‘We all have futures.’ For some CCU students, being on campus is a big step forward
The hundreds of incoming students and their parents who traveled to the Coastal Carolina University campus on Wednesday concede that 2020 has been anything but typical.
But by moving into their on-campus housing on the first day allowed by the university, the students and their families gained a bit of normalcy and a progressive move forward through what has been months of uncertainty created by the coronavirus.
“We all have futures. We don’t want to let this backtrack it,” said incoming freshman Tanner Hornsby of Bluffton, whose father, Brian, was helping him move into Traditions Hall. “I’m more than excited. It’s a lot better than being at home doing whatever I would be doing. . . . I just view it as another obstacle that happens. I hope it goes away soon.”
CCU will begin the Fall 2020 semester on Aug. 19, and it is offering online learning for the entire semester. But it also plans to have in-person, on-campus classes from Sept. 8 until the Thanksgiving break.
For students wishing to live in campus housing, CCU is welcoming new students Wednesday through Friday and returning residents on the weekend. The university will provide a second move-in on Sept. 3-4.
Incoming freshmen were excited to be on a college campus, even if they weren’t all planning to take in-person classes.
“I know I can’t enjoy it to the fullest extent, but just having a little part to enjoy makes me happy,” said Alicia Douglas of Rock Hill, who has chosen to live on campus despite taking all but one course online in the fall semester. “I wanted to come onto the actual campus because my biggest thing with moving into college was to try to meet new people and try and get different experiences that I know I wouldn’t get at home, by staying and doing my online classes at home.”
While parents acknowledged COVID-19 will be some form of a threat to their kids on the campus, they were willing to accept the dangers. Some believe students and their older family members will be safer with their children at the school with other young adults compared to living at home and possibly commuting in and out of the house.
“Having the coronavirus is just a thing we’re trying to overcome and move on with and live a normal life. That’s all we’re trying to do as best we can under the circumstances,” said Patrick Manning of Youngstown, Ohio, who was dropping off his daughter, Katelyn, a marine science major who has to take hands-on labs as part of her freshman year.
“I feel she’s healthy. She’s always been healthy. Obviously we don’t want anybody to be sick, but I feel if she does get it she’s healthy enough, her body is healthy enough that she’ll be able to fight it.”
Douglas believes she will still be able to enact safeguards against COVID-19 if she chooses to.
“I am going to be conscious about it,” Douglas said. “I don’t plan on being in any large groups all the time, and if I am I’m going to be very far apart with my mask on. Because I feel like even though we’re all here, it’s under my control who I’m around and how close I am to people. So I’m going to still have that control.”
Approximately 3,300 students are expected to move into campus housing between Aug. 12-16, and an additional 700 students are expected to arrive Sept. 3-4, according to Steve Harrison, vice president of auxiliary enterprises.
Students were surveyed on their plans to attend classes in person or online, and of 6,000 respondents, 68% have chosen face-to-face instruction and 32% have chosen live streaming, according to Holley Tankersley, associate provost and political science professor.
The move into school-owned residence halls has been modified this year to account for coronavirus concerns, Harrison said.
Students moving in this week will experience an express, touchless check-in process that requires an appointment. They will have a drive-through pickup of their keys, student card and necessary paperwork.
The school is asking campus housing to be limited to residents through the semester. “By limiting the traffic in that way we’re able to maintain social distancing, we’re able to maintain sanitary conditions in our elevators and all these other spaces,” Harrison said.
The number of single-bed rooms has been increased in residence hall suites and apartments, and three-bed rooms have been eliminated, though up to six students will be sharing bathrooms in some dormitories. Masks will be required in residence halls outside of individual bedrooms. The school will conduct classes with social distancing applied.
“We’ve all learned a new word this year, which is ‘de-densify,’ “ Harrison said.
Student certification upon arrival will consist of completing a form that asks questions about the student’s health, recent travel, exposure to COVID-19, etc., and students will be expected to monitor their own health while at the university.
Testing protocols in place
Meanwhile, none of the incoming students Wednesday were being tested for coronavirus unless they claimed to have symptoms and requested an appointment.
Students will not be universally tested upon their arrival on campus or be required to provide a negative COVID-19 test result. Carissa Medeiros, CCU’s emergency management director, said such test results would only show a person’s status from a point in time and would not be useful.
Instead, the university will offer free symptom-based testing by appointment through Student Health Services, and the “point-of-care” viral testing will allow for results within about 30 minutes, the university said.
A backup nasal swab viral test will also be taken and sent to a lab, and results will take between two and seven days. Contact tracing will also be conducted.
“In the event that someone in face-to-face class is positive for COVID-19, an investigation will commence as part of the contact tracing process to determine close contacts and whether a quarantine is required (for the possible contacts),” Medeiros said in an email.
CCU’s testing policies were suggested by Dr. Jonathan Knoche of the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, according to the university.
All intercollegiate athletes are being tested upon their return to campus, however, as CCU teams are following NCAA and Sun Belt Conference guidelines for the testing of athletes and athletic staff members. CCU’s athletic medical director is managing the handling of positive cases and contact tracing.
Some on-campus residences meet federal guidelines to isolate students with the coronavirus or quarantine students who have been in contact with someone who has tested positive, each equipped with private bedrooms and bathrooms.
CCU is also negotiating lease agreements for off-campus housing that will be used to isolate students who test positive and live in shared quarters.
The buildings are adjacent to the university with up to 100 single-bed rooms, and the initial lease will be for four months from Aug. 15-Dec. 14, with options to renew in four-month increments. The lease funding would come from the housing budget.
This story was originally published August 12, 2020 at 4:42 PM.
