By Anne Ross Hope

Many colleges and universities in Virginia have made the decision to allow their students to return to campus for the fall 2020 semester. However, these institutions have had to put a series of protocols and accommodations in place in order to protect their faculty, students, and neighboring community. With so many changes, what does a typical college student’s life on campus look like? 

With fewer sporting events, no tailgating, and restricted visitations, weekend life at college is quite different this year. Many students simply spend their free time watching television, playing video games, and being outside with small groups of friends.

Hampden-Sydney College, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and Christopher Newport University are just a few of the Virginia institutions that are on campus for the fall semester. Even though they each have varying protocols, one element they share is that each school is still holding in-person classes.

Hampden-Sydney College. Photo credit: Wikimedia user MorrisS.

Hampden-Sydney’s reopening plans consist of many expected changes, such as wearing masks, social distancing, enhancing campus-wide cleaning, making hand sanitizer readily available to students, and other typical standard safety protocols. However, two things they have implemented are fairly exclusive to the college. 

In hopes of avoiding students coming to school with COVID-19, upon returning to campus all students received COVID-19 tests. Those who tested positive, along with their roommates, were sent home to quarantine for two weeks. Additionally, one major change Hampden-Sydney made was the 10-4 academic plan for the fall semester. Rather than making the fall semester 14 weeks, the school chose to split the fall semester into 10 and 4 week sessions. Therefore, students can be guaranteed to complete a few courses by the first week of November without worrying about the uncertainty of the late fall and early winter months. Additionally, doing this eliminates professors from having multiple different students in a given time, lowering the risk for professors contracting the virus.

Hampden-Sydney sophomore and lacrosse player Talmadge Hope (‘19), said the 10-4 plan has had a positive impact on his academics, because the workload is not heavy, since he is currently taking fewer classes then he would be during a normal semester. Additionally, all of his classes meet in person, which has made his classes less challenging compared to having to meet via Zoom. 

However, though some protocols have helped Hope academically, there have been some challenges athletically. Currently, Hampden-Sydney’s lacrosse team is not allowed to have more than 15 people practice at a given time. Therefore, the team is semi-split at the moment, so the team has not been able to bond nor establish their team strengths, as they have not been able to practice all together. 

Christopher Newport University. Photo credit: Wikimedia user Cnucaptain.

Similarly, Christopher Newport University sophomore Michael Brost (‘19), who plays for CNU’s lacrosse team, has not been able to practice with his whole team. The hope is that the whole team can practice together (socially distanced) around Thanksgiving. 

CNU has similar protocols to Hampden-Sydney, such as wearing masks everywhere and social distancing, but one extra protocol they have is a daily health app, similar to the Magnus app used by Collegiate families. Every day, students use the app to answer a few questions to self-screen for COVID-19. 

With so many protocols and changes, it is hard to decipher which ones have changed student life the most. However, one that is a major social shock to CNU students is the fact people are no longer able to visit any residence halls other than their own.

Virginia Tech. Photo credit: Wikimedia user Eric T Gunther.

Unlike CNU and Hampden-Sydney, Virginia Tech has a large enrollment of 34,000+ students. Therefore, even more health and safety protocols have had to be put in place. VT now has a hotline to call if you see more than 15 people gathering in a space. Additionally, at VT there are people stationed at the entrance of most academic buildings to keep note of how many people are inside, so that they do not exceed the modified capacity. 

VT sophomore Josh Spivey (‘19) has all but one class (and lab) over Zoom. Two of his online classes are re-evaluating the situation during October to see if there’s a possibility to meet in person. Spivey stated that the Zoom classes have made academics more challenging, because he finds it helpful to separate his learning space and living space, but he has to stay in his dorm room for both.

With so many changes in protocol, college life at Hampden-Sydney, CNU, and VT does look quite different this year for students. But, much like Collegiate, the protocols are allowing students to remain on-campus, unlike many other schools across the country.

Featured image credit: Talmadge Hope.