Kai Smith, 2019-20 program director for 96.1 The Wit, photo by Nicole Centofanti
The general feeling around campus is a mixture of panic and exasperation. Doubts about the severity of the current pandemic are swirling around everyone’s minds while external pressures like the media and parents are pushing all of us to make sudden major changes to our daily lives.
Students are worried about their jobs, their credits and graduation, being unable to return home because of closed borders and just about the well-being of themselves and their families. All over campus, people wonder, “Is sending students home really the wisest thing to do at this point?”
Sure, we don’t currently have a nurse on campus. Does that signify that this place is more dangerous than home towns? Or are we young and healthy potential carriers of this new incurable virus, putting our loved ones at risk upon returning home? It’s also possible for us to acquire the virus while away from campus and to return and endanger our friends and faculty.
Bluffton’s administration is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Should they turn our campus into a quarantine zone and restrict to-and-fro travel or should they release students and let their fates be in their own hands? Obviously, the second option was chosen.
The liability risk simply was too high. Had the university decided to isolate students and later down the road, students began to get sick, that would be an even larger crisis. Panic would ensue and hundreds of murderous mothers would descend like wolves. So, unfortunately, due to the uncertainty of the pandemic, because of the university’s nature as a private organization and because of what we are seeing other establishments and countries do, the lesser of two evils was chosen. There really is no way to tell which course of action was “the best.” There is no best. That’s why it is called a crisis.
With this complicated historical event affecting all of our lives, it is easy to get caught up in all of the negative effects. However, there are some good things.
“It’s been a blessing,” said senior economics and business major Anteneh Asratu. He expressed that he didn’t mind doing work from home and having the ability to create his own schedule.
I agreed with this sentiment, though I’m a bit worried about reorganizing myself for these upcoming weeks if Asratu can feel optimism, an international student who cannot return home, cannot work and potentially may not graduate on time can feel blessed at a time like this, so can the rest of us.
I encourage you all to recognize your blessings and stay vigilant! Enjoy this time with your families and continue your pursuit of knowledge and good hygiene! Wash your hands!
Remember: Conversations are not canceled. Self-care is not canceled. Reading is not canceled. Love is not canceled. Relationships are not canceled. Music is not canceled. Hope is not canceled.
Kai Smith is program director for 96.1 The Wit.
