpired on Columbia’s campus and in Chicago. You’ll see the number of cases of the coronavirus rise nationally and citywide; you’ll see college administrators reverse decisions and announce sudden changes as the pandemic worsened; and you’ll see a sense of despair and hopelessness, not only from those we interviewed, but from Chronicle

staffers in their own words.

But you’ll also see moments of light. You’ll see people coming together to help others; you’ll see recognition for the health care workers on the front line; you’ll see instructors and administrators bending over backward to ensure students are safe.

These few months are going to change everything.

They will certainly change Columbia. Our role as students, instructors, staffers, alumni and parents is to make sure that Columbia comes out better than where we were on March 11.

Since moving back home with my dad after classes were canceled, he told me he was surprised that kids really don’t expect adults to have all the answers after hearing that in a training session for his teaching position.

Columbia—we don’t expect you to have all the answers. But we do expect you to be honest about when you don’t.

When the stay-at-home mandate has been lifted, the number of coronavirus cases flattens and in-person classes resume, I want to look back at these months and be able to say that my school handled it better than any other college because it put the students’ voices first. I want to be able to flip through this special issue and see everything that we as a community overcame.

As former publisher of The Washington Post, Philip Graham often repeated, “Journalism is the first rough draft of history.”

Well, this is our first draft. Please, let it have a good ending. » CHRONICLE@COLUM.EDU

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» PRESIDENT AND CEO KWANG-WU KIM SPECIFIES WHAT THE COLLEGE WILL BE DOING TO DEEP CLEAN CAMPUS BUILDINGS WHILE IN-PERSON CLASSES ARE NOT IN SESSION, INCLUDING BRINGING IN ADDITIONAL CLEANING CREWS TO ADDRESS AREAS PEOPLE ARE LIKELY TO TOUCH, SUCH AS DOORKNOBS AND ELEVATOR BUTTONS.

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ADMINISTRATORS ADDRESS INSTRUCTION IN THE AGE OF THE CORONAVIRUS » MARI DEVEREAUX, MANAGING EDITOR » JONAH OCUTO, STAFF REPORTER IN RESPONSE TO the Thursday, March 12 email an-

nouncing the suspension of classes due to coronavirus concerns, several senior administrators spoke with the Chronicle on the college’s plans to bounce back from the unexpected blow.

“We’re here to help our students, not to penalize them right now,” said President and CEO Kwang-Wu Kim. “We don’t want to be one of the schools that is saying to our students, ‘It’s on you.’”

Administrators acknowledged the initial announcement sent to the campus community Thursday caused some confusion and said they would begin tailoring messages for different groups of students, faculty and staff in the coming weeks that better illustrate the changes to come.

CLASSES “We haven’t canceled the semester, we’ve just taken a pause,” said Chief of Staff Laurent Pernot.

Senior Vice President and Provost Marcella David said with the exception of previously designated online classes, no instruction—including exams, projects and homework assignments—will take place for traditional in-person courses before April 6.

However, she said on the rare occasion faculty may be able to easily transition to online instruction, there is a possibility they would be allowed to begin online classes March 23, a move instructors would be expected to communicate to their students.

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No tuition reimbursement will be issued because no instruction will be truly missed, David said.

In the next few weeks the college will work with faculty to determine how to transition from in-class to online instruction between April 6 and May 15 in order to meet hourly credit requirements.

David said Columbia will launch a teaching studio on Monday, March 15 where faculty can receive training on Canvas and other online platforms to assist in the transition to online classes. The first studio will be on the third floor of the 33 E. Ida B. Wells Drive building, with additional studios to be announced later.

“We have worked with faculty on a survey to understand what their needs are, especially with regard to technology [and] pedagogy,” David said. “We’re trying to help faculty think creatively about alternatives that are reasonable.”

Pernot said the college will announce via email, Columbia’s website and social media on March 23 what classes will be ready to launch online by April 6.

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the Art Institute of Chicago are also requiring staff and faculty members to report to campus for work.

HEALTH

Vice President for Student Affairs Sharon Wilson-Taylor said students should call the Health Center to discuss whether or not they have coronavirus symptoms before going in person.

If students are experiencing symptoms of the coronavirus—including fever, a dry cough and shortness of breath—they should seek testing and medical attention from other clinics prepared to test for the virus as the college’s Health Center does not have test kits, Wilson-Taylor said.

To further prevent the virus from spreading, the college stated in the Thursday announcement it will conduct a “deep cleaning” of all on-campus facilities.

Kim said this cleaning process will focus more attention, time and resources on areas people are likely to touch, such as doorknobs and elevator buttons. There will be an increase in cleaning crews using disinfecCAMPUS AND DORMS tants recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

David said administrators decided residence halls and Wilson-Taylor said dorm buildings will also undergo campus-owned facilities will remain open to accommo- cleaning by outside agencies. date students who may not be able to return home or otherwise access certain resources.

According to a Thursday, March 13 email sent from THE IMPACT Residence Life to resident assistants, no guests will be allowed in residence halls beginning Saturday, March Kim and Pernot said the suspension of in-person 14 at noon. Common area amenities in residence halls, courses should not affect college finances as facilities such as fitness centers and lobbies, will be closed as a will stay open, though David said some additional expreventative measure to reduce the risk of exposure to penses may develop because of extra work through tranthe coronavirus. sitioning classes to an online format.

David said the International Student Services Office Kim said there are no current indications the colwould provide further clarification to students who may lege will suffer drops in enrollment and recruitbe worried by the growing pandemic’s intrusion into col- ment, although tours have been canceled for the next lege life and planning to return home. three weeks.

The Trump administration has announced flights While the college plans to proceed with summer study from 26 European countries are banned for 30 days in an abroad programs for now, a final decision will be made effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus, with more in April. airlines canceling flights as a result, as reported March David said course registration will continue as usual.

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Kim said the college is still making a decision on whether or not to hold Manifest or commencement.

“Yesterday a student said, ‘Can you guarantee that I’ll EMPLOYMENT be crossing the stage this year?’ and I said, ‘I can’t right now, because we just don’t know,’” Kim said. “As a school, While students and faculty are able to work remotely the last thing we would want is anything to get in the for the most part, David said the college is still assess- way of Manifest or commencement, but right now we’re ing whether or not all staff will be required to work in wait-and-see mode.” on campus.

David and Pernot said they will be “flexible” so seniors As long as city officials deem it safe, David said it is will still receive full course credits and graduate at the likely those who are not infected or at risk of serious ill- end of the semester. ness due to pre-existing conditions will be asked to come “We’re gonna keep working on this,” Kim said.”I know to campus. we’re not perfect yet. Think of this as a project that we’re “The environment for our faculty and staff is already working on together.” » enhanced by reducing the number of students and classes that we have operating in the buildings,” David said.

The University of Illinois at Chicago, DePaul University, Northeastern Illinois University and the School of CHRONICLE@COLUM.EDU THE COLUMBIA CHRONICLE

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» A VOTER AT SU NUEVA CHICAGO LAUNDROMAT IN WEST LAWN CASTS A BALLOT IN THE TUESDAY, MARCH 17 ILLINOIS PRIMARY.

MENGSHIN LIN/CHRONICLE » VOTERS MOVED TO THE AUTO WAREHOUSE POLLING PLACE IN BRIGHTON PARK DUE TO POLLING LOCATIONS CLOSING BECAUSE OF CORONAVIRUS CONCERNS.

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JOE BIDEN WINS ILLINOIS PRIMARY; SOME ILLINOISANS GO TO POLLS DESPITE CORONAVIRUS FEARS » ALEXANDRA YETTER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF JOE BIDEN’S MOMENTUM across the nation continued

Tuesday night, with the former vice president picking up the majority of delegates from the Illinois, Florida and Arizona Democratic primaries after posting wins in all three states.

Of the 1,991 total delegates needed to win the Democratic presidential nomination, the former vice president currently has 1,165; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has 879; and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) has two as of press time, according to the Associated Press. As the vote totals continue to come in, Biden leads with 59% of the vote in Illinois and Sanders follows with 36%. The 8 THE COLUMBIA CHRONICLE

race was called in Biden’s favor early in the evening.

President Donald Trump won Illinois’ Republican primary with 96% of the vote.

Ohio was also set to hold its primary, but the state’s governor announced it would be postponed hours before polls opened, a move caused by concerns over the spread of the coronavirus from in-person voting.

In Illinois, Chicago election officials encouraged Gov. J.B. Pritzker to follow Ohio’s suit, a prompt Pritzker refused, as reported March 17 by the Associated Press.

“I will not use this moment to supersede my constitutional authority,” Pritzker said during a daily press conference on coronavirus, or COVID-19, updates. “There are people out there who want to say, ‘It’s a crisis, bend the rules and overstep your authority.’ Let me tell you this: It is exactly in times like these when the constitutional boundaries of our democracy should be respected above all else. And if people want to criticize me for that, well go ahead, I’ll wear it like a badge of honor.”

The Associated Press reported that, because of the coronavirus, some polling places in Illinois had to be moved, including many nursing homes where administrators were worried the polling would put older residents at risk. In addition to the seemingly low voter turnout compared to the record number of mail-in ballots this election cycle, at least 200 election judges bowed out at the last minute.

Some Chicago voters had no qualms about voting in-person.

Avery Lareau, a freshman musical theatre major, and her friends originally planned to go out to breakfast before heading to the polls, but had to cancel the plan and head straight to their polling places after Pritzker ordered all restaurants and bars to close to dine-in customers to help stem the coronavirus outbreak. “[Chicago] really couldn’t prepare for something like this,” Lareau said.

Celeste Brace, a freshman dance major at Columbia, had no reservations, especially when seeing polling staff had gloves and masks on and were sanitizing the area regularly. Regardless, she was surprised by the low voter turnout.

“There could have been more reassurance for getting people out to vote,” said Lareau, who voted for Sanders. “If you didn’t vote today, then vote in November— please, please, please, please.”

Leslie Fabian has been working at a polling place inside a laundromat in West Lawn for every election since 2001.

“Many voters are afraid to go out because we want to be careful,” Fabian said. “Usually by this time in this area, we have maybe 150 voters. This time, we have 75. But I am happy to see they are coming out, slowly but surely.” »

AYETTER@COLUMBIACHRONICLE.COM

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» (FROM LEFT) GOV. J.B. PRITZKER AND CHICAGO MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT ANNOUNCE A “STAY-AT-HOME” ORDER ASKING ILLINOIS RESIDENTS TO STAY AT HOME EXCEPT FOR ESSENTIAL TRAVEL, SUCH AS TO GROCERY STORES OR FOR MEDICAL NEEDS.

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‘THIS IS THE NEW NORMAL’ STAY-AT-HOME ORDER GIVEN, LOCAL OFFICIALS URGE PEOPLE TO STAY CALM » BLAISE MESA, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER AS THE NUMBER of cases of the coronavirus, or COVID-19,

continues to rise across the state, Gov. J.B. Pritzker is following California, New York and Italy’s suit by officially ordering all residents to stay in their homes.

The “stay-at-home” order will be in effect from Saturday, March 21, at 5 p.m. until April 7. The order also closes all non-essential businesses.

Pritzker said the April 7 end date will give health officials enough time to determine if the order reduces the spread of the coronavirus.

“My bedrock has been to rely upon science,” Pritzker said at the Friday, March 20 press conference. If left unchecked, he said cases will continue to rise.

Staying at home is not the same as a full lockdown, Pritzker said, adding that rumors of Illinois declaring Martial Law—military control of government functions— are not accurate. For many who have been following recommendations from leaders, Pritzker’s order will not change their new normal adopted over the past week.

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Residents can still leave their homes to grocery shop, order carryout food and pick up medicine, the governor said.

The CTA, garbage services and other essential businesses will still run, said Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who joined Pritzker in the joint press conference. Residents can still go outside for walks but should always practice social distancing.

“Remember, this is the new normal—for now,” the mayor said.

Lightfoot said there is no reason for residents to worry or to change purchasing habits by stocking up on supplies.

Additionally, Chicago Public Schools will stay open only to serve meals to people in need and facilities at public parks and libraries will close and potentially be repurposed to help combat the spread of the virus.

Chicago accounts for 212 of the state’s 585 cases, according to the city’s COVID-19 update website. Of the city’s cases, people aged 18-59 comprise just over 70% of the cases, and those 60 and over comprise 26.4% of the cases. Five people in Illinois have died from the coronavirus, including two Chicagoans.

Dr. Emily Landon—the executive medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at the University of Chicago Medicine—said the coronavirus is a “tricky” and “unforgiving” virus that infects people quickly. She said it can take weeks for an infected person to know they have the coronavirus.

“All we have to slow the spread is distance,” Landon said during the press conference. “It’s really hard to feel like you are saving the world when you’re watching Netflix from your couch, but if we do this right nothing happens.”

Pritzker said police can issue court orders, cease and desist orders or, as a “last resort,” a reckless conduct

misdemeanor if residents do not comply with police. For businesses, permits can be pulled if they violate the stayat-home order.

Rather than resort to these extremes, Lightfoot is hoping people will be educated into compliance.

While the order does not officially go into effect until tomorrow, Illinoisans have already begun taking precautions.

“It seems like my whole world went from 100 to zero in a second,” said Reid Anderson, a senior audio design and production major at Columbia.

Anderson works at the House of Blues and interns for multiple audio companies. He was sent home by all of them.

Peyton Jay, a sophomore TV writing and producing major, was not surprised by the shelter-in-place plan. Jay has a delivery job for florists and said his hours have been severely cut. He has three months of rent covered, but if he is out of work for more than three months, he said he might move back home.

“It’s still a drastic impact,” Jay said. “I made my whole life revolve around work downtown.”

Local community leaders have also announced measures to curb the coronavirus, such as the opening of additional medical sites, drive-up testing, halting evictions and “tele-health” visits for people with mild symptoms to see a doctor without leaving their house and risking infections.

“This will not last forever,” Pritzker said. “However it is going to force us to change.”

