By Alyssa Wilson ~ Assistant Editor
Photo of people sitting around a table and discussing. Photo retrieved from https://blog.vanillaforums.com/community/community-forum-software-5-reasons-its-the-ultimate-focus-group on 19th of September 2021 by Alyssa Wilson.
The Student Government Association of the University of Lynchburg hosted an online COVID-19 open forum to address rumors and questions surrounding COVID-19 policy at the University on Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021.
One of the first things addressed in the forum was the new mask mandate that will be implemented after the return of fall break. President Alison Morrison-Shetlar said, “ We talked about the best things to do around fall break. It’s a time when people are going to be going home into their own communities and we want to make sure that when you come back that the campus is safe, that you are safe, and that we can continue to have our in-person classes while wearing masks.”
The university will be requiring all students, faculty and staff to wear masks indoors at all times, except for when eating or in their own residences. This mandate will be in effect for at least two weeks following the return from fall break. However, the COVID-19 task force meets three times a week, so it is likely this may change after the two week period is up.
Lisa Geier, director of the Health Center and a nurse practitioner, addressed the main mitigation techniques that the University of Lynchburg is implementing.
- Mandatory vaccinations among students, faculty and staff
- Masks in all indoor settings to reduce the spread of the virus
- Testing unvaccinated people regularly and testing all people with symptoms of COVID-19 regardless of vaccination status.
On the University of Lynchburg’s campus, 90% of all faculty, staff and students are fully vaccinated; in large contrast to the 39% vaccination rate in the City of Lynchburg according to Geier. Of the cases that the University has, a large number of cases have been from students living off-campus due to being more regularly out in the community.
Another rumor that was addressed during the forum was the return to all online classes and visitor restrictions. The return to online classes is highly unlikely due to the transmission rate of COVID-19 in classrooms is none and that classrooms appear to be the safest places on campus, according to Chip Walton, associate provost and dean of General Studies.
According to Dean Walton, this year’s mandates are meant to be more educational and less about behavioral and disciplinary student conduct. This is due to student’ responses to the vaccination requirements, and the task force having no interest in setting any more restrictions on students.
Dean Kristen Cooper said, “ Let’s hold ourselves accountable, let’s hold others accountable, and let’s lead by example to get through this.”
On Friday, September 17, 2021 the mask mandate was extended to all outside guests and visitors to wear masks indoors at all times, regardless of vaccination status. As the university is opening to more people through this past Parents and Family Weekend, as well as outside guests due to sports events, the task force made clear that this new mandate is imperative to campus safety.
In closing of the forum, Student Body President President Matthew Gillett said, “It’s important moving forward to show that we care about one another, especially with wearing masks and things like that and understanding that it is not that we are trying to punish anyone but because we care about each other that we are doing these things.”
The forum was recorded and sent out to all students via email for anyone who was unable to attend and wants to learn more.
Sources
Alison Morrison-Shetlar president@lynchburg.edu.
Chip Walton walton.c@lynchburg.edu.
Kristen Cooper cooper.k@lynchburg.edu.
Lisa Geier geier.l@lynchburg.edu.
Matthew Gillett gillett_ma@lynchburg.edu.
Keywords: COVID-19, University of Lynchburg, forum, campus