After over a year of classes and clubs going primarily virtual, students have differing opinions about the change to in-person this upcoming fall semester.
Chantel Hammond, a rising senior diplomacy major, said that she is against the school reopening in the fall. Hammond, who lived in an off-campus apartment for the 2020-2021 school year, said she attended her classes fully remote last year. Hammond said she originally started with her classes as Hyflex, but she switched to completely remote when she saw “the safety guidelines for COVID-19 constantly being violated.”
Hammond said that she believes the school should “confirm that they can provide vaccines to all our international students who maybe don’t have resources to receive it.” Hammond added that she is in favor of Seton Hall mandating students be vaccinated against COVID-19, and “after having lived in the dorms for two years and seeing how quick sickness can spread, I can’t imagine how bad it would be with COVID-19.”
Photo via @SetonHall on Twitter
Other students, such as Cameron Kharazmi, a rising senior Financial Technology and Philosophy double major, said that he is happy to start in-person classes again. Kharazmi shared that he has been doing his online classes from his home in California, where the three-hour time difference made things extremely difficult — “I’d have class at 6:30 a.m. and then 8:00 a.m., and my assignments would be due at 9:00 p.m. instead of 12:00 a.m.”
Kharazmi said he is fully vaccinated and is looking forward to coming back to school in person for both the social aspect and to feel more engaged in class.
“Going to class with friends, seeing them in the library later, and really frequenting campus all day just feels like the college experience,” Kharazmi said.
Like Hammond, Kharazmi said that he supports the University requiring the vaccine, but said, “Since it’s a private institution, I understand that it can be hard to requiring the COVID-19 vaccine.”
Along with students preparing to switch back to in-person classes, clubs and student-run organizations are also getting ready to meet on campus again. Lindsay Vena, a rising junior English and Creative Writing double major, shared next semester’s plans for Seton Hall’s English club.
Vena, the English club’s president, shared that the club will be holding in-person meetings in the fall, as well as some virtual. She explained that the club will have two in-person and two virtual events every month next semester to accommodate students who may not feel comfortable meeting face to face just yet. Vena added that the English club will be starting a monthly podcast next semester, so even if members cannot make it to the meetings, they can “still catch up with us that way and hear discussions of a variety of topics.”
“We are excited to see everyone in person again and welcome new faces,” Vena said, looking forward to the next semester.
Ellen Paul can be reached at ellen.paul@student.shu.edu.
