By Max McAuliff, Opinion Editor
When students returned to St. Bonaventure University in August for the fall semester, nerves were high. A lot of uncertainty and unrest over the implications COVID-19 would have on the semester was surely at the forefront of people’s minds.
Here we are, however, a month into the school year with only seven total cases, four of which are active as of Wednesday Sept 23. This has surely been a pleasant surprise to the campus community. That does not mean, however, that COVID-19 is no longer a threat. Instead it should reinforce the fact that the university’s COVID-19 precautions are working and encourages the campus community to continue to abide by these precautions.
Wearing masks, sanitizing workspaces and enforcing social distancing are all policies that the university implemented at the start of the semester. Some of these policies, however, are followed better than some.
Students and employees have all been good about following the mask wearing policy set in place by the school. Social distancing in classrooms has also not been a problem thanks to the addition of several new classrooms around campus.
The one policy that has not been followed as closely as it should be is the sanitization of one’s workspace. Too often students leave class or the library without sanitizing their workspaces. Despite the concerted effort of most of our faculty and staff, some students do not seem keen on wanting to go out of their way to sanitize their workspaces.
Too often have students left the library without sanitizing their table, only for another student to come and sit at that same un-sanitized workspace. The librarians cannot and should not have to walk around sanitizing workspaces. It is not hard to take one minute and sanitize one’s desk for the next student. This process is obviously new and will take some getting used to, but students should be capable of doing it.
Faculty should also hold themselves to a higher standard, ensuring they or their students sanitize their desks before they leave every single day. Some professors follow this policy to a T, and students do not have to be told to sanitize their desks before or after class because they do it automatically. Students have gotten accustomed to sanitizing their desks in certain classes because they know the professor requires it of them. Other professors do not follow this policy, do not say anything to their students about sanitizing their desks and leave without sanitizing desks themselves.
Professors need to lead by example and ensure that every student is sanitizing their desk before they leave. Sanitizing desks is certainly the last thing on professors’ minds. However, if a precedent is set that it must be done before and after class, professors will not have to worry about remembering to tell their students to do it.
Not sanitizing workspaces is by no means the end of the world, and there is no way to prove if it works or not. However, thinking that it does absolutely nothing is not a path one wants to go down.
The university has done great thus far in enforcing COVID-19 policies, which is seen in the low number of positive cases. The campus community cannot get lazy now. To ensure that students stay on campus until November, the policies must continue to be enforced. Until the university deems it safe to relax some of the policies please, practice social distancing, wear a mask and sanitize your workspace!
mcaulimr18@bonaventure.edu