Illinois’ stay-at-home mandate was extended through the end of April by Pritzker, who announced the extension March 31. » BMESA@COLUMBIACHRONICLE.COM

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‘I DON’T FEEL LIKE I HA STUDENTS SCRAMBLE AFTER DORMS CLOSED » ALEXANDRA YETTER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CHRIS REARDON REFUSES to go home.

Reardon, a freshman game development major, is from California, which was put on lockdown Thursday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The Golden State governor ordered all residents to stay in their homes aside from essential travel, such as to grocery stores or for medical purposes. The move came as the number of coronavirus, or COVID-19, cases in the U.S. surpassed 14,000.

But Reardon has another reason for not returning to California—both of his parents are in the “high risk” category for people who are most likely to contract the coronavirus, especially his mother, who is immunocompromised.

“If my mom gets sick, there’s a chance she might die,” Reardon said.

In a Friday, March 13 interview with President and CEO Kwang-Wu Kim, the Chronicle asked about how the coronavirus would affect on-campus living.

“One very prominent university in the United States said to its students, ‘Leave the dorms.’ They used the language ‘You are not welcome to return.’ I don’t want to be that school,” Kim said.

But five days later as the pandemic quickly escalated, Columbia announced Wednesday, March 18 in a collegewide email that all campus housing would close Sunday, March 22 at 5 p.m. until further notice.

Kim encouraged students in dorms to make travel arrangements, but if they are unable to move out by March 22, he advised contacting Director of Residence Education Kelli Collins to make alternative arrangements.

Students were told they do not need to take all of their belongings with them, just items they need to travel. The college plans to update students living in residence halls about collecting the rest of their belongings at a later date, according to the email.

In a Friday, March 20 email to students, faculty, staff and parents, the college announced it would be giving account credits to students with housing contracts.

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“In light of these exceptional circumstances, and in ing from reduced tuition for the next academic year to recognition of the hardships the closure of student hous- passing grades for everyone given the current distracing can cause, Columbia College Chicago will be provid- tions, as reported March 16 by The Chicago Tribune. ing an account credit to students who have a housing “It’s very irresponsible to basically kick these students contract with Residence Life for the Spring 2020 term,” out on the streets, force them on public transit, have a the email read. chance they might be infected and then spread that to The account credit will also apply for unused portions their homes,” Reardon said. of meal plans. It will take a minimum of three weeks for Although Reardon understands why the college credits to transfer. was forced to make this decision, he said it would have Students with a resulting credit balance will receive been better to give students the option of staying in the a refund and are being encouraged to set up a direct de- buildings because many left before the closures were posit in the CCCPay section of the MyColumbia portal. even announced. In doing so, he said it could actually “Students and parents should not return to campus help slow down the spread of the coronavirus as college to collect their items and move out while the ‘Stay-at- students would not have to fan out across the country, Home’ order is in effect,” the email read. “We understand this will be a source of anxiety for many of you who are eager to return for your property, please know your things will be not be touched or moved.”

Campus administrators from the college were not available for further comment as of press time, despite repeated attempts by the Chronicle.

The closure occurs as other higher education institutions across the country are also closing residence halls, leaving many students without anywhere to go. In Chicago, students at Loyola University were also told to vacate dorms by Thursday, March 19, as reported March 16 by the Loyola Phoenix.

Students at schools across the country are pushing back against their administrations in the wake of sudden changes. At DePaul University, several petitions are circulating, requesting a variety of » TWO DWIGHT RESIDENTS USE A BIN TO accommodations rangMOVE THEIR BELONGINGS OUT OF THE DORM BUILDING, WHICH WILL CLOSE DUE TO THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC.

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AVE A HOME ANYMORE’ possibly carrying the virus with them into their states and homes.

To make matters worse for Reardon, he does not know how he is going to transfer thousands of dollars worth of computer and gaming equipment pivotal to his major to wherever he ends up living. Initially, he drove from California to Illinois to attend Columbia, bringing the equipment with him. He planned on driving back to California, too, but now does not know what to do.

Reardon is one of 2,219 students who are from outside of Chicago and were living in the Dwight, 30 East, University Center or The Arc residence halls in the Fall 2019 semester, according to Institutional Effectiveness.

The collegewide email sent Wednesday left James Ji-

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ang wondering if he was going to get a refund for the eight weeks he will not be living in the Dwight dorm building.

According to Columbia’s website, the cost of the standard year-long contract in a residence hall can range from $13,638 to $16,200 depending on the type of room and if the student has a meal plan for the 2019–2020 academic year.

Jiang, a sophomore computer animation major, was shocked to read the email alerting residents they would have to vacate because he found Kim’s language on the subject earlier in the week more optimistic and welcoming.

As an international student from China, Jiang now has to find a friend to stay with because China and surrounding countries in Asia are not allowing flights to come in. One of Jiang’s friends was forced to take a 50hour flight to China, then stay in a hotel paid for on her own for 14 days to self-quarantine.

“That’s just not [an] option for me,” said Jiang, who had just called his parents that morning, March 18, and said they were extremely worried he may not have a place to stay.

As reported by the Chronicle, the college is actively reaching out to international students to assist them with housing or relocation. For any students unable to relocate, the college said it will provide assistance.

Jiang confirmed he did receive an email from Clare Lake, director of International Student and Scholar Services, offering assistance.

Many students, like Reardon, are worried about unknowingly bringing the coronavirus home with them and putting their family at risk.

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Victor Soto, a junior music business major, was hoping to stay in his dorm for the rest of the semester rather than go back home to Iowa. Soto even bought enough food to last more than a month without having to leave his room.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do with that because I have to go home in [four] days,” Soto said March 18.

“With my unique situation with my family, I figured the best decision would be to stay here rather than to go home and possibly risk infecting my mom.”

Soto’s mother is asthmatic, putting her at a higher risk for the coronavirus. His sister is also immunocompromised and is in self-quarantine after already being exposed to someone who was later diagnosed with the coronavirus.

As a college student, Soto was not planning on returning home and does not have his own bed there.

Instead, he’ll have to sleep on the couch in the weeks to come and risk being exposed to his sister if she has the coronavirus.

“I get that Columbia is trying to make a decision to keep us safe, but if anything this just worsened my life,” Soto said. “If anything, it has put a lot of students at risk.”

Luke Moss, a junior interdisciplinary documentary filmmaking major, was nine hours away in Minneapolis, filming a documentary when he got the email alerting students to the building closures. He had to drive nine hours back to Chicago, pack up his belongings and drive nine hours back to Minneapolis.

“The biggest surprise was how fast and unexpected it was because the previous emails suggested they weren’t going to shut down,” Moss said. “But they did with less than a week’s notice.”

Moss said with so many students trying to move out of the buildings within a few days, it is not the most sanitary process as people pack into the elevators.

“It’s kind of a bummer because when I or other students paid for our residency and paid for a meal plan, we were expecting to have these two months and now we don’t,” he said. “We get the short end of the stick as the students who are paying for all of this.”

This whole ordeal is causing Reardon to rethink his plans to return to Columbia in the fall.

“I’m so appalled by how sudden all of this is that I don’t feel comfortable even coming back here next year,” Reardon said. “Right now, I don’t feel like I have a home anymore. That’s a very, very scary thought, especially with everything that is going on.” » Additional reporting by Kendall Polidori, Mari Devereaux and Isaiah Colbert.

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CHICAGO-BASED BAND ROOKIE PUT ON A LIVE STREAM PERFORMANCE AT TREEHOUSE RECORDS, 4808 W. WRIGHTWOOD AVE., MARCH 13 AFTER THEIR ALBUM RELEASE SHOW WAS CANCELED. »

MUSICIANS AND VENUES ARE HIT HARD BY THE CORONAVIRUS, BUT THE MUSIC COMMUNITY IS BANDING TOGETHER » KENDALL POLIDORI, MANAGING EDITOR THE SIX-MEMBER Chicago-based rock group, Rookie,

had never sold out a concert until they announced a release show for their self-titled album “Rookie.” The big event was set for March 13, but due to concerns about the coronavirus and nationwide event cancellations, the group had no other choice but to postpone the highlyanticipated gig.

Although the release has been tentatively moved to a later date in April at The Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western Ave., Max Loebman, singer and guitarist for the band, said they are monitoring the global health pandemic before making a decision.

In spite of the obvious disappointment, Rookie performed a free live stream show on YouTube at Treehouse Records, 4808 W. Wrightwood Ave., the night of the canceled performance. The band played the same set they would have performed at the live show.

Loebman said the band plans to continue to use social media to encourage others to stay home.

Along with Chicago artists posting livestreamed performances, musicians in the mainstream such as Coldplay, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and John Legend have posted videos for their fans.

As a musician, Loebman said much of his income comes from touring and playing live shows. With a second job as a crewmember at Metro, a local music venue at 3730 N. Clark St., he is experiencing a double blow as music stages across Chicago are shut down until the end of March as part of mandates from PresCORONAVIRUS SPECIAL ISSUE

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ident Trump and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker prohibiting large gatherings.

“The best thing a musician could do right now is adapt,” Loebman said.

Musicians and artists also rely heavily on the sales of merchandise, records and the number of listeners on their streaming platforms.

As a result, Loebman said bands must get creative with delivering their music to fans. At the same time, the pandemic is taking an emotional toll on some musicians.

Freelance musician Vivian McConnell played her last live show March 12 with Valebol at The Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia Ave., which ended up being its last event before the venue announced it would be closing its doors through the end of March.

The Chicago musician, also known for her solo project “V.V. Lightbody,” said she was stunned by the news that venues would be shut down for the time being, especially as she relies on tours and playing live shows for income.

McConnell said the first hit was when the South by Southwest festival was canceled. With her second LP “Make a Shrine or Burn It” set to release May 1, McConnell said it is still up in the air whether she will be able to continue her tour to promote the album.

“I took a lot of risks to pursue music as a full-time career, and now it’s like, ‘Why did I even do this?’” McConnell said. “This can completely change the trajectory of … what my career is.”

While musicians are feeling the effects, they are not the only ones.

Along with canceling shows and the shutdown of all dine-in bars in Illinois, music venues are not bringing in revenue and, in turn, many are unable to pay their employees.

Venues in Chicago such as Beat Kitchen, Subterranean, The Empty Bottle, Metro and The Hideout have

started GoFundMe pages to pay their employees who “depend on the gathering of our Chicago community in order to provide for themselves and their families,” according to a March 16 Instagram post from Metro.

Bruce Finkelman, owner of The Empty Bottle, said his main concern is the number of workers employed at the various venues who are now laid off for an unknown period of time.

Finkelman said it is the venues’ responsibility to always be ready to help and answer employees’ questions regarding concerns of the pandemic because people are scared of the state of their jobs.

Bandcamp, an online music company, is waiving its cut from sales made on the website March 20 and is giving musicians, who use the site as a platform to promote their music and sell merchandise and records, 100% of the profits from those sales.

Jared Jones, co-founder of the record label Winspear, said in an attempt to further support for the artists signed to Winspear, they will be waiving their portion of profits made from sales, which is usually a 50/50 split.

Daniel Servi, a talent buyer for Subterranean and Beat Kitchen, said no one really knows what to do or how to react in this situation.

“It is going to be a tough time for a lot of people,” said Servi, a 2015 music business management alumnus.

While it is tough to deal with, Servi said it is better the shutdown happened sooner rather than later.

Loebman said it is important for everyone to do what they can to help musicians and others impacted by the pandemic because these issues typically do not hit the music and service industry as hard as it has.

“It is everyone right now—it’s not just one group,” he said. » KPOLIDORI@COLUMBIACHRONICLE.COM

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STUDENTS IN UPROAR AFTER GRADUATION CEREMONY CANCELED: ‘CANCELING COMMENCEMENT IS LETTING THIS PANDEMIC DEFEAT US’ » ALEXANDRA YETTER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF PRESIDENT AND CEO Kwang-Wu Kim announcing the

cancellation of the May commencement ceremony was the last straw for Victor Froiman.

“First, classes went online, then we had to move out of campus,” said Froiman, a senior cinema art and science major from Brazil. “It’s easy to say how they ‘regret to inform,’ but they didn’t even bother giving us options.”

When Froiman received the Monday, March 23 email announcement from Kim, he was struck by the “complete disregard” for commencement, as if it were “just any other event” being canceled. Instead, he wanted students to have some sort of stake in the decision, such as college officials asking graduating seniors if they’d prefer the ceremony to be postponed to a later date.

So, Froiman texted his friends, penned an open letter and posted a Change.org petition to pressure the school into postponing the ceremony less than three hours after the announcement.

A few hours after the petition went live, it had already amassed hundreds of signatures to reach its original goal of 1,500 and was widely circulated among the Columbia community on social media. As of press time, 14 THE COLUMBIA CHRONICLE

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the goal was bumped up and the petition had 2,521 signatures, with dozens of comments from first-generation graduates, international students, parents and aunts pleading for the college to postpone, rather than cancel it entirely.

Columbia is not the first higher education institution to have its graduation ceremony impacted by the coronavirus, or COVID-19, joining a growing list that includes the University of Michigan, the University of Illinois and the University of Southern California.

But seniors around the country aren’t swallowing their administrations’ decisions, either.

At the University of Maine—which has yet to announce a final decision on whether its ceremony will occur—students arranged an impromptu “Coronamencement” after the university announced classes would transition online. The university’s vice president for student life and dean of students attended the event and delivered what was dubbed by the university’s student newspaper as an “emotional” speech. Students also elbow-bumped as they walked across the makeshift stage to receive their honorary diplomas rather than shaking hands, as reported March 14 by student newspaper Maine Campus.

At the University of California, Los Angeles, the chancellor was forced to reverse the university’s earlier decision to hold their commencement ceremony online after backlash from the student body demanding a postponement instead of a virtual ceremony. This prompted the university to send a survey to seniors asking how commencement should be held, as reported Thursday, March 19 by UCLA’s student newspaper the Daily Bruin.

