For a moment, on his flight aboard Air Force One from Puerto Rico to Washington D.C., President Trump’s focus wasn’t on rebuilding after Hurricane Maria — it was on blocking a student from The College of New Jersey on Twitter.
On Aug. 19, open containers and two kegs were sprawled across a parking lot. Music blared throughout the property and into the homes of neighbors. No cases were yet confirmed by the College.
You only get one four-year shot at the college experience. But Covid-19, the subtly spread virus that has masked the face of a self-absorbed society, just doesn’t care.
Fifty-one students have tested positive for Covid-19 with all but five living in off-campus housing, according to Rafia Siddiq, the contact tracing coordinator for the College.
The College has confirmed nine positive cases of Covid-19 among students living in off-campus houses in the Ewing area, according to Dave Muha, the associate vice president of communications, marketing and brand management, in an interview with The Signal.
While students packed their bags on March 11, the Friday before spring break, College officials imagined a return to campus three weeks later.
The virus had other plans.
Incoming freshmen are rallying around a petition advocating for the College’s sports team to resume in the fall semester. This came after President Foster’s announcement that all extracurricular activities will be canceled for the upcoming semester due to the coronavirus pandemic.
While police brutality is resonating with many after the murder of George Floyd, student organizations have felt halted in their attempts to fundraise for Black Lives Matter due to a College policy prohibiting charitable fundraising without Student Finance Board oversight. The College has responded with an expedited approval process.
As direct deposits began hitting bank accounts, working-class Americans let out a sigh of relief. College students claimed as dependents, however, were excluded from the immediate federal aid.
What was once typical, everyday life has become a daydream for students longing to return to the College. But when social distancing ends, in-person classes resume and students flock back to campus, a restaurant that once served the campus community will be gone — a reminder of COVID-19’s life-altering impacts.
Campus Town residents are used to a quiet, safe environment, soup from Panera bread and dessert from Insomnia Cookies — not hazmat suits, medical waste littering the streets or the increasing fear of COVID-19.
A student at the College has created a petition for all professors to implement a “pass/fail” system, opposed to a standard grading scale, on spring 2020 semester courses. In a matter of hours, the petition has amassed over 1,000 signatures.
President Foster announced in a campus-wide email that classes will resume online for 2-weeks following spring break in a precautionary measure against an outbreak of coronavirus on Tuesday, March 10.
She was an educator, a journalist, a businesswoman, an anti-lynching crusader, a suffragist and a leader. The patriarchy began clenching their fists at a woman with such increasing power, but Ida B. Wells, a fighter of inequality, was unafraid.
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