Last week, Quinnipiac University suspended and sent home 23 students for violating the university’s COVID-19 protocols. A total of 11 undergraduate students were sent home for four weeks, while 12 off-campus students were suspended.
The news came as a surprise to students, as the university previously had few issues since welcoming students back to campus, reporting just one positive case as of Sept. 25, since beginning testing students on Aug. 5.
First-year public relations student Kaitlyn Bretagne was one of those students caught off guard by the news.
“I was kind of shocked when I read the email. It makes sense, though, doing that is kind of irresponsible,” Bretagne said.
First-year students have had a different college experience through the first month of college than students in years past, but Bretagne believes the sacrifice is worth it in the long run.
“At first I was kind of frustrated by (university COVID policies), I felt like it was harder to meet people. I feel like we have all adjusted and as time has gone on,” Bretagne said. “I think it’s good, though. It just takes one person. If you didn’t this time and they do it again, one person could be positive and we could all be in quarantine, so I think it is justified.”
Isabelle Strandson, a first-year biomedical sciences student, agreed that the policies that the university has put in place have made college life difficult.
“I think that it’s been kind of hard to meet people,” Strandson said. “I do wish that I could hang out with other friends from other dorms, but I understand the reasons why we can’t.”
Other students believe Quinnipiac’s policies are more so centered toward protecting the university from closing its doors. Senior political science major Alexander Burns believes that while the university is trying to protect its students, it is mostly looking out for itself.
“Quinnipiac is caring about us. But, as a small private school, if it doesn’t, it’ll lose its money,” Burns said.
Stradson believes that while these COVID-19 policies may be strict, in the end it will help the students.
“I would say a couple of the guidelines might be overkill, but, it’s a way to ensure that nothing’s going to go south for us,” Stradson said. “I think the consequences are a little bit severe, but I can understand that they really feel the need to keep them severe because they need these rules to be enforced.”
As October beings, Quinnipiac continues to encourage its students to follow its guidelines in order to keep COVID-19 cases at a minimum.