Seniors hold fellow students responsible for spring semester safety, success

Increased testing for COVID-19 and stricter safety protocols juxtaposed with students gathering en masse and flouting North Carolina safety guidelines have led to a turbulent start to the spring semester at the Triangle’s three largest universities.

Students at Duke and North Carolina State universities have been learning face-to-face since the beginning of the spring semester, just over three weeks ago. At UNC-Chapel Hill, in-person learning was delayed until Feb. 8.

“The environment and campus life is very different,” said Bryce Royal, a senior at NC State. “I would say it’s a lot more bare.”

Due to increased testing and clearer guidelines, Royal believes that this semester is starting more smoothly than the fall semester, when both NC State and UNC switched to remote learning less than two weeks into the academic year.

Still, Royal is not entirely comfortable having to return to campus for his chemistry lab, saying, “It can just be a discomforting environment, and constantly wearing masks and keeping everyone else in mind just adds a whole new element.”

As a result of Duke’s sustained efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, Sharmi Amin is excited to be back in a classroom for the first time since March 2020.

“[In-person learning] has been going really well,” said Amin. “In class, we sit really far apart. We use a lecture hall, and there are only 20 of us. It feels really safe.”

Despite this, Amin acknowledges that Duke students returning to Durham after winter break caused issues. She specifically cited students who partied in places like Miami and Vail, Colo., whom she knows returned only to test positive for the virus and put the Durham community at risk.

It was at UNC, however, where hundreds of students publicly displayed the utmost disregard for pandemic safety regulations and their surrounding community.

After UNC’s Feb. 6 basketball win over Duke, a large crowd of students rushed Franklin Street, as is tradition during more normal times. Images from the celebrations made local and national headlines, and jeopardized the university's plan to begin in-person instruction that same week.

UNC’s administration chose to hold face-to-face classes two days later, despite appeals from students, faculty and staff to push back the start date due to the nature of the incident.

“Going back to in-person classes, it changes the whole game.” said Vivian Le, a UNC senior. “We don’t know what our peers are doing. We are putting ourselves at risk for people we don’t really know, and we don’t know what they’ve been up to. They could have been one of those people in that mosh pit.”

Amin saw the videos from Franklin Street and was disappointed. “It’s really frustrating to see as a student and as someone who is part of a larger community,” she said.

Despite seemingly perpetual trials and tribulations, each of the students say they have more or less settled into the social and academic restraints inflicted by the ongoing pandemic.

“I think it’s going to be a great semester. I’m really excited to wrap up Duke,” said Amin.

Looking to graduation and beyond, too, she sees less pandemic dread and more hope for the future.

“I’m really grateful for all of the relationships I’ve built in my undergrad at college," she said. "At this point I’m just really excited to see where all of my friends end up.”