“Canceling commencement is letting this pandemic defeat us,” Froiman said. “Postponing represents the hope that this situation will be over soon. Our undergraduate cycle will not feel complete without commencement. Better late than never.”

Lambrini Lukidis, associate vice president of Strategic Communications and External Relations, said the college is aware of the petition but will not likely reverse the decision. Lukidis said the full $175 total graduation fee for individuals will be refunded in light of the current circumstances.

Lukidis said the “difficult” decision to cancel commencement also took into account the impracticability of having dozens of employees and students working in the weeks beforehand to organize a large event, in addition to concerns of “facilitating and possibly re-igniting contagion,” she said.

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“In addition, curbs and complications associated with travel further complicate any planning for families. In short, there simply is too much uncertainty to plan any commencement at this time, hence our decision to cancel rather than postpone these events,” Lukidis said.

“We will continue to monitor the pandemic and complications associated with it, and should circumstances and our assessment change, we will of course share that with the campus community. We understand and share

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» COLUMBIA COLLEGE CHICAGO’S 2015 COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY. COURTESY COLUMBIA COLLEGE CHICAGO

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everyone’s disappointment, but this remains a very fluid situation beyond our control.”

Six people set to be honored for emeritus appointments during commencement will be honored during the May 2021 commencement ceremony instead, according to an email sent to honorees by Senior Vice President and Provost Marcella David.

Ari Ganahl, a senior illustration major, told their family not to plan on flying to Chicago from Colorado for commencement right after campus closed because they didn’t want to risk their health—especially their mother’s, who is immunocompromised. Their grandparents were disappointed.

“Regardless of having this milestone taken away, it was an excuse for a lot of us to show our families Chicago, and that sure as hell is not happening anymore because no one wants to get on a plane or ask their family to,” Ganahl said. “Columbia is doing this because they have to, and it f—ing sucks. I wish we could just acknowledge that it sucks instead of trying to [find solutions].

What else could we expect, though; they canceled the Olympics, we’re not allowed to leave our apartment, no s–t we’re not having graduation.”

Although Ganahl wants the graduation fee refunded, they said it was also not comparable to the thousands of dollars students are spending on facilities and resources at the college that are now inaccessible.

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Although there is no clear-cut solution, Ganahl does want more transparency and consistency from the college going forward rather than “announce a decision, then announce several different decisions days after that.”

Jade Moreno, a senior acting major, also feels “at the mercy” of the next email from the college.

Dealing with the blows from adjustments the college has been forced to make due to the coronavirus, Moreno said she has been trying to remember her privileges, too.

But when the announcement of commencement’s cancellation came, she could not help but cry.

“Hopeless and heartbroken, I feel like I’m just helpless,” said Moreno, whose Texas-based family had big plans to attend her commencement because she is the first person in her family to go to college, let alone graduate.

Froiman was particularly looking forward to commencement because it would be the first time he has seen his friends in Chicago for more than a year. Last fall, he participated in a semester abroad program in Tel Aviv, Israel. This spring, he was enrolled in the Semester in L.A. program.

When the college announced SiLA courses would be moved online, he decided to book a ticket home to Brazil for the next day before the coronavirus outbreak further escalated. He made the right decision because by the

time he got to Brazil, SiLA announced students had to move out of housing and flights to Brazil became few and far between.

Froiman’s entire family had planned on coming from Brazil to watch him walk across the stage as a graduate.

If the ceremony is postponed, he said they are still up for visiting Chicago.

“Getting me through college in the U.S. was financially challenging for my parents and, for me, adapting to a new country was not easy, particularly in the beginning,” Froiman said. “Commencement is the podium we all deserve for overcoming these adversities.” » Additional reporting by Shane Tolentino and Blaise Mesa.

Update 4/21: Lambrini Lukidis, associate vice president for Strategic Communications and External Relations, said in an April 13 interview with the Chronicle that while it would not be feasible for the college to hold commencement later this year due to the uncertainty of the pandemic, the college plans to add ceremonies for 2020 graduates during the May 2021 commencement weekend.

Lukidis said the college is also planning to incorporate virtual elements of commencement on the college’s website this year.

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A PASSENGER WEARING A MASK WALKS THROUGH THE EMPTY TERMINALS OF O’HARE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. » MENGSHIN LIN/CHRONICLE

GLOBAL PANDEMIC CREATES A WORLD OF PROBLEMS FOR COLUMBIA’S INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY » JONAH OCUTO, STAFF REPORTER FOR COLUMBIA STUDENTS studying abroad, international

students living on the South Loop campus and domestic students planning to spend spring break overseas, travel restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic are wreaking havoc on their lives and plans all over the world.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS When Tyra Guan discovered she would not be able to fly back home to China, she had some small sense of relief because at least she had her South Loop apartment.

The fate of her international friends who lived in Columbia’s on-campus residence halls, however, was much less secure as they were told they had to move out within a matter of days.

“Some students from America, they can just fly back to their homes, but for us, or the students in the dorms, they cannot live there or in the city, so it’s been tough for them,” Guan said. “There are so many students that open their apartment to say, ‘Hey, I would like to have one more roommate, and if you need a place to stay, you can come [here].’”

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So, Guan, a junior performing arts management major and international student from China, stepped up and offered her apartment to her friends while they figured out their next steps. She said they were caught off-guard by the college’s decision to close all dorms.

Guan currently rents a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment just 10 minutes away from campus with her roommate, but is now hosting two additional students from China. Because of the size of her apartment and an insufficient number of beds, Guan shares her own bed with one of the students while the other stays on their sofa.

“My inclination right now is that so many students are still panicked,” Guan said. “Many students are newcomers, so they stayed at the dorms, and at first [Columbia] didn’t tell anybody that ‘We’re going to close college dorms.’ Students had no [time to] prepare for the closing.”

Clare Lake, director of International Student and Scholar Services, said the college has been assisting the 72 international students required to vacate dorms as part of the college’s preventative measures against the spread of the coronavirus by providing extensions for

them to move out, as well as assisting them with finding alternative housing if needed.

As of Tuesday, March 24, 10 international students from several countries—including South Korea, Spain and the United Arab Emirates—were still residing in on-campus housing, Lake said, adding that they had until 5 p.m. Wednesday, March 25 to secure alternative housing, although additional extensions may be given on a case-by-case basis.

At Loyola University, students were also instructed to move out of residence halls. However, the university’s Residence Life office allowed exceptions, which included permitting international students who were concerned for their visa status or who could not return to countries “significantly impacted by COVID-19” to stay on campus, according to a March 12 email sent to Loyola residents and obtained by the Chronicle.

Lambrini Lukidis, associate vice president of Strategic Communications and External Relations, said the housing credit refunded to students who were living in dorms should help international students find housing if they cannot return to their home countries.

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students forced to leave the dorms alternative forms of housing. Lake said alumni have also been offering resources to international students seeking shelter, which includes guiding students to economically feasible living areas such as the Edgewater neighborhood.

Columbia alumnus Austin James Heredia started the apartment rental company Chicago Rentals in 2019 and said he is working hand-in-hand with the college to provide international students help finding affordable housing.

“I’ve been sending [international students] a lot of different options,” Heredia said. “Some students are looking for temporary housing … and that’s really difficult.

Usually the only places that are furnished and available for a month or two are corporate housing, and that’s really, really expensive.”

In addition to sending housing information to international students, Heredia’s company holds virtual tours for those looking to rent their own apartment. He said only three Columbia international students have come to him seeking help in securing housing.

Heredia recommended international students looking for short-term, affordable housing try to sublet rooms.

Out of the 330 total international students at Columbia, Lake estimated approximately 36 of those have flown back home. But new challenges have arisen for them.

Lake said a major concern is how time zone differences will interfere with students’ ability to fully participate in courses at Columbia, which will be online for the remainder of the semester. For instance, students in China face a 13-hour time differential.

“If professors do these video conferences between 8 and 11 in the morning, if you’re 13 hours ahead, you’re usually up late at night anyway, or you’ll have to stay up late,” he said.

If a student in China were to join a three-hour conference call lecture beginning at 9 a.m. Chicago time, they would have to remain in class from 11 p.m. until 1 a.m. in China. This could cause some students to fail classes, Lake said.

Afternoon classes would run in the middle of the night for those students.

To combat this, Lukidis said students with concerns should contact professors to establish a plan for the semester.

Another major concern for some international students who have returned to China is internet access, Guan said.

VPNs—software that reroutes internet connections through a private server rather than through one’s internet service provider—are crucial for students based in China because it gives them access to U.S. websites, including Canvas and MyColumbia, which would be blocked by Chinese internet regulations, according to Guan.

Lake said he had been in touch with the Chinese Student Scholar Association to see if most students have access to a VPN. He said in the case that a student does not have access to one, he assumed they would be responsible for paying for one on their own. Lukidis said the college has sent a survey to students to assess their internet and technology access for academic use.

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Guan said she can see the fear and distress the situation has created firsthand from those she lives with.

“Before closing the campus, we used to hang out more, play cards, cook together, but right now, everybody just shuts their doors and they never go out,” Guan said.

“I’m depressed.”

Ayako Kanroji, a sophomore advertising and art direction major from Japan, said although she appreciated the work International Student Services has been doing for international students, the college-at-large could do more to help.

“I’m not sure if they were aware of what kind of situation that would put us international students in,” Kanroji said of the dorm closures. “As an entire school, I feel like they were not giving enough attention to international students.”

After moving out of the University Center residence hall, Kanroji flew home to Japan, paying $1,700. She said the student support from within Columbia’s international student community has been helpful in this difficult time.

SPRING BREAK Travel restrictions in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak—from individual state leaders to the White House and foreign governments—have caused many students to cancel their spring break plans.

President Donald Trump has restricted travel to 26 European countries for 30 days, as reported Tuesday, March 10 by the Associated Press.

Sophomore audio arts major Natalie Finfer had been preparing to embark on a long-awaited trip to Europe.

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unable to go on the trip, which cost her more than $1,000 that she paid in advance.

“It’s really messed up, and health should be my first concern, but I did pay for this whole trip out of my pocket,” Finfer said. “For a college student, Jesus, that’s my life.”

Finfer was issued a travel credit covering the cost of her ticket to be used for a future flight.

Like many people with family overseas, Grace Senior, a junior graphic design major, is only able to see her extended family once every few years. With spring break plans to travel with her father to teach English in Vietnam, Senior was excited to see her adopted brother and two nieces who live there—but that was before Vietnam suspended visas from specific countries, including the United States, as a preventative measure to combat the coronavirus.

Senior would have also had a layover in South Korea en route to Vietnam. South Korea is among multiple countries where visas, including those from China and Japan, are suspended temporarily.

The former creative director for the Chronicle—who said she struggles with health issues, including a weakened immune system—said despite the widespread fear, many people are still not following the recommended social distancing and are continuing to go on spring break.

“It’s very frustrating. It’s like the classic schoolyard story of one kid does something wrong, the teacher punishes the entire class,” said Senior, whose trip was canceled and instead traveled to North Carolina to stay with her family after it was announced classes would be suspended and moved online. “This entire thing is a process. … No one has all the answers.” » JOCUTO@COLUMBIACHRONICLE.COM

» MANY OF THE TERMINALS AT O’HARE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT GO EMPTY AS FLIGHTS ARE CANCELED AND PEOPLE STAY HOME. JUSTIN ANDERSON/CHRONICLE

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COLUMBIA ‘AUTHORS THE CULTURE OF ITS TIME’ WITH PLANS FOR DIGITAL MANIFEST » KENDALL POLIDORI, MANAGING EDITOR EMMA YOUNG WAS studying abroad in Germany during

the Fall 2019 semester when she spent more than a month focused on writing and producing a song for Manifest’s song competition—something she has been looking forward to since she was a freshman.

Young—a senior contemporary, urban and popular music major and the 2020 song competition winner— said she took time away from her activities in Germany to put all of her energy into the song, which she said is about the “triumphant times” Columbia students have gone through and overcome.

“I was really looking forward to the energy of the festival and the positive light that you get from performing on a big stage and in front of your peers,” Young said. “It was going to be this really triumphant moment where I’m celebrating with my graduating class. And now, that feeling is going to be lessened.”

Columbia’s annual Manifest Urban Arts Festival—a day-long festival put together by students largely featuring work from graduating seniors in an array of majors— will take a new form this year as the Manifest RISES Digital Festival.

Due to campus building closures and in-person classes being moved online for the remainder of the semester because of the coronavirus, or COVID-19 pandemic, the usual single-day festival will now be a weeklong celebration online May 11-15, according to an email from Associate Dean of Student Life Kari Sommers to the Chronicle.

This year’s theme, “RISE,” serves as a prompt to bring Columbia’s community together, Sommers said. It is a “unified vision” that President and CEO Kwang-Wu Kim said is “more appropriate now than ever” in his March 23 collegewide email announcing the transition of the festival and the cancellation of commencement.

Sommers said as the festival transitions to a digital platform the Manifest website will serve as a “hub of student showcases” with stationary content such as digital exhibitions, catalogs and videos that can be viewed all week, along with live events scheduled throughout the week, including the festival kick-off, remote artist talks, student screenings and performances.

The digital festival will also follow a communication plan through campuswide emails and social media to “create engagement” with the Columbia community, Sommers said. This will include a “Pre-Manifest” introducing the new format and a “Week-of-Manifest” campaign to encourage students to showcase their own work via social media platforms.

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“Our goal is to showcase student talent online in order to celebrate our student body and create community,” Sommers said. “The goals remain the same. They are to create a sense of belonging and community, empower students to hone their academic learning by real-world practice and showcase Columbia student talent.”

Sommers said Manifest has and always will be about the students and referenced a line in Columbia’s mission statement: “Columbia’s intent is to educate students who will communicate creatively and shape the public’s perceptions of issues and events and who will author the culture of their times.”

