Last week, we were talking about coronavirus as a topic that some of us joked about while thinking “it will never affect us.”
On Monday, some of my professors began talking about some classes being moved online due to coronavirus.
On Monday, Gov. DeWine declared a state of emergency in Ohio.
On Tuesday, I made a plan with my mom to come pick up my things from my residence hall on Thursday night because I didn’t know if I would have been able to come back after spring break and have access to my things.
On Tuesday, while I was eating lunch in the union around 12:30 p.m., a guy shouted to everyone, “Attention everyone: coronavirus is in BG.”
On Tuesday, walking to the Kuhlin Center, I was told we might not even have class on Thursday, which means I would have to reconfigure the plan with my mom.
On Tuesday, the Ohio State University, Kent State and the University of Toledo all canceled in-person classes for some period of time.
And yet, as of 3 p.m. on Tuesday, no formal communication has been sent out to the students at BGSU about coronavirus and possible actions BGSU is considering.
This has resulted in speculation and rumors, some of which I described above. And it’s freaking many people out.
Students are asking professors about what is going on. Some professors give the details they know to students. Some offer their opinions about what the university is going to do. Others don’t know if they are allowed to say anything to the students, so they just don’t say anything at all.
All of this is inducing more panic among students and the BGSU community.
Even when the university came out with a plan, until then, it had left fear and many questions in the minds of the university community.
Are we going to online classes? Are we going to be allowed to stay in our residence halls? Will I still be able to graduate on time? Since I live states away, how am I going to get all of my stuff home? What if I am going to do if we go to online classes when I don’t have internet access in my hometown? How am I going to be successful in my classes when I use the textbooks the library offers and won’t have access to those if I can’t be at BGSU?
These are just some of the questions running through the minds of students because no information has been released.
I know there had been meetings all day Tuesday, discussing the coronavirus and the university’s actions. But I had heard that through word of mouth. Some students may not have even known that a task force had been created. Some students may not have thought BGSU is taking this seriously.
BGSU could have at least sent out some sort of communication either Monday or today saying that there is a task force working right now to figure out the best solutions, so the students and staff are not as panicked as we were.
