NC State’s campus is bustling with students again. They’re excited, but also cautious
The Talley Student Union at N.C. State University was buzzing with students meeting friends and grabbing a bite to eat between classes on the official first day of the fall semester Monday.
Most students wore face masks while working on their laptops inside the union and as they walked out of the library. Some put them on before walking through the Free Expression Tunnel or while standing in line at outdoor booths set up by student organizations on the lawn.
It’s been more than a year since the campus has seen this level of energy, and students said they are excited to be back.
But some are still holding their breath as surging COVID-19 cases threaten the normalcy that’s returned to campus.
“I’m excited that there’s a lot of people here, but definitely a little nervous just with COVID,” junior Risa Bolash said. “I’m hoping we won’t get sent online, but I kind of feel like we will.”
Students getting vaccinated is the best way to make sure that doesn’t happen again, she said. It’s concerning to her knowing that some people living in off-campus houses where no one is vaccinated are going to “inevitably get COVID and spread it everywhere.”
“I think when you’re young, you just, you feel invincible and there’s not that broad perspective of how we can actually get the ball rolling and end this,” Bolash said.
On Sunday, hundreds of masked first- and second-year students also huddled into groups outside for their traditional class photo as part of Welcome Week celebrations.
‘I feel like it’s fine’
Freshman Johann Romero moved into his dorm room over the weekend and stopped by the convocation ceremony for new students. In his first few days on campus, he’s been surprised to see so many people wearing masks again.
Romero is not worried about cases spreading in residence halls, he said, and isn’t nervous about taking in-person classes. Even though students could get infected, it won’t be as harsh because of vaccines, he said.
“If everybody is getting vaccinated ... personally I feel like it’s fine,” Romero said. “There’s no need to go back home or anything.”
More than 27,000 students, faculty and staff have either uploaded vaccine records or have been fully vaccinated on campus, according to the university. That’s about 60% of the NCSU campus community.
“We’re optimistic that the campus community will recognize the threat posed by the delta variant and get vaccinated, adhere to the university’s community standards and take all appropriate measures to keep themselves and others safe,” university spokesperson Mick Kulikowski said in a statement last week.
He said the university is monitoring pandemic conditions closely and has continuity plans in place if the university has to shift operations.
Some faculty concerned as classes start
While classes have started, some faculty members at N.C. State and other universities are still pushing for changes to fall plans. NCSU requires face masks be worn inside and recommends them outside. Students and employees can get vaccinated for free on campus, and must get tested weekly if they aren’t vaccinated.
The N.C. State chapter of the American Association of University Professors is advocating for a vaccine mandate on campus, sending statements to Chancellor Randy Woodson and UNC System President Peter Hans. They fear outbreaks this fall with the delta variant because a proportion of students are not vaccinated yet, and noted mandates at other public and private universities across the country.
“I think we’re just kind of setting up for failure,” communications professor Adriana de Souza e Silva said.
People are behaving as if the pandemic is gone by putting everybody back in classrooms and not requiring vaccinations, she said. She opted to teach exclusively online this fall because she doesn’t feel safe going to campus with two kids at home who aren’t old enough to get vaccinated.
“The only way we can go back to some sense of normal and make everyone feel safe in the workplace and on campus is to have the vast majority of people who can get vaccinated be vaccinated,” de Souza e Silva said.
The UNC System has advised chancellors that they don’t have the legal authority to require students and employees to get vaccinated.
The N.C. State professors in the AAUP are urging Hans to allow campuses to decide if they want to require vaccinations. And if there’s no mandate, they want NCSU and Woodson to aggressively promote the vaccine and provide incentives to students beyond not having to participate in testing.
Paul Umbach, higher education professor and AAUP chapter president, said faculty have started each semester during the pandemic with heightened concerns. And it’s no different this time around.
“What is frustrating is that the administration isn’t really listening to the concerns of the faculty,” Umbach said. “We saw this last fall. Faculty all said this is going to be a disaster.”
Umbach also chose to teach online this fall, but said it wasn’t easy. He said NCSU could give professors more flexibility to move their classes online if they want to without getting pushback from the administration.
At UNC-Chapel Hill, more than 300 people have signed a petition calling on university leaders to delay in-person classes for at least one month. The petition started with professors associated with the AAUP chapter at UNC-CH.
Students have already moved in and classes are set to start on Wednesday in Chapel Hill.
In Durham, classes also began at N.C. Central Monday. Duke University, which is requiring vaccines for students, will start in-person classes next week.
COVID-19 cases on campus
At N.C. State, 95 students and 35 employees have tested positive for COVID-19 since Aug. 1, according to N.C. State’s COVID-19 dashboard. There was a slight uptick in daily cases when most students started moving back last week.
About 60 students are in isolation and 115 in quarantine off campus, while six students are isolating and six quarantining on campus. The university has not reported any clusters of cases this fall.
Khali Davis, an N.C. State senior from Winston-Salem, said it’s good to see everyone on campus again even those things are uncertain. She said she feels like the university has made efforts to make sure everyone is safe.
“It is the first day, so I guess we’ll see how it goes,” Davis said. “But hopefully everything works out and cases don’t go up and make things more difficult.”
UNC-CH reported a cluster of COVID-19 cases last week and 115 students and employees have tested positive since August, according to the UNC-CH dashboard.
Duke also reported two clusters involving more than two dozen students. Duke is conducting surveillance testing of all students, more frequently for those who are not vaccinated. Since testing began in early August, 108 students and 25 employees have tested positive for COVID-19, with a positivity rate of less than 1%, according to Duke’s COVID-19 dashboard.
This story was originally published August 16, 2021 at 6:40 PM.
