SEATTLE — Seattle University welcomed students back to campus on Monday. The school says learning will be mostly virtual, but there will be some in-person classes.
“I’m on the other side of the country so it’s definitely a big change,” said incoming freshman Darby Johnson, who is moving to Seattle from Arlington, Va.
Darby’s mom Elizabeth Johnson may be feeling more stressed about the move than daughter is.
“Yeah there is an extra layer of stress – but the school is doing so much we’re really not that worried, and they’ve taken so many precautions it’s ridiculous and the rest is on her.”
Seattle U allowing 150 new students a day to move into the dorms — providing they test negative for the virus. Most students won’t have roommates, and most will have all classes online.
For the fall, the school will have 950 students living on campus. The school typically houses approximately 2,000 students. Due to coronavirus each dorm room will be single-occupancy.
The school assigned students a date and time to move in between Aug. 31 and Sept. 4. Students are required to submit the results of a coronavirus test that must be taken before their arrival.
While on campus, lounges, study rooms, and computer labs will be closed and everyone is required to wear a mask, even if people can socially distance.
Seattle U’s president Father Stephen Sundborg acknowledges that the university is trying something that other schools have attempted and failed.
“There’s a lot of measures that we’ve put in place where we think we can protect against the kind of outbreaks that there have been on other campuses,” Sundbord said.
Take Pullman, home of Washington State University. The university there is dealing with a coronavirus outbreak. Officials say the WSU spike comes as students began moving back into the area, despite the administration urging students to stay home.
Thirty-six states are reporting at least 8,700 cases of coronavirus at college campuses since they reopened this month. The largest outbreak reported is at the University of Alabama where more than 1,000 people have tested positive.
Seattle University reported a total of 20 cases since the start of the pandemic. Four students tested positive in August.
The school says students, visitors, and faculty will need to complete a daily online health screening that asks about symptoms and potential exposure to the virus.
A campus motto this fall will be "Be Kind, Keep Others in Mind." It will be used as a way to remind students they play a part in keeping each other healthy.
But Darby Johnson and her mom both said that Seattle University is taking plenty of precautions to prevent an outbreak.
“I had to get tested before I came and they are going to make sure that the dorms are safe, the floors the eating, making sure everything is all good,” Darby Johnson said.
These students don’t want to wait out the virus. Instead, this is the latest attempt to live alongside it.
Whether that is successful is now in the hands of these new, college freshman.