Although Young is happy to be part of the festival in any form, she said she has gone through a number of emotional states regarding the situation, including feeling robbed of her graduating experience.

Ari Ganahl, a senior illustration major, said they understand there are not many options for how to continue certain events, but much of what students care about, including Manifest, cannot be done online.

“Online Manifest is not Manifest,” Ganahl said.

Ganahl, who is part of the Illustration Student Group, said although some artwork can easily transition online, other work like live performance will not have the same effect. They said much of what the physical festival offers is the chance to connect and talk with people in person, which cannot be fulfilled online.

“I’m pretty sure everyone is a little bit devastated right now,” Ganahl said.

Sol Salinas, a junior illustration major, said moving Manifest online will be “really weird” because the core of Columbia is face-to-face interaction and collaboration. However, Salinas said everyone will be able to transition and “make it good,” even though “it’s easy to miss people in the endless sea of the internet.”

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Meg Duguid, director of exhibitions in the Department of Exhibitions, Performance and Student Spaces, works alongside staff and students for exhibitions at the college, including Manifest. She said she has been in constant contact with faculty on how to transition student work online properly for the digital festival.

A Manifest student team, including Manifest Creative Director Paulina Ryt, has a major role in putting together the showcase. They were unavailable for an interview as of press time.

Duguid said the staff and faculty she works with know the intent of the students’ work and know the best way to display it on an online platform but added that it will take a few meetings for everyone to fully understand a clear approach to the changes.

Transitioning art to a digital, online sphere, such as what the Manifest team is planning, has increasingly taken form across a variety of creative disciplines from artists around the world in recent days, with livestreamed musical performances, often from musicians’ living rooms, along with the availability of recorded, digital versions of some theatre productions for home viewing, online access to view select museum collections and art sales through digital print shops.

“Everyone is really trying to hold each other’s hands and help each other through this because this is something that none of us have ever experienced,” Duguid said. “All of us together—the students, the faculty and staff—are going to end up through this time period creating many, many new avenues to view and present art in a very short time.” » KPOLIDORI@COLUMBIACHRONICLE.COM

PRESIDENT AND CEO KWANG-WU KIM STANDS ON STAGE AT THE 2019 MANIFEST FESTIVAL. »

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a global health pandemic but likely also in the onslaught of a recession that some economists say could be worse than the 2008 Great Recession.

COLUMBIA SENIORS EVALUATE THEIR CAREER PROSPECTS Like many graduating seniors, Colin Lenburg was already anxious about securing work in the film industry without the added pressure of a recession spurred by many businesses closing and laying off workers due to the coronavirus, or COVID-19, pandemic.

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Lenburg, a senior cinema art and science major, works at Bass Pro Shop—which remains open as an “essential” business to sell firearms—to help provide for himself and his mother, who works at a hotel.

He started the job in November 2018, hoping it would be temporary so he could pursue his passion for filmmaking. But now, because of the economic side effects of the coronavirus, he’s been working up to 60 hours a week to make ends meet.

“Part of being an artist is being able to swallow your pride and do something that’s not in your field for a little bit, just to put food on the table,” Lenburg said. “But I don’t even know if we’re going to be able to get jobs in our fields.”

Over the week of March 15, more than 3 million people filed for unemployment benefits, nearly five times the previous record in 1982. The unemployment rate may surge to 13% by May, which is higher than during the Great Recession, as reported Thursday, March 26, by the Associated Press.

Jason Stephens, an associate professor of instruction in the Business and Entrepreneurship Department at Columbia, said if the pandemic continues for an extended period of time, graduating students should come up with a backup career plan and start thinking about ways in which they can make themselves “valuable” to companies in this rapidly changing economy.

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“Economies do not like uncertainty. The biggest issue that we’re dealing with right now is that nobody knows what to expect,” Stephens said. “[Students] have to apply the skills they’ve been learning while at Columbia and combine them in new ways to innovate in this economy.”

Michelle Tlusty, a senior musical theatre major, is fearful of the long-term impact a recession could have on smaller Chicago theatre companies.

“It’s scary to see this happening because not only is it taking an economic toll, it’s taking a mental health toll for a lot of people,” Tlusty said. “I don’t know how the theatre industry is going to be able to bounce back when their revenue directly relies on viewership.”

Additionally, with Columbia classes transitioning online for the remainder of the semester, Tlusty worries she will be less prepared to enter the theatre industry after graduation, as so many classes provide her with valuable in-person feedback from professors who currently work in the industry.

Tlusty said she is keeping her options open and has been looking into various backup career plans in the communications field, such as marketing, administrative assistance and even sales.

“Being a theatre person, you have to be able to communicate,” Tlusty said. “That [skill] will be very beneficial for me.”

HOW COLUMBIA STUDENTS WILL BE AFFECTED Columbia plans to assist both graduating seniors in finding jobs and current students in securing internships by allowing them to take full advantage of the college’s Career Center, said Jennifer Halperin, an internship and career adviser at Columbia.

“If [students have] taken the advice of the career professionals and the faculty that they have been working with, they’re going to get a job,” Halperin said. “It may take a lot of applications, but they’re going to get a job.”

Students who have had their one- or three-credit internships canceled will receive work from the school that will replicate the experience which students would have received, Halperin said.

For those who have had job offers or interviews canceled, they will receive assistance from the Career Center in trying to reach out to recruiters, who Halperin said have been receptive thus far.

“It’s not an exaggeration to say that the entire world is in the exact same boat,” Halperin said. “I’m optimistic that things are going to come back stronger than before because this is a shared experience that we’re all going through.”

Halperin said several digital communication, marketing and social media-related jobs are still being posted to the Handshake employment platform, and that “once the world returns back to normal,” all other Columbia art-related jobs and internship opportunities will come back with a “vengeance.”

Halperin added that the Career Center has smoothCORONAVIRUS SPECIAL ISSUE

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ly transitioned online, and advisers have opened their schedule to more appointments. The Career Center’s resources will be available to students for a full year after they graduate, she said.

As for Lenburg, he will continue working at Bass Pro Shop but is unsure what the future holds for him and his mother and how they will take advantage of the government’s stimulus check.

“It’s just existential dread. That’s the best way to describe it. It’s just existential dread,” Lenburg said.

“PART OF BEING AN ARTIST IS BEING ABLE TO SWALLOW YOUR PRIDE AND DO SOMETHING THAT’S NOT IN YOUR FIELD FOR A LITTLE BIT, JUST TO PUT FOOD ON THE TABLE” One local congressperson is more immediately worried about the housing needs of students.

Serving as chairman of the Worker and Family Support subcommittee on the House Committee for Ways and Means, U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (7th District) said colleges and universities requiring students to vacate dorms should be cognizant of how it could harm students from low-income backgrounds.

“We have a large student population, the South Loop in and of itself has thousands of students,” said Davis, who represents the district Columbia is in. “Colleges and universities, especially in their planning, need to make sure that they [take] into consideration the needs of foster youth who may not have a home to go to when you shut down the campus, low-income youth who don’t have any place to stay, or the large number of homeless youth.”

Davis said he’s been in touch with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless and South Suburban PADS, a homeless shelter network, and also the state, county, and city governments to make sure no one is left behind.

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“There’s still going to be some individuals who fall through the cracks,” Davis said. “We hope that we can seal those cracks as soon as possible, but that’s kind of where I see things right now.”

THE CARES ACT STIMULUS DEAL President Donald Trump signed a multi-trillion dollar stimulus bill into law Friday, March 27, after a back-and-forth battle in Congress. The CARES Act, or “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act,” will provide a one-time relief check to taxpayers. Those who are registered as independent taxpayers on their 2019 forms and who have no children and earned less than $99,000 can expect to receive a check or direct deposit of up to $1,200 from the Internal Revenue Service within a few weeks.

The CARES Act also allows borrowers to postpone student loan payments through Sept. 30, and interest will not accrue on federal loans during this time period.

The Act includes allocations for an Emergency Stabilization Fund for some higher education institutions.

Of the funds colleges receive, 50% must go directly to students as emergency financial aid grants to be used for expenses incurred from the closure of campus because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the National Association of Financial Aid Administrators.

Lambrini Lukidis, associate vice president of Strategic Communications and External Relations, said the college is reviewing the stimulus bill, and that both Columbia and its students will receive funds as part of the CARES Act. Lukidis said the college is still determining exact amounts.

HOW DOES THIS COMPARE TO THE 2008 RECESSION? Liliana N. Fargo, a professor of economics at DePaul University, said it took eight years for the country to recover from the high levels of unemployment in the Great Recession, and four years for the gross domestic product to rebound.

But this situation is different, she said.

“It’s not only in the United States but around the world that [the coronavirus] is affecting change supplies, and it’s affecting production,” Fargo said. “In order to restore that production, it will take a while. I don’t expect that will end in one year.”

Fargo said the recession will most directly affect non-essential businesses that have been closed in states under a “stay-at-home” mandate, which includes Chicago. These “non-essential” businesses include movie theaters, gyms, salons, museums and casinos, to name a few.

Although Fargo could not predict how long it will take for global economics to rebound, she said “it’s going to be a permanent change in many ways.” » CHRONICLE@COLUM.EDU

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‘VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE’ OR ‘RARING TO GO’? STUDENTS AND FACULTY HAVE MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT GOING ONLINE » BLAISE MESA, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

THIS ARTICLE IS THE FIRST OF THE CHRONICLE’S SERIES “DIFFICULT TO TRANSFER” IN WHICH WE EXPLORE HOW DEPARTMENTS ARE TRANSITIONING ARTS-BASED COURSES ONLINE DUE TO THE CORONAVIRUS, OR COVID-19, PANDEMIC. JABARI MIDDLETON-DAMU is learning how to use Photo-

shop in his course “Fashion Design Principles,” but he does not have access to a computer at home. He was told by the college weeks ago he would be mailed a computer but has yet to receive it just days before classes are set to start.

Middleton-Damu’s lack of access to a laptop—and the transition of other hard-to-transfer classes online as a result of the coronavirus—has left him concerned that he will fall behind his classmates, making the course “virtually impossible.”

“I genuinely don’t know what to do,” said Middleton-Damu, a freshman fashion design major. “Some teachers have no idea even themselves how to really transfer their course material.”

Middleton-Damu said he does not want to direct blame at anyone because nobody could have predicted the situation. But other students share his frustration.

Jade Moreno, a senior acting major, said her “Solo Performance I” class is “all about the live performance experience.”

“Before every class we say, ‘What happens in this room does not leave this room,’” Moreno said. “But now it is putting all this vulnerable stuff on tape.”

Moreno also does not blame instructors, but said the situation feels “very hopeless.”

Carin Silkaitis, the Allen and Lynn Turner Chair of the Theatre Department, said the department sent out a survey to students asking if they have quiet places with enough room to perform at home.

Silkaitis said while there is a benefit to having a live audience for performances, students can also benefit from online work because actors need to learn how to submit self-tapes for auditions.

“So much of our world as an actor has gone digital,” Silkaitis said.

She said online courses can recreate the classroom experience, and faculty can still provide feedback to students.

Senior Vice President and Provost Marcella David hopes students remain optimistic, as she said faculty have.

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“Faculty members in some places were so excited about this, and confident about this, they were frustrated there was a three-week pause,” David said in an interview with the Chronicle. “They were like, ‘We can do this tomorrow.’ … Some faculty members were raring to go right away.”

After President and CEO Kwang-Wu Kim announced in a March 12 collegewide email that all courses would be transitioned online for the remainder of the semester, instructors had three weeks to “make adjustments to classes not so easily moved online” before courses resumed beginning Monday, April 6.

By March 23, Kim announced that courses were ontrack to resume remotely.

“Regardless of how a course is delivered, faculty are working to ensure that it will help you to master key learning outcomes, providing the necessary foundation for you to move forward in your studies or your practice.

In other words, your course will be complete,” Kim said in the March 23 email. “Where hands-on project work is not possible remotely, after you complete your formal course requirements remotely in the spring, we will provide opportunities for students to come together for additional hands-on skills development once the community can reassemble.”

David said she does not anticipate any required coursework will be extended into the summer months and reiterated that the college is working to make sure everyone graduates on time.

“We want the coursework to be done,” David said.

“That is really important for us. But we recognize people are in different circumstances and situations. We want to be a little bit flexible if at the end of the day a little bit more time might be needed to get papers in or get something of that nature.”

The transition to remote learning was led by the chairs and faculty with the provost’s office working to ensure professors had the infrastructure in place to teach classes, such as access to Wi-Fi or other necessary software, David said.

She hopes students—and graduating seniors—can regain access to on-campus spaces after the semester ends. But she said the college has to wait for the situation to normalize.

Lambrini Lukidis, associate vice president of Strategic Communications and External Relations, said the college originally planned to give students access to on-campus spaces by not closing the college. But after

the coronavirus, or COVID-19, continued to spread and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a “stay-at-home” mandate, the college closed campus.

For many classes, hands-on learning in studios and with equipment is typically vital to course completion.

Diana Vallera, president of Columbia’s part-time-faculty union and an adjunct faculty member in the Photography Department, teaches “Principles of Lighting I and II”—courses she said may be difficult to move online as the class uses lighting studios and hands-on instruction.

“Let’s face it, it’s going to be a different course,” Vallera said. “But it is going to be delivered in the best way possible in response to this crisis.”

In speaking with her students, Vallera has not heard anything “alarming,” but has concerns for how international students will be affected.

As a remedy, Vallera said she will use livestreams, instructional videos and hold one-on-one sessions through Zoom to connect with students. The department is also trying to provide equipment for students, Vallera said, but they have multiple plans in place in case that does not happen.

The transition to remote learning is requiring adjustments and accommodations on a course-bycourse basis.

Silkaitis said the Theatre Department is giving students in the course “Intro to Scenic Construction” access to auto computer-aided design systems—computer technology that will allow students to create and adjust set designs—and a series of training videos to teach them how to use the tools while gaining experience designing sets.

