Before the start of the fall semester, Cabrini University’s head executives met and decided it would be best for the safety of the students and faculty to take the mandatory measures in order to stop the spread of COVID-19 here on Cabrini’s campus.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the task force has always relied on the guidance of professional organizations to inform the community and guide their decisions. I have benefited from this decision since all of my classes are in-person. I also believe that I share the same opinion as many others and that a classroom full of your peers has a positive impact on your learning both emotionally and intellectually.
Stephen Rupprecht, dean of students and chairperson of COVID-19 task force, spoke in favor of the students’ return to campus.
“There was an uncontested belief that a high vaccination rate would enable colleges and universities nationwide to have the best chance of success with in-person learning, and that is the goal we wanted for our community,” Rupprecht said.
For me working from home did not have the best impact on me mentally and it halted my ability to develop as a college student should.
Life for students living on campus has gone through a great deal of change in the past two years to three years. These changes to student living have caused a great deal of stress to students everywhere.
As a junior in college, my entire college experience has involved the pandemic. This has put a great amount of stress on me and my peers regarding social life. I have had to put my entire social life on halt because of the virus. It is especially heartbreaking because many of my good friends do not go to Cabrini and of the friends that I have here, they all live off campus.
Matthew Duddy, a junior on the Cabrini men’s soccer team, explained to me that there are precautionary measures for those who have requested an exemption from the vaccine.
“The athletes who remain unvaccinated with exemption have to get testing done once a week to remain eligible to compete,” Duddy said. “Also they have special rules about transporting unvaccinated athletes to away games.”
“I know athletes who have told me that it has a psychological impact as well having to be isolated at times and feeling constantly pressured by others for their choice,” Duddy said.
Out of the students that were interviewed it seemed to be a common trend of getting vaccinated and trusting the vaccine.
Mary Scafidi, a graduate student living on Cabrini’s campus, said, “I had no second thoughts about getting the vaccine.”
Before the fall semester there was no indoor mask mandate on Cabrini’s campus but with the recent Delta variant on the rise, Cabrini’s task force thought it would be best to make that change.
As the semester climbs on, it has become a common trend to see many students around campus wearing their masks incorrectly. The issue with this is the other students and faculty are not doing a great job at enforcing this rule. If we want there to be any sign of dwindling cases, it is our job as a community to hold each other accountable.
