Friday, March 13 is the last day of in-person classes at North Central College for the rest of the semester. On March 12, President Hammond sent a campus-wide email to students and faculty of NCC. The email read:
“I am writing to inform you of significant changes the College will be making in the near-term with the goal of minimizing the public health risk to our campus community related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak … The College is suspending in-person undergraduate classes as of Monday, March 16, through the remainder of the spring semester.”
Despite classes being moved online, the campus itself remains open. All administration offices, residence halls, Kauffman Dining Hall, the Dyson Wellness Center, Oesterle Library, computer labs and athletic facilities will be open for the time being.
However, the College requests that those remaining on-campus practice social distancing to help reduce the likelihood of spreading the coronavirus. As such, many students remaining on campus took to the Boilerhouse to stock up on food and drinks before the campus closes.
For students, the end of in-person classes wasn’t so much of a surprise as was the length of change.
“I had a couple of professors tell me that this could happen,” said Rana Hussain, ’21. “So I guess I knew there was a possibility that it could happen. But I never thought it would be for the rest of the semester.”
Hussain said she expected the closing to be for just a few weeks like many other college campuses have been doing.
Taylor O’Neill, ’21, agreed with Hussain. O’Neill joked that she thought all the talk about closing the campus had actually “jinxed” it.
“I thought the school was just waiting for an excuse to (close). But I almost got to the point where I thought we jinxed it. And it just wasn’t going to happen because we expected it,” said O’Neill.
O’Neill adds that she wasn’t expecting the school to make the decision as quickly as they did or close for as long as they did.
Hussain admits that, despite approving of the College’s preventative steps, she is upset about the switch to online courses.
“I feel like my classes were just getting interesting because I had just started my research,” said Hussain. “It’s way easier and more helpful to learn or like get your doubts clarified when it’s in person because there’s way too much room for miscommunication when it comes to online classes and lectures.”
Hussain said attending her professors’ office hours was a resource she utilized every week. Now, she’s worried about losing that resource.
For O’Neill, most of the classes for her religious studies major were discussion-based. Having the basis of the courses taken away has resulted in assignments being scraped and questions on how the discussions can continue authentically online. Yet, O’Neill said there is a part of her that is pleased with the switch to remote classes.
“I’m very happy about this,” said O’Neill. “I mean, I’m upset about the education. But I have family at risk and we all work in either food service or education. So we have to be very careful. I think that just the potential to minimize the risk to my family, I’m very happy for. And I’m willing to take the hit for education, even if I don’t particularly like it.”
The College will continue to keep the campus community updated. The College has created a COVID-19 update page. The Chronicle will also continue updating the community as well. Search the keyword “coronavirus” on our site for all updates.