Although Vallera said the college is working to address all aspects of the online transition, she said students who feel like they will not learn as efficiently online—especially given the thousands of dollars they pay for classes—have a valid concern.

Still, Vallera offered students words of encouragement.

“Our faculty are some of the most creative and committed people I have seen,” she said. “In the beginning, all of us were very nervous and extremely uncertain, but I feel our students should not worry. We’ll help them, we’ll assist them and we’ll be ready—we’ll get through this together.” » BMESA@COLUMBIACHRONICLE.COM

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FROM CHICAGO TO HONOLULU: A PHOTOJOURNALIST TRAVELS IN THE AGE OF THE CORONAVIRUS » MENGSHIN LIN, PHOTOJOURNALIST COLUMBIA’S PHOTOGRAPHY Department announced classes would be online for the remainder of the semester, I was crushed and cried on my couch for an hour because there was no reason for me to stay in Chicago anymore.

Where should I go? Where is home? That has been a struggle for me, as it is for many students.

As someone not from Chicago, no matter where I decide home is, the only way to get there is by plane.

So, after peeling myself off the couch, I decided I would return to Hawaii, where I spent two years of college. Hawaii is like a second home to me, and besides, Hawaii is only half a world away from Chicago, compared to Taiwan. In the future, I might go back to Taiwan if the pandemic becomes more serious, but for now I remain in Hawaii.

On March 18, before I checked in for my flight to Los Angeles, where I had a layover, I decided to go to the international terminal of O’Hare International Airport to discover the situation. To my surprise, the terminal was mostly empty, except for a handful of students lined up, wearing masks and gloves as they checked in for the only direct flight from Chicago to Taipei, Taiwan.

As airlines suspended flights to China until April and reduced their flights to Japan and Korea, the flight to Taipei was one of the few flights Chinese students could still take to get home.

I was not the only international student from Columbia trying to return home.

Wei Lun Chen, a first-year cinema art and science-creative producing MFA candidate, and three other ColumWHEN

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bia students from Taiwan took a direct flight to Taipei.

“Everyone was very well prepared for the plane,” Chen said. “What we prepared was masks—a lot of masks— and then a pair of goggles and a raincoat.”

I have never been afraid of the coronavirus. Rather, I am mad at how it impacts me, my friends, my family and the rest of the world.

Still, I bought a box of medical masks from my roommate who purchased it two months ago to be prepared for when the outbreak exploded. I, myself, decided to wear a mask on the flights, not only to protect myself but, more importantly, to protect others.

As soon as I arrived at the gate for my flight to Los Angeles, a passenger who was fully equipped in blue gloves, clear goggles and a mask was waiting to board and caught my eye. The passenger, Theo Hornbacher (photo 1), a second-year painting and drawing major at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, was also forced to move out of his dorm on short notice, like many Columbia students.

“People had to leave a lot of stuff,” Hornbacher said. “A lot of stuff has been lost, basically.”

Hornbacher was flying to Los Angeles to reunite with his family in California.

“I don’t know if a mask or gloves actually helps or not, but you know, I’m just trying to stay clean,” Hornbacher said.

On the same flight to Los Angeles, I met Nicolas Gil (photo 3), a sophomore from Ventura College in California, who wore a respirator during the flight. I looked on from my seat as another passenger—who changed his seat from one away from Gil to the spot directly in front of him—used hand sanitizer to wipe down the chair. The woman who sat one seat away from me requested to do the same thing, moving an empty row in front of me. In the end, because the flight was half empty, most of the passengers sat one seat apart from another or had an entire row to themselves.

There were more passengers wearing masks on the plane than I thought. I slowly began to be more cautious every time I heard someone cough. I even used my own blanket to cover my face during the flight.

I ended up spending a night in the Los Angeles International Airport, waiting on standby for a flight to Honolulu. Sitting with not much to do for nine hours, I walked through five different terminals and found that many passengers were also wearing masks, even while sleeping—especially passengers who came from New York City, which has become the epicenter of the coronavirus

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pandemic in the U.S. with more than 102,000 confirmed cases in the state as of press time, with most cases occurring in the city, according to the New York State Department of Health.

Eventually, I boarded another half-empty flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu (photo 5). Because it was so empty, the 11 standby passengers, including myself, were upgraded to first class. Although this was my first time flying first class, my emotions were far from excited. As a significant other of an employee from Hawaiian Airlines, I began to worry when I saw half of the flight was empty because of what it meant for their financial stability.

Sitting in first class, the passenger on my left brought a whole bottle of wipes to wipe down the entire seat, and a passenger on my right wore a face mask during the entirety of the eight-hour flight, even while sleeping.

Two days after arriving in Hawaii, I returned to the airport (photo 4) to complete my mission of documenting the near-empty airports and worrisome travelers trying to return home. Incidentally, it was the day before the governor of Hawaii announced a “stay-at-home” order, just like Illinois has.

Honolulu was expecting students on spring break and travelers from Japan, which are both major sources of tourism. Like many spring break hot spots across the globe, the coronavirus outbreak has hurt Hawaii’s tourism, according to the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

It was then that, wearing face masks and gloves as they headed into the airport, I met Lisa Oliva and her daughter (photo 2), who were visiting their family in Hawaii but had to cut their trip short.

“We were supposed to be here until Monday, but we are leaving today, just in fear of our flight being canceled,” Oliva said.

Unlike Oliva and her daughter, I do not know when I will return to Chicago, as United Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines have announced the cancellation of many of their long, direct flights, which will determine when and whether I can go back to Chicago.

At the same time, my family wants me to return to Taiwan. But because of the high risk of bringing back the virus to my young nephew and grandma who has blood cancer, I have pushed back against returning.

For now, staying in Hawaii is my only choice. » MLIN@COLUMBIACHRONICLE.COM

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SUMMER STUDY ABROAD PROGRAMS ARE LATEST CASUALTY OF TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS

A TRAVELER WEARS A FACE MASK AS THEY SLEEP OVERNIGHT AT LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. » MENGSHIN LIN/CHRONICLE

» MARI DEVEREAUX, MANAGING EDITOR ALL OF COLUMBIA’S Summer 2020 study abroad pro- munications and External Relations, confirmed the

grams have been canceled, a decision made in light of the school’s travel restrictions and the U.S. Department of State’s “do not travel” advisory, which are still in effect.

In a Monday, April 6 email, students who were planning to take the Summer 2020 course “Creative Writing Summer in Prague” were informed by Kathie Bergquist, an adjunct faculty member in the English and Creative Writing Department and program director for the course in Prague, that their class, among others, would be canceled.

“As it stands, the school’s travel restrictions are still in place, and the U.S. State Department maintains its ‘do not travel’ advisory,” Bergquist said in the email.

There is a growing roster of colleges across the nation, including DePaul University and Loyola University, that have suspended study abroad programs at the direction of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Assistant Provost for Global Education David Comp said in a Wednesday, March 25 email to the Chronicle that the college had six undergraduate and eight graduate students studying abroad for the Spring 2020 semester, although he did not specify in which countries.

He said the Global Education Office, which manages study abroad programs, contacted the students individually to request for them to return to the U.S. and offered for Columbia to coordinate and pay for their flights.

Four of the undergraduate students accepted the offer while the remaining two and all eight graduate students decided to remain in their cities of study, Comp said.

According to Columbia’s website, the college has 11 summer study abroad programs to countries including the Czech Republic, Scotland, Germany, Italy and Spain, with domestic travel programs in Arizona and Los Angeles, as well.

Previously, college administrators had said a decision regarding the fate of study abroad programs would be announced by April 15.

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course cancellations.

In an interview with the Chronicle, Bergquist said she and other professors who were set to teach abroad were notified individually by the Global Education Office Friday, April 3 of the college’s decision to cancel their courses.

“It was very important to me to communicate to my students as soon as I possibly could, but I needed to clarify some information before I could respond to them,” Bergquist said. “I wanted to get the email out because I’m imagining that there’s been a lot of anxiety about the uncertainty of the situation.”

Bergquist said there was no mass email sent to all study abroad students from the Global Education Office as of April 6 and added that faculty are responsible for communicating directly with their students, per the college’s direction.

Bergquist assured her prospective study abroad students their class deposit will be automatically returned to them within the next three weeks. According to Columbia’s website, the session fee for the program was approximately $3,000. However, the returned funds will not include plane tickets, as those are purchased independently by students, Bergquist said.

Major airlines students typically use for study abroad trips, such as United and American Airlines, are changing flights or crediting and refunding costs for flights scheduled through the end of May, Bergquist said. She added that it is up to students to contact their airline to make alternative arrangements.

Bergquist said 2020 would have been the 20th year the creative writing program held a course in Prague.

“That anniversary has special symbolism for me, and it makes me very sad that we can’t continue it,” Bergquist said. “But it’s always been the case that our students’ health and safety and wellness is the number one priority.”

In her email to students, Bergquist encouraged them to take next year’s summer Prague program. But for some students, like junior illustration major Stephanie Zimba, this year was their “one shot” for a summer study abroad program.

Zimba said even though most students planning to study abroad in Prague “knew it was coming,” their instructor, Bergquist, remained optimistic throughout the process and told students she would push for a delay rather than a cancellation.

“It hit pretty hard for me because I had [been] holding onto that hope for so long,” Zimba said.

Zimba said they were counting on the study abroad course to fulfill a graduation requirement and will now have to find another three-credit summer course, likely at a community college.

Anne Marie Mitchell, an associate professor in the Communication Department who usually teaches the summer study abroad course “Global PR in Spain,” said she decided in February not to lead the program due to low interest and growing fears surrounding the coronavirus, or COVID-19.

Mitchell said she would have been “shocked” if the summer program had continued to run, adding that a full cancellation is the best way to give students “certainty” and allow them time to make other plans.

Because she is no longer leading the class, Mitchell said she was not made aware of the college’s decision.

“It would have been nice to get an official notification as somebody who has taught [‘Global PR in Spain’] and is planning to teach it again,” Mitchell said. “I really wish they had all the information gathered in one place and it was constantly being updated and reinforced. There’s just a lot of emails coming out.”

Bergquist said while she is disappointed and sad about the outcome, she is not surprised. Study abroad programs require administrative decisions based on the current situation, she said.

“It’s something that I really look forward to and has enormous value, but the circumstances are out of anybody’s control,” Bergquist said. “We have to make the most prudent decision in the interest of our students.” » Additional reporting by Jonah Ocuto.

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STREET MUSICIANS TAKE ‘HELL OF A HIT’ FROM CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC RYAN ROSENBERGER, STAFF REPORTER WHILE CHICAGO RESIDENTS quarantine inside their apart-

ments, venturing out every so often for groceries or to walk their dog, street musicians are struggling to make money amid a global health pandemic and a recession.

In Illinois, many artists who perform on the street for money, also known as buskers, have been out of work since March 21 when Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s “stay-at-home” order, due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus, took effect. The governor’s order has been extended until April 30 and could be extended further.

Gordon Pondstar, a bass player for the Chicago Traffic Jam street band that is commonly seen playing on State Street and Michigan Avenue, said he knew changes would arise for buskers when all bars and restaurants in Illinois closed dine-in options on March 15.

“We were like, ‘Well, f---, there’s no reason to even go out [and busk],’” Pondstar said. “There was not a hypothetical of, ‘Oh, we might make money.’”

As of Sunday, April 12, there have been more than 20,000 reported cases of the coronavirus, or COVID-19, in Illinois, including 720 deaths, according to data from the Illinois Department of Public Health. Meanwhile, more than 6 million people have filed for unemployment nationwide.

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Pondstar, who was set to go on tour for the month of April with another band, also lost his teaching job at the Cook County Jail because of the pandemic. On top of that, he had already sublet his bedroom to a friend and is now left with no choice but to sleep at another friend’s apartment for the time being.

Like other musicians during the pandemic, Pondstar is hosting live stream performances on Facebook and Instagram to make money by giving viewers the option to donate to his Venmo, Cash App and PayPal handles. So far, he said donations have ranged between $1 and $20. “[Live streaming] has been wildly inconsistent,” Pondstar said. “Busking is super consistent. Even on a bad day, you never go home without a handful of cash.”

Ian Walsh, a guitarist with Chicago Traffic Jam, said the heaviest weight of not being able to busk and bring in money is his day-to-day living expenses and payments for medications he needs as a Type-1 diabetic.

Despite losing nearly half of his income from the lack of busking, Walsh is fortunate to still be employed, he said. He teaches music lessons at Alex’s Music Studio and also at ONG Taekwondo Academy in Harwood Heights, Illinois. Most of his students have transitioned to online Skype lessons, he said.

Walsh said he is concerned the lack of money for buskers will continue after the pandemic slows down because much of their income comes from performing outside of businesses, and there is no guarantee those businesses will come back any time soon.

In 2012, Michael Malinowski quit his job at a demolition company to become a full-time busker after happening across a street performer strumming an acoustic guitar at the Clark and Lake CTA station.

“As I walked past this guy, I looked in his guitar case.

This guy had more money in that guitar case than I had

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in my pocket,” said Malinowski, also a guitarist. “I was like, ‘What am I doing wrong here?’”

Malinowski was making $100 to $150 a day performing on subway platforms but is now out of a job completely since Feb. 4 when he became the victim of a stabbing incident that took place while he was busking on the Jackson Red Line Platform. He has been paying his bills with the money he has received from a GoFundMe campaign that was established after the incident, he said.

“It’s a very up and down, rollercoaster kind of thing,” Malinowski said. “There’s so much good, so much bad.

It’s a mix of emotions.”

Malinowski said he has seen buskers continuing to play in the subway despite the health risks, though the financial consequences of the pandemic are likely steep.

“I definitely have seen [buskers] passing through,” Malinowski said. “I don’t know exactly what funds they’re making, but I’m sure they took a hell of a hit.”

Malinowski has since recovered from the stabbing incident, though he hasn’t been out busking since. He’s releasing new music soon and is set to go on tour later this year, he said.

