Quinnipiac University students are leaving campus for the remainder of the semester earlier than planned following the red alert level announcement.
Due to the high-risk environment that Quinnipiac has become, living on campus poses more threatening health concerns than before. In response, the university started enforcing a mandatory quarantine, only allowing students to leave their university housing to get food and for “fresh air breaks” throughout the day.
Ultimately, it was the quarantine that drove people away. The inability to interact with friends outside of direct suitemates was unappealing enough to force students away.
“I had not considered going home before the spike,” said Izzy Agricola, a 20-year-old senior journalism major from Norfolk, Massachusetts. “It’s not so much the numbers that made me go home, but the quarantine.”
The new living situation proved too difficult for many to remain on campus. After weighing the options of completing remote learning in quarantine or from home with a sliver of freedom, the decision became easy for many.
“Going home was a way better option for me because all of the rest of my family unit went home,” Agricola said. “Being absolutely alone in my dorm room for two weeks did not sound appealing when I could go home and be with my family and friends.”
Others felt the burden of remaining in quarantine during a heightened health scare too heavy to bear.
“I think going home was better for me for my mental health and physical safety,” said Matthew Manning, a 19-year-old junior media studies major from Norfolk, Massachusetts. “I’m already home, and I am scared to return in the spring right now, but hopeful.”
Agricola had similar sentiments when it came to returning in the spring. The general feeling seems to be hopeful but hesitant.
“I really hope we can go back in the spring and hopefully restrictions will be lower, but I understand protecting the ’Bobcat Bubble,’” Agricola said.
Still, there are those who have remained on campus. Despite the increase in cases, some haven’t felt the impact of the changes strongly enough that it would persuade them to leave.
“I want to get all of my money’s worth of housing,” said Heather Popovics, a 20-year-old senior advertising major from Tottenville, New York. “By the university giving us the option to leave I have a feeling that those who do leave will not get back any of the housing money that they have already paid.”
There are also complications in going home. Certain students, like nursing majors, weren’t given the same option as all students when the university initially announced the shift to red alert level.
“I was told by the nursing department that I was required to stay through Nov. 9, due to COVID testing,” said Caroline Lohr, a 20-year-old junior nursing major from Glen Rock, New Jersey. “I also decided to stay on campus because we already have a shortened semester as it is, and I didn’t want to lose any more time at Quinnipiac than I had to.
“Last year when we were sent home I noticed that it was very hard for me to focus at home, so being on campus I get more work done,” Lohr said.
Quinnipiac students have had a mixed reaction to the new lifestyle that their university is enforcing, but despite the strict guidelines, the love still remains.
“I have not considered leaving campus yet,” Popovics said. “I just have no intentions of going home until I’m kicked off.”