On Aug. 21, JMU’s student population eagerly flocked to Harrisonburg once more, ready to begin a unique semester. They filled the streets, roads, and localities with an energy that had not been present in Harrisonburg for the last five months. However, merely eleven days later, on September 1st, all healthy students living in on-campus housing were asked to return home as soon as possible.
Going back to July 31, JMU put out a press release titled “This fall, it’ll take all of us”. The goal of this release was to lay out guidelines, expectations, and procedures for the coming fall that would hopefully keep the JMU community safe, healthy, and able to achieve the fullest educational experience. Some of the details laid out in this plan included an eight day isolation period for students prior to returning to campus, an online learning and quiz experience, daily health screenings, and signing off on an agreement to “Stop the Spread”. Mask wearing and physical distancing were also part of JMU’s expectations like many other institutions across the country. In addition to the July 31 statement, another one was released on Aug. 11 adding information about how JMU would proceed in the events of an outbreak. The University emphasized that it was difficult to set anything in stone, and that there was a possibility of sending students home if the capacity of either JMU or local hospitals was not projected to meet a growing infected population’s needs. A focus on community and mutual responsibility was apparent in both of these statements.
In the days leading up to Sept. 1, JMU was forced to respond to the reality of a growing population of infected students and other members of the JMU community. On Aug. 31, the number was 390 infected, and as of Sept. 9, that number has climbed to nearly 1100 cases. JMU SGA Senator Ryan Ritter offers potential explanation as to why this may have happened. On Aug. 31 Ritter put out a series of tweets detailing his and others personal experiences on campus with how the community and JMU administration was handling COVID-19. As he put it, “Surface-level planning or a complete lack thereof, improper and dangerous delegation of power, gross misalignment with state/Hburg regulations, etc. have all contributed to JMU’s COVID plan crumbling like a house of cards”. Ritter then goes on to list several examples of what he calls lies that were told by the university. These include limiting gatherings to 10 people, quarantined students having proper access to resources, strict enforcement of COVID policy, including usage of the LiveSafe app, limiting the capacity of the dining hall, and providing for proper physical distancing in classrooms and academic spaces. With each of these he provides examples such as the university hosting an outdoor movie night attended by ~250 people, students being told that no online options are available, and close proximity between students in both the dining area and classrooms.
In the wake of JMUs’ and other universities’ decisions, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that sending students home is not the correct decision due to the risk of students spreading the virus back to their home area. JMU said that symptomatic students are already being quarantined before being sent home, and on campus amenities will be available for any students, faculty, and staff that are still on campus. Students living off campus will not be required to leave, given that they have private leases. The university plans to make a decision regarding how the rest of the semester will proceed by Sept. 25, with a possibility to resume in person instruction on or after Oct. 5.