The Chicago Traffic Jam has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for its members. For every $10 donation, a fan can request a song and the band will play it in a video posted to their social media pages. For every $50 donation, a fan will be able to request a song that the band will play on a street corner once the stay-at-home order ends. A specific song that has been requested was “Little Wing” by Jimi Hendrix, Pondstar said.

“We’re not just asking for money,” Pondstar said. “We think this is a really great way that people can help us through this time and we can offer something later.” » RROSENBERGER@COLUMBIACHRONICLE.COM

RODNEY JOHNSON, A GUITARIST WHO HAS BEEN BUSKING FOR 10 YEARS, SAID THE MUSICAL REPERTOIRE A BUSKER PERFORMS ANY GIVEN DAY DEPENDS ON THE ATMOSPHERE OF THE CROWD. »

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SKYROCKETING SEX DRIVES AND VIRTUAL CHECK-UPS: THE CHRONICLE’S GUIDE TO SEX DURING A PANDEMIC » KENDALL POLIDORI, MANAGING EDITOR » MARGARET SMITH, OPINIONS EDITOR WHETHER YOU’RE SPENDING your shelter-in-place snug-

gled in bed on your lonesome with a shiny new vibrator you ordered online, sexting your long-distance significant other or sanitizing before jumping into the sheets with your partner, the coronavirus has changed nearly everyone’s bedroom life.

With the global coronavirus, or COVID-19, pandemic, there are a lot of unanswered questions around sex and sexual health. The Chronicle set off to answer these questions to help you stay orgasmically healthy.

CAN I HOOK UP WITH MY TINDER MATCH? Patrycja Ferenc was not actively looking for someone to hook up with, but after three days of being out of work

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due to Illinois’ statewide dine-in restaurant and bar closures, she said she was already getting bored.

Now, Ferenc, a sophomore marketing major at Harold Washington College, said she has been more cautious since the stay-at-home order was put in place by only hanging out with one person she met on Tinder and being honest with him about other people she comes in contact with.

“I do feel like it is my civil duty to actually stay home and follow these guidelines,” she said. “But I’m still young and I get bored being stuck in my apartment. Obviously, I want to hang out with someone.”

Sofia Maes, a junior advertising major at Columbia, said it has become a joke between her and her partners whether or not they should kiss because of the coronavirus. Maes has been seeing people during the pandemic but said she stays home other than that.

“My sex drive has completely skyrocketed,” Maes said.

Ferenc and Maes aren’t alone in their sexual pursuits.

New York City’s Health Department even released a titillating two-page report addressing sex during the pandemic. It said because being in contact with another person can increase the spread of the coronavirus, the best options are to take part in “self-love” and only sexually interact with a partner if you live in the same household.

As of press time, no similar report has been released by Chicago’s Department of Public Health.

People seem to be taking the socially-distant masturbation decree to heart, though, as companies report soaring sex toy sales and dramatic increases in porn viewership, as reported by Vice, which comes as no surprise to Lauren Streicher, a medical director for Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause.

Streicher said being at home alone gives people plenty of time to explore things they may not have explored before—including themselves. However, she advised people to refrain from sexual activity with another person if it is not someone they “regularly swap saliva with.”

“If it’s not with your usual partner and if you haven’t been social distancing, you need to be aware that you could be infected,” Streicher said.

continue to see patients for clinical services that cannot be delayed or resolved through a telemedicine visit.

In regards to sexual and reproductive health issues, Peterson said certain visits cannot be delayed and provider organizations, such as Planned Parenthood, remain open, although many clinics have been holding telephone triage before scheduling visits.

Planned Parenthood of Illinois is encouraging people to practice safe sex virtually through phone sex and sexting rather than in-person dates, one-night stands and kissing as the coronavirus can be easily spread through respiratory droplets.

Planned Parenthood of Illinois’ in-person services are open in several locations, including on the Near North Side, which is the closest clinic to Columbia’s campus.

These clinics continue to offer abortion procedures and other critical appointments while staggering appointments in line with social distancing measures.

Patients not in need of immediate care are encouraged to use “telehealth” services where they can receive birth control, prescription refills, treatment for a urinary tract infection or answers to any questions they may have for a $25 fee.

Peterson said sexually active adolescents and young adults, 15 to 24 years old, have the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections in the U.S. Because of that, she advises practicing prevention by reducing the numHOW DO I LOOK AFTER MY SEXUAL ber of partners one is sexually active with, and using HEALTH DURING THE CORONAVIRUS condoms correctly and consistently.

PANDEMIC? “Prevention is even more important now because the current COVID-19 crisis is putting significant pressure Current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on our health care system,” Peterson said. “STI testing recommendations for health care providers—includ- may be harder to obtain, results may take longer and ing gynecologists—are to postpone any non-urgent treatment time may be slower.” clinical services.

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HOW DO I FIND THE LOVE OF MY LIFE WHILE IN QUARANTINE? Just because you’re stuck inside doesn’t mean you can’t meet people.

Here/Now—a company based in New York City and Los Angeles that traditionally offers in-person group events to spark con nect ion—ha s recently gone online to give people the connection they are craving.

WESLEY ENRIQUEZ/CHRONICLE “When the coronavirus hit, we obviously couldn’t continue to do in-person experiences,” said Lyndsey Wheeler, co-founder and CEO of Here/Now. The virtual hangouts are hosted over scheduled Zoom calls that can be held in any city as long as there “are enough applicants” in the area—approximately 14 people.

The company has seen “probably three times as many people applying to our services” since virtual meetups have gone into effect, said Rachel Breitenwischer, co-founder and COO of Here/Now. “What quarantine has done for a lot of people is [make them interact] … with existing friends or do these virtual happy hours with their college roommates, but there are fewer opportunities to go out and meet new people,” Wheeler said. “For those who are isolated at home alone or are single and want to meet someone or just are extroverts who love meeting new people all the time … we are a place where that’s the expectation.”

But not everyone is interested in sitting down to have a drink and a person-to-person chat over the internet.

This is where Slo ‘Mo—a Chicago-based company that hosts dance parties for the LGBTQ+ community—comes in. Slo ‘Mo has taken their monthly parties online and added a new kind of virtual connection.

Kristen Kaza—co-founder and producer of Slo ‘Mo, who also serves as an adjunct faculty member in Columbia’s Communication Department—said their latest event, “Slo ‘Mo From Homo: Erotic Isolation, a sensual CORONAVIRUS SPECIAL ISSUE

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storytelling series,” allows people to connect with themselves during isolation.

“It was a great success because it was something different,” said Kaza, also a 2007 marketing communication alumna. “We believe that pleasure is power, and tapping into it is a great way to find fulfillment and self-affirmation in uncertain times.”

The Erotic Isolation event offers live sensual poetry and storytelling set to music from a local DJ. While the next Erotic Isolation is yet to be announced, “Slo ‘Mo From Homo: Live Digital Dance Party” will be hosted every third Thursday.

“Queer people have a legacy of using music, dance, self-expression and celebration as a way of surviving in hard times,” Kaza said. “Finding a way to channel this in the pandemic is important for our community’s sense of hope and humanity.”

STAY-AT-HOME MANDATES ARE PUTTING STRESS ON MY RELATIONSHIP. WHAT DO I DO? Home-life dynamics have shifted for many couples who may now be separated or forced to live in close quarters, adding complexity to their relationships.

Ally Gill, a sophomore filmmaking major at Columbia, has not seen her boyfriend of three years for several weeks. She moved back home to Cadillac, Michigan, after campus closed and is unsure how long it will be until she sees him again.

Now, they rely on texting, and Gill said they do not talk on the phone as often because it just makes them sad.

“It’s frustrating and then my boyfriend’s upset,” Gill said. “I can’t help it, the whole world is falling apart.”

Yet, one relationship expert said just because the world may seem like it’s ending doesn’t mean your relationship needs to feel like that, too.

Lindsay Anderson, head dating coach at Smart Dating Academy—a Chicago company that helps people date smarter and find love—said for couples who are separated by quarantine, the best thing for them to do is call each other, and call often.

“We have been telling everyone—video date, video date, video date,” Anderson said. “You can truly build a great connection face-to-face through a screen … [then] you actually get to see facial cues, and you get to see [how] their eyes sparkle.”

Nicole Sojda, a junior marketing major at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, has been adjusting to living in quarantine with her boyfriend.

While it has been financially beneficial because her boyfriend has been splitting bills with her, Sojda said with all of this free time on her hands she is still getting used to being with him constantly.

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“We’re kind of stuck together now,” Sojda said. “I’m used to living by myself in my own place. … It’s a good thing, though.”

Given the new layers of stress added to any relationship—especially romantic ones—having “guidelines” with your partner regarding when and how you see them, whether in-person or virtually, is crucial, Anderson said.

For couples living together during this time, where necessary distance may no longer be an option as it once was, she said being “the better partner” is imperative.

“Start noticing the things the person you’re with is doing really well. Are they finally loading the dishwasher the correct way? Do they step up and help out with the kids in an unexpected way? Are they helping to pitch-in in ways they haven’t?” Anderson said. “Because romance really begins in the mind, and making people feel like they’re actually being seen is the first step.”

But let’s not forget the chemical side of our bodies.

While we fend off anxiety and depression during the pandemic, physical touch—whether romantic or platonic—can do a lot of good.

“Touch each other more and often,” Anderson said.

“We tell our clients [about] the 10- to 30-second hug. … But if you connect and just hug your partner and really hold on for about 30 seconds, that’s enough time to actually build that oxytocin, which boosts that romance hormone.”

Whether physical touch is an option or not, Anderson said the importance of carving out time for one another, be it exercising together to increase endorphins, getting take-out dinner and a virtual show or simply having a night of “Netflix and Chill,” time with each other is valuable while we have it to spare.»

CHRONICLE@COLUM.EDU

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VICE PRESIDENT OF ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT MICHAEL JOSEPH SAID THE ADMISSIONS TEAM HAS BEEN “AGGRESSIVELY” SIGNALING TO PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS THAT CLASSES WILL BE IN-PERSON IN THE FALL. » FILE PHOTO

COLUMBIA ‘ANXIOUS,’ WHILE OPTIMISTIC FOR FALL 2020 ENROLLMENT DESPITE PREDICTIONS OF NATIONAL DECLINE » ALEXANDRA YETTER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ACROSS THE COUNTRY, colleges and universities are brac-

ing for expected enrollment declines for the Fall 2020 semester because of the coronavirus pandemic and rocky transitions to remote learning. While early numbers at Columbia show the college may not be as negatively impacted as other schools, the college’s enrollment chief has warned faculty leaders that “challenging” times lie ahead.

Based on the Fall 2019 semester, the college was building toward a 2 to 3% increase for Fall 2020. Now, Vice President of Enrollment Management Michael Joseph is not certain that will happen, and is preparing for enrollment to go down by at least a percentage point from where Columbia was last year.

“We’re going to potentially see some pretty good news in terms of students being able to return because they want to return here,” Joseph said during a Friday, April 17 virtual Faculty Senate meeting. “The issue is going to be affordability. The issue is going to be they want to, but they can’t.”

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Joseph did not return the Chronicle’s multiple requests for additional comments, clarity and context around the enrollment numbers presented as of press time.

In an April 9 letter to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the American Council on Education predicted a nearly 15% drop in enrollment overall and a 25% drop in enrollment among international students at colleges and universities nationally, which would result in $23 billion in revenue loss for institutions across the country, according to the letter, which Joseph referenced during the meeting.

For continuing undergraduate students at Columbia, 3,525 students have registered 10 days after registration opened, as of April 13, which is 31 more students than at the same point in time last year, according to Joseph’s report.

Joseph also boasted a record 92% freshman retention rate—although he said he is looking for retention among other classes to increase, too. Fulltime freshman to sophomore retention for the Fall 2018 cohort was 71.5%, according to Institutional Effectiveness data.

“Obviously, the world’s changed, so that’s made it a little more challenging but all in all I’m quite pleased with where we are relative to where we could have been based on our situation,” he said.

Like many higher education institutions, Joseph said Columbia is trying to “lessen the burden” so students can register for fall classes, such as by temporarily waiving account holds due to missing immunization records or overdrawn funds.

Joseph said attracting transfer students has always been difficult, but it has been made more challenging due to the pandemic, leading administrators to brace for a lower number of transfers in the fall. According to Joseph’s report, as of April 16 the college had 89 fewer net deposits from transfer students compared to the year prior.

“It’s a tough market right now for transfers just because they’re not in that mode,” he said. “Students are at home; they’re figuring out how they’re going to study at their institution remotely; they’re not really applying to

other institutions, so I’m a little anxious about that.”

At the same time, Joseph said Columbia has received a record number of applications compared to any previous year, noting strong numbers of applicants from Illinois and Chicago, who may be choosing to stay closer to home, partially because of the pandemic.

However, he said he is anxious about the approximately 2,000 prospective students who were set to visit campus between March 15 through the end of May. Instead, the college has been hosting virtual admissions events which has made him “very nervous that we’ve had to do that.”

But the worst-case scenario for Columbia—and nearly all higher education institutions—is Fall 2020 courses forced to be taught online.

Some faculty members expressed concern over the effectiveness of online teaching and how best to prepare for the possibility of summer or fall courses being instructed online, though they recognized that the decision was not entirely in the college’s hands.

“What I would want confidence in is that the provost’s office has an understanding that it’s not an easy matter to jump backward and forward between online and [in-person] teaching,” said David Worrall, a professor in the Audio Arts and Acoustics Department. “A course’s value decreases exponentially if you have to adapt on a weekly or even monthly basis.”

Joseph said the admissions team has been “aggressively” signaling to prospective students that classes will be in-person in the fall because even entertaining the idea of online courses could negatively impact enrollment. He added that the only reason courses would remain online would be if government officials mandated the move.

“If [online courses are] our reality, most definitely it’ll be a problem we’ll have to deal with,” Joseph said. “I’m even concerned about the conversation around that. It’s a tough situation because we have to have this conversation. … Students are panicking. … At this point in time in the middle of April, I don’t want to be saying that.”»

