News
Campus Moves to Green Prior to Start of In-Person Classes
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The University shifts to Alert Level Green as COVID-19 cases remain low on campus.
The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/in-person-semester/)
The University shifts to Alert Level Green as COVID-19 cases remain low on campus.
Professors look forward to teaching in-person as the two-week virtual period comes to a close.
If you choose to ignore the headphone request, walking to class lets you see how beautiful and gorgeous our home really is. Seeing people sled down the slope past you as you huff and puff up the Slope. Watching the line for Okenshields stretch outside of Willard Straight Hall. Sharing a wave and a smile with someone you think you know but you might not and oh well they’ve already passed me.
That sweaty August day marked the beginning of a most unprecedented freshmen year; a year full of Q-tip COVID tests, zoom classes, mask wearing and an unfettered hatred for the word unprecedented. New codes of conduct and behavioral contracts created what was deemed the “new normal” which fostered the creation of many new habits among the student body. For many students the walk to class no longer existed. Some replaced it by rolling out of bed, some by listening to class in bed, others by creating a walk of their own whether that be to their favorite study spot or to a building where the echoes of everyone’s zoom conversations bounced off the walls, an amalgamation of different subject matters that enlivened our senses.
The shift to in-person classes is great for many reasons, but there are downsides. While I enjoy being around people, engrossed in the joys of face-to-face interaction, it’s still overwhelming. We went from a year of complete isolation, to somewhat being back, to now returning to “normal”. I totally forgot how to interact with humans, and I’m hoping I’m not the only one.
As Cornellians flocked to campus on Thursday for the beginning of an entirely in-person semester – the first in over a year – their excitement and optimism brightened the summery day.
While Cornell transitions sharply from hybrid to in-person learning, many professors are adjusting their teaching styles and classroom policies.
“The part of my brain that indulged in the isolation is constantly at odds with my own worries about leaving Cornell without a close group of friends. In-person classes were supposed to be the shot of adrenaline that my social life needed, but the reality is turning out to be something different. Everyone’s talking about how great it is to be back on campus, but for plenty of sophomores, there’s not much to come back to.”
In a town hall following the University’s announcement to mandate vaccinations for students returning to campus in the fall, the administration further discussed their plans for the upcoming fall semester.
As the spring semester nears the halfway mark, many Ithacans remain optimistic of Cornell’s in-person instruction and COVID response.