AYETTER@COLUMBIACHRONICLE.COM

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MOST COLUMBIA STUDENTS TO RECEIVE GRANTS, BUT CARES ACT WON’T ENTIRELY OFFSET COLLEGE LOSSES » ALEXANDRA YETTER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF MOST COLUMBIA STUDENTS will receive some form of

federal financial aid as part of the CARES Act, through a one-time $250 check and potentially a larger emergency grant, the college announced today.

But others will be left behind, as undocumented, DACA and international students are prohibited from receiving the financial aid “due to federal eligibility criteria,” according to today’s emailed announcement.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES, Act was signed by President Donald Trump March 27 and included an Emergency Stabilization Fund for some higher education institutions. Half of the funds colleges receive must be granted to students who have been impacted by campus closures in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

STUDENT AID Columbia received approximately $6.3 million in federal aid, meaning approximately $3.17 million will go to students, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

“The plan is to award the amount that was specifically allocated for students,” said Cynthia Grunden, assistant vice president of Student Financial Services. “I don’t foresee us awarding anything above that [$3.17 million].”

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Columbia will allocate funds in two ways: a one-time $250 grant to all eligible students and an emergency grant application for students “disproportionately impacted by the pandemic in ways that have drastically changed their financial circumstances,” such as through medical and child care bills or housing expenses.

However, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has prohibited any aid from going to undocumented or DACA students by requiring a social security number to be eligible for funds. This requirement also bars any international students from receiving aid, as reported Wednesday, April 22 by The New York Times.

At Columbia, this would impact approximately 344 “non resident aliens,” according to Institutional Effectiveness data. Grunden said she is not aware of any discussion by the college to provide financial aid to ineligible students outside the CARES Act at this time.

Carrie R. Welton, senior policy consultant for the nonprofit Believe Students, said she is concerned about how students without social security numbers will be impacted by the financial strife from the coronavirus, or COVID-19.

“My recommendation is that schools are leading with a culture of care and recognizing that students are human first,” Welton said. “We all have lives that get in the way of our learning.”

To receive aid at Columbia, students must be enrolled in at least one course for the Spring 2020 semester and demonstrate they meet the eligibility criteria via their 2019/2020 or 2020/2021 FAFSA, which can be submitted no later than May 8 in order to qualify. Students who were enrolled in all online courses on March 13 do not qualify “per federal guidance,” according to the email.

The $250 one-time grant will be sent to qualifying students within three weeks, either by direct deposit or check, depending on students’ MyColumbia portal information.

Students looking for additional support may apply for up to $2,000 after filling out an application due May 8 at 11:59 p.m. Award amounts will be decided by a scholarship committee by May 22. Representatives from the provost’s office, Columbia Central and Student Affairs will be on the committee to ensure “that one person isn’t just deciding,” Grunden said.

The scholarship committee may award grants larger than $2,000 “on an exceptional basis for students with the most severe financial circumstances.”

“Due to limited funds and variations in students’ circumstances, not every application may be approved,” the email stated.

Those who apply must fill out a form explaining their expenses—such as relocation, health care or technology expenses, current lack of housing or unpaid bills, all related to the pandemic—and today’s guidance recommends attaching documentation of those expenses.

The amount of aid given to higher education institutions was determined by a government formula based on full-time Pell grant recipients and total enrollment. For the 2018–2019 academic year, Grunden said the college had approximately 2,300 Pell recipients. This academic year, it is on track to have more than 2,500 recipients.

“Our goal is to let as many students know as possible about this because we know that there’s a lot of students

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who haven’t come forward yet and said that they have a need,” Grunden said. “I’m hoping that students won’t count themselves out.”

COLUMBIA’S FINANCIAL STATE The unexpected expenses incurred by colleges and the coronavirus-induced recession have put higher education institutions in a difficult position as they prepare for likely budget cuts moving forward and a potential reduction in federal funding, based on prior recessions, Welton said.

“They’re really going to need to be responsive to the needs of students, and be nimble and flexible—which is not something higher education is accustomed to being,” she said. “We’re all balancing a tight rope here because students have to have financially-viable institutions to be able to go back to.”

Although the email from Columbia did not reference what the remaining funds going to the college will be used for, Grunden said guidance from the U.S. Department of Education dictates it can be used for expenses incurred due to disruption caused by the coronavirus.

According to a Friday, April 24 email statement to the Chronicle from Lambrini Lukidis, associate vice president of Strategic Communications and External Relations, the college endured $9 million in revenue loss and unforeseen expenses over six weeks in March and April, “only about a third of which will be offset by stimulus funds under the CARES Act.” “Our losses represent the refunds issued for housing and meal plans, graduation fee refunds, losses in revenue from study abroad programs, extra compensation for part-time faculty and technology costs relating to the transition to remote instruction, as well as costs associated with deep cleaning our facilities,” Lukidis said.

“We continue to monitor these and other expenses, and to build budget models that take into account various scenarios, including the impact of the health crisis and the associated economic fallout.”

To rectify this “unexpected strain,” Lukidis said the college has used funds from its cash reserves, but they do not anticipate needing to dip into the endowment.

Lukidis also said “there will be some tough choices and sacrifices ahead,” but did not state whether these sacrifices would include furloughs, hiring freezes or layoffs.

Similar to many higher education institutions, Columbia’s future financial state will largely depend on enrollment, for which the college’s enrollment office is cautiously optimistic, as reported April 21 by the Chronicle.

Lukidis said the college intends to deliver fall semester courses in-person, and the enrollment team continues to recruit new students remotely. For incoming students, the deposit date has been extended to June 1.

“While the impacts of COVID-19 have caused unexpected strains, we expect to manage through these times,” Lukidis said. “The institution has the experience and wherewithal to navigate this crisis.”»

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FROM EDGEWATER, WITH LOVE MIKE RUNDLE, DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

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y girlfriend and I sat in our parked car for an hour on Sunday night. We listened to Harry Styles’ most recent album “Fine Line” in full, discussed ideas for tattoos and home renovations, then went back inside. It wasn’t much, but it felt good to spend time together outside our 500-square foot Edgewater apartment.

Over the past three weeks under the “stay-at-home” mandate, we’ve baked banana bread, made piña coladas and put together a makeshift birthday party for her 22nd. One thing the at-home events have certainly taught us is that it doesn’t take long to fill our below-average-sized sink with dirty dishes. Nonetheless, we’re both acutely aware of how lucky we are to be able to have food, drinks and companionship to pass the time—and that neither of us have been impacted too greatly by the coronavirus pandemic.

One thing that has drastically changed, though, is our post-graduate plan. We previously didn’t know where we’d be going or what we’d be doing until about a month ago, before the pandemic took shape in the United States. We only recently decided we will be returning to our hometown of Peoria to pursue any employment opportunities available for us and live in a two-bedroom home with a garage, a back yard and a price tag of nearly half the amount of rent we’re currently paying for our apartment. We’re set to move at the end of this month.

We charted our course, and now we’re making the most of the final few weeks in our first apartment together, one we have lived in for two years. There will be more firsts down the road for us—we’ll get married, get a dog, buy a car—but the first apartment feels like the biggest one so far because it was the first leap in our relationship. Now, as a photographer, it’s equally important to capture the end of two eras: our lives in Edgewater and life before the coronavirus, or COVID-19.

Making photographs during self-isolation has been uncanny. Many trademarks of this apartment have all but disappeared—no more groups of neighbors walking their dogs after dinner or traffic noise on Sheridan 32 THE COLUMBIA CHRONICLE

Road until 3 a.m.

That being said, the scenery has remained the same, with the street light outside our bedroom window still illuminating and the sun continuing to cast shadows on the building behind our own. It’s in those details where I find the most relief from the plethora of anxieties running through my head—knowing that despite all the change, we can still count on that street light and those shadows to stay the same.

At the end of the day, I’m grateful for those dirty dishes and the love that comes with them. We’ll soon be on our way out of the city and on to the next, and given the circumstances, we certainly won’t be forgetting our time here. I look forward to working in our yard, hanging art on the walls and having a drink at the home bar built into our half-finished basement.

Once we’re allowed to gather again, we’ll have a party—and you’re all invited.

MRUNDLE@COLUMBIACHRONICLE.COM

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SHUTTERSHOCK, OR HOW IT FEELS FOR A PHOTOGR APHER TO LOSE HER CREATIVE OUTLET CAMILLA FORTE, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

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’ve spent the past week bouncing from my bed to the kitchen to the living room couch and then back to bed. I’ve been walking in a small triangle within my apartment that doesn’t feel like my apartment anymore, but a prison that I’ve jokingly started to call “the cube.” Just like everyone else during this strange time, I’m stuck at home.

It has been a week since I had the difficult conversation with Director of Photography Mike Rundle about whether or not it was practical or moral to send the Chronicle’s photojournalists out on assignment after our advisers told us not to take any undue risks that could jeopardize our health. With that discussion ending in a resigned “no,” and my own photography classes suspended through April 6 due to the coronavirus pandemic, I’ve found myself without the obligation to go out and photograph for the first time in years.

I do not mean to make it sound like a chore. It is, in fact, quite the opposite. At 14, I started taking photography classes in high school, and since then I’ve been consistently making images. I’m sure in the past six years there were a few times when I felt annoyed at the prospect of completing a photo assignment, but that feeling is so rare that I struggle to recall a specific example. Even when I’m not taking photos for class, an internship or work, I have a running list of projects I sporadically work on in my downtime. However, due to the documentary nature of my personal work, that too has been put on pause in favor of my social responsibility to stay home and socially distance myself.

There is little that makes me feel the same amount of purpose as heading out with a camera in hand, and little that brings me as much joy as when I realize I’ve shot a good frame. While turning to self-portraiture has allowed me to maintain some of that satisfaction, I am at heart a documentary photographer, and without the inspiration of the outside world, it’s just not the same.

My time at Columbia has also made me realize that at its core, repetition and practice is what makes a good photographer. This school is unique in the way it nurtures passionate people to create with purpose. Being surrounded by that mindset, when combined with experienced faculty who genuinely care is beyond energizing.

Photography can be isolating. Having people around you who understand how that feels and can talk about all its intricacies is what keeps you growing. To be disconnected from that makes me feel as though I’m losing ground.

My awareness of this has made the past few days spent in self-quarantine—without an excuse to go out and shoot—feel endless and heightened my personal awareness of how much of an outlet photography is for me. The act of perpetual observation has always grounded me and allowed me some semblance of control, two things that I crave now more than ever.

The “troubled” artist trope is ever-present but the benefits of creating art have long been proven, with studies showing that creating can reduce stress and improve relaxation—effects that can stave off depression and anxiety.

Beautiful things have been paramount to the human experience since the beginning of time. Our understanding of the ways in which visuals contribute to our well-being through escapism has been the subject of countless philosophical debates, with the concept of aesthetics occupying its own category in the social sciences.

At the same time, I’m very much aware that this global situation could be far worse. I feel incredibly lucky that my job at the Chronicle could be adapted so that I can continue to work from home. Knowing that I have the privilege to stay inside and worry about my creative outlet—when some of my peers are finding themselves having to file for unemployment or search for somewhere to live—made me feel like writing about this was overly dramatic and futile.

While on the surface the impact of this may whither when contrasted with the many “capital-P problems” the world is facing right now, the impact that losing the ability to practice their craft has not only on photographers but on every artistic medium studied at Columbia cannot be overstated.

It may seem trivial to prioritize the creation of art, but there is far more at stake here than we may realize. In a time when we’re all stuck in our homes, people are turning to art as a comforting medium, whether it be TV or books or scrolling through pictures on Instagram, as I’ve found myself doing.

Photographers are contributing more than ever before to the creation and documentation of our current culture.

To me, photojournalism has always been a matter of recording history as it happens. To be away from it during an unprecedented time in human existence feels like a massive loss.

Yet, amid all of this, I am inspired by the way so many keep going. I’ve seen friends turn living rooms into makeshift studios and other Chronicle photojournalists dream up new projects out of documenting this strange new reality.

I, myself, have found joy in turning my camera lens to my personal life and documenting the people close to me during this time. Even in the standardized “cube” that is my apartment, there is a novelty in the way light spills onto the floor in the mid-afternoon, reminding me that photographs are everywhere and normality will be restored soon enough.

CFORTE@COLUMBIACHRONICLE.COM

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STAFF REPORTER JONAH OCUTO WORKS ON ARTICLES FROM HIS LIVING ROOM AS HE SELF-QUARANTINES. »

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ANGRY FILMMAKER YELLS AT CLOUD, AND OTHER THOUGHTS ABOUT PROCR ASTINATION JONAH OCUTO, STAFF REPORTER

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hroughout my self-quarantine, I’ve told myself that I need to be productive approximately 1,867,438 times, 246 of those coming from the two hours I’ve spent staring at this blank page.

I’m unable to stop my mind from thinking about how the rest of the world is dealing with this, how I should have taken it more seriously earlier on, how I wonder what my Animal Crossing villagers are up to and whether or not the air smells any different with everybody herded inside like grief-stricken cows.

What’s really odd about this game of productivity I’ve been playing is that, for some reason, whether I work or not, I feel guilty. If I don’t write, storyboard or plan, I feel like I’m wasting time; if I do pick myself up by the bootstraps and sit down to work, an hour later, I feel the exact same. This is particularly peculiar because, well, I’m a filmmaker first and a journalist second, both professions that live and die by the grind, the day-to-day push. I should, theoretically, be jumping for joy with 34 THE COLUMBIA CHRONICLE

this incredible amount of time—that rare, matchless resource—that’s been bestowed upon me. And yet, sitting in the $5 office chair Goodwill gave me before the world ended, the guilt remains.

Filmmakers are busy people—I, myself, am an overthinker and many of my peers will understand the following quite well: When the core of your medium is action, it’s hard to ignore that itch the coronavirus has magnified, the urge to shoot. This itch, unscratchable, drives a sickly need to produce, a quiet, desperate desire that I and likely every other Columbia student has grown well acquainted with.

Frankly, my work feels small knowing that hundreds of thousands of lives are currently at stake from the coronavirus. As a result, my personal productivity does not feel important.

But art is more important now than ever before as artists are a beacon of light in these dark times, and so I feel guilty for my lack of enthusiasm amid the horror.

Perhaps this explains why over these past two weeks I’ve gotten so familiar with procrastination that I’ve begun to refer to it by cute, short-hand nicknames like “Snake” and “Spizz,” or why the feature film I’ve been writing for two years now looms like a skyscraper’s shadow.

I’m currently enrolled in an independent study for said feature film, so a few days ago, I met virtually with my professor to talk about my progress. Through a screen, he asked me how I was doing, if I had returned home and, to my surprise, if I had taken a moment to take everything in.

This caught me off guard.

An hour into our meeting, we hadn’t spoken about my script once, just the state of the world, how he was adapting his classes, how we’re going to recover. When

he did ask about my script, I told him that, honestly, I hadn’t made much progress in the past two weeks.

He said that’s okay.

He said he hadn’t been writing either, that it’s hard to write when the world is crumbling around your cuboid studio apartment.

My professor, a yoga instructor in his free time, spoke to me about the importance of this moment, of remaining in the moment, taking time to pause with the rest of the world and look critically at who we are, how we live, what we create and what we’re doing for each other.

Frankly, he’s right. I highly doubt that the next great script or great American novel is being written right now. Currently, the world sits idle, frozen, unable to connect. For us college students, for the first time, we can’t look to our grandparents for answers. This is new to us and everybody else, and together, we’re figuring it out.

One film major I interviewed when the Chronicle broke the story of Columbia’s campus closure said something that stuck with me: He told me that it’s important to slow down, that slowing down isn’t a bad thing because film will be waiting once we recover.

So, feel free to keep your head out of your laptop, hand away from the guitar or eye from the viewfinder. There’s no shame in taking a break to feel what this incredible, unprecedented, fleeting moment in history feels like. Let’s take a step back to really see each other, hear each other, learn from each other. When we come back to the camera, the canvas, the stage or the page, what we create will only be stronger because of it. Stay sincere, and try to stay awake.

JOCUTO@COLUMBIACHRONICLE.COM

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FAMILY AND BUSINESS IN THE AGE OF THE CORONAVIRUS— LOVE AND TIME LOST JUSTIN ANDERSON, PHOTOJOURNALIST

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y dad, Jim Anderson, is the founder, majority owner and sole operator of Portland Provisions, a food supply company based in Portland, Maine.

Now, for the first time in the business’ five-year operation, the future of the company is uncertain.

When Maine Gov. Janet Mills shut down dine-in services on March 18, business at Portland Provisions went down by nearly 70%, and although the coronavirus resulted in business from retail customers picking up, it wasn’t enough to offset what was lost from the closure of restaurants.

“It was an immediate punch in the face,” Anderson said.

Throughout high school, I was fortunate enough to work with my dad a few times.

There was so much excitement back then.

It was clear the coronavirus, or COVID-19, took that away from him. Portland Provisions has since been put on pause and my dad is now working as a home delivery driver at Pat’s Meat Market, a local butcher shop co-owned by one of my dad’s business partners.

My dad claims he probably could have continued serving retail businesses throughout the pandemic, but opted to go on hiatus because work required him to travel down to Boston—home of the New England Produce Center— where there are significantly more confirmed cases of the coronavirus than in Maine.

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Having a small business has taken a lot from my dad.

“You were out of high school in a heartbeat,” he said, holding back tears, before going on to say that it “killed” him to miss my freshman move-in day at Columbia earlier this year.

Tears began to inch down my father’s face as we sat silently beside a bonfire. It has always been rare for my immediate family members to share their feelings with one another, especially in such a truthful way.

While uncomfortably staring into the flames, I finally realized the toll of my dad’s commitment to his business. He started Portland Provisions just as I was going into high school, and I never realized what missing an unrepeatable moment might mean to him.

In the early days of Portland Provisions, we had built a bond working together that we were never able to achieve at home. As we shared this moment, I could feel this long-gone connection return, even if just for a few seconds.

When the silence concluded, my dad told me about how he promised to be at my younger sister’s college move-in day, his struggling customers and the rocky road ahead for Portland Provisions.

“I’m really just rolling with the punches,” he said. “I can’t say, like other people, that I’m going to be up and running May 1. … I [have to] consider all factors. It may never open again. It may just be done.”

My dad never signed up to receive financial aid from Congress’ coronavirus relief bill. He said he “didn’t think it was worth applying for” because of restrictions on how funds could be spent. There were some restaurant owners he knew who tried to apply, but none of them were approved.

“The government needs to have a clear plan,” he said. “The reaction we’re going through now is not helping anybody.”

JANDERSON@COLUMBIACHRONICLE.COM

MY DAD, JIM ANDERSON, IS THE MAJORITY OWNER AND SOLE OPERATOR OF PORTLAND PROVISIONS, A PORTLAND, MAINE-BASED FOOD SUPPLY COMPANY THAT OPENED IN 2015. THE BUSINESS HAS NO PHYSICAL LOCATION BUT SHARES A COOLER WITH PAT’S MEAT MARKET, A LOCAL BUTCHER SHOP CO-OWNED BY A PORTLAND PROVISIONS PARTNER. »

JUSTIN ANDERSON/CHRONICLE CORONAVIRUS SPECIAL ISSUE

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WE ARE NOT ‘IN THIS TOGETHER’ WITH THE WEALTHY DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC MARGARET SMITH, OPINIONS EDITOR

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s public officials across the globe shutter businesses and public spaces and humans isolate themselves in their homes, videos from every corner of Hollywood surface with one similar sentiment: “We are in this together.”

While quite literally all humans, including the wealthy, are in this together—given that we breathe the same air and walk the same earth—we are not all, in a social and realistic sense, battling the coronavirus the same way.

And how could we, given the advantage the wealthy have any time mankind faces a crisis? They have the ability to take flight to safer horizons, barricade in homes of marble and remove themselves from reality entirely.

Every day, news outlets release photo essays capturing medical staff whose faces have been rubbed raw by protective masks and garments meant to ward off the entrance of the coronavirus into their bodies, while they work another seemingly endless shift day after day.

Every day, I see ads from grocery store chains looking to hire staff to stock shelves as current employees—risking their health to obtain a paycheck—are steamrolled by the influx of customers to their stores who are there to panic-buy and stockpile necessities.

And in between these posts on social media, every day I see another celebrity rattle off their agenda for “day whatever” of their quarantine. They so gracious36 THE COLUMBIA CHRONICLE

ly keep us up to speed with baking or yoga livestreams and constant virtual updates on how cleaning their pool is going, which vegetable they’re going to shove in their juice presser next or how much they cleaned out of their hoarder-esque closet of luxury items.

I do not envy the wealthy for their ability to remove themselves from the devastation that is happening across the world, affecting every sector, big and small.

Instead, I fear this disconnect they have formed, assuming that “when this thing blows over,” their life will go back to “normal” and they will crawl out of their multi-million dollar bunkers in Los Angeles and New York City thinking this was just another one of those things—untouched, unscathed.

How do they manage to escape the dystopian world of current times? By having access to goods—not just groceries but the accoutrements of their luxury—and even more important now, access to better medicine and private medical staff. Meanwhile, across the U.S., people are being turned away from hospitals because there are not enough ventilators or coronavirus test kits. Instead, they go home and simply hope for the best—an action the wealthy would never imagine taking.

Still, the reality that their amassed fortunes can buy safety—or the belief it is owed to them given their stature—is egotistically selfish. Gwenyth Paltrow, for example, Instagrammed herself a few weeks back on a plane to Paris with a high-grade mask on, the same kind doctors currently experiencing nationwide shortages could

solely exist in the estates of the wealthy. It exists in being able to work from home, having a safe group of people to quarantine with, having an income in this trying time and not having a pre-existing health condition, such as asthma, that makes someone more susceptible to the coronavirus, or COVID-19.

I, too, can speak to the privilege I am indulged in during this time of uncertainty. I can work from home; I have a family who took me in after Columbia closed its dorms; and I can sit at home and watch the world unravel through a small black screen in my hand.

As a senior in college this year, my graduation was canceled, and I watched the “lasts” of my college experience slip away from me. Yet, I remind myself: Would I rather be forced to go to school or work or take public transit every day when seemingly one walk outside might inflict me or my family with a deadly virus? No. Furthermore, should Columbia faculty and staff be made to concoct an alternative commencement or Manifest when, instead, they should be more concerned with ensuring quality virtual education, at a bare minimum, to students? Of course not.

What we gripe and groan about now must come with the additional thought that, maybe, it matters little when world-wide nearly 900,000 people have been infected— and approximately 50,000 have died—since January with a virus we aren’t even close to curing.

These privileges do not negate the anxiety and fear we are collectively experiencing as something out of our hands ravages the globe. While we can be united by fear, nevertheless, we navigate it differently given our economic, social and familial standings.

Hollywood cannot begin to imagine the way I am dealing with this pandemic, the same way I cannot begin to understand how those in susceptible demographics and those working the front lines of the service and healthcare industries are maneuvering through this nightmare.

SHANE TOLENTINO/CHRONICLE The “in this together” mantra feels like an invisible cloak, have used. It doesn’t seem like too much to ask that peo- hiding that, in reality, celebrities are nothing like us. If ple, not just celebrities, use a little critical thought to these celebrities could remove the cloak, state without comprehend that their actions affect others. haughtiness that they are in a different position and use I grow weary as the “elite” parade around, trivializing that position to assist the world as it crumbles—maybe their stay-at-home vacations when there are so many there would be respect in being a voice of peace in a time middle- and working-class people next on the list to die like this. Fame and fortune do no good except to the ones from a virus they have no choice but to face while work- who hoard it, unless they are giving back to the people ing in order to keep the earth turning during this crisis— who put them on these pedestals. not to mention to keep their own lights on at home.

To be even more critical, however, privilege doesn’t MSMITH@COLUMBIACHRONICLE.COM CORONAVIRUS SPECIAL ISSUE

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HEALTH CARE WORKERS NEED MORE THAN APPLAUSE RIGHT NOW LAUREN LEAZENBY, STAFF REPORTER

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very night at 8 p.m., balconies and windows across Chicago light up. People hang their heads out windows, clapping and cheering; some sing and some play instruments. It has been dubbed “Solidarity at 8,” and it is the closest thing to a parade Chicago can give right now to celebrate its health care workers.

Such a salute is beyond warranted, as the coronavirus is overburdening the American health care system and the health care workers who are battling a global health pandemic from the frontlines. Hospital beds are full and ventilators are scarce, but an inordinate strain has also been placed on the doctors, nurses, administrators, janitors and every other arm of the health care field.

My mom is a health care worker in Michigan, the state with the third-highest number of cases after New York and New Jersey. She’s not a doctor or nurse—she works as a patient services representative—but nonetheless, the coronavirus, CORONAVIRUS SPECIAL ISSUE

or COVID-19, pandemic has upended her life.

Since the small, local office she worked in is temporarily closed, she has been shuffled around to different offices and hospitals to fill in where she is needed.

Every week, she works somewhere new, with different hours and different responsibilities.

Unfortunately, my mom’s experience is not unique, and my experience fearing for her well-being is not unique either. This story is not just my own. Knowing a number of my fellow Chronicle co-workers also have family in the medical field, I decided to speak with some of them to hear how they and their loved ones are working through this.

Staff Reporter Nick Forsythe’s mom is a nurse anesthetist who normally works at a non-emergency surgery center. Now, she works on an airway team—responsible for intubating coronavirus patients who need to use a ventilator—in an emergency room, also in Michigan.

Forsythe said he worries about his mother’s mental health more than her physical health these days.

Having to adapt to a new work environment is difficult, but working during a pandemic can be especially emotionally taxing.

These fears are heightened when health care workers are members of at-risk groups for contracting the coronavirus.

Photojournalist Jacqueline Luttrell recently learned her daughter, a lead nurse, was exposed to the coronavirus. She said her daughter has lupus and is immunocompromised, and as a result has been laid off from her job so she can avoid further exposure.

“What we’re going through—this intensity—this is the whole country,” she said.

And if the stress of the job is not enough, health care workers also bring the coronavirus home to their loved ones—either the virus itself or the fear surrounding it.

Shane Tolentino, senior graphic designer, said it is

the “elephant in the room” that her father could spread the coronavirus to the family. She said her father, an emergency room charge nurse, is needed now more than ever, but shortages of personal protective equipment have left him vulnerable.

The hospital where her father works has ceased testing emergency room staff for the coronavirus out of fear that many would test positive, Tolentino said.

Those who test positive for the coronavirus are sent home, which means fewer staff to care for patients.

Supply shortages are also a problem for Staff Reporter Mateusz Janik’s brother, whose hospital ran out of N95 masks and started to reuse gowns. Janik said his brother, a nurse, is looking to change hospitals for one with more protective equipment available for staff.

“In his head, he’s more at the point of ‘I don’t want to not work’ … because that just puts it on all of the other people,” he said.

Across the board, health care workers have been put in a precarious position where they cannot protect others if they are not protected themselves.

“My mom is afraid that she’s going to go to work, get COVID-19 and die,” Forsythe said. “And there are some people who go to the beach.”

What health care workers need from us now is more than appreciation or acts of kindness. They need masks and gowns. From their employers, they deserve hazard pay for the sacrifices they have made. They need us to wash our hands, keep six feet of distance between ourselves and others and stay home whenever possible to stop the spread of this virus so their lives can return to some semblance of normalcy.

We ought to respect the wishes and cries for help from health care and other essential workers like our lives depend on it. Because they might.

LLEAZENBY@COLUMBIACHRONICLE.COM

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