Mercer students, faculty navigate COVID-19 complexities in shortened semester

March of this year was memorable for college students across the nation. One second students were in class, dreaming of spring break, and the next they were packing up their belongings and heading back home.

Over summer break, colleges made the tough decision to either open up or remain online for the 2020-21 school year. Mercer University chose to reopen with coronavirus safety guidelines for in-person learning.

Since students have returned to campus, the university has updated its testing protocols and isolation guidelines for students based on the latest information from the CDC. Masks are also required for everyone on campus.

“It’s an interesting experience,” Zachary Lanier, a sophomore, said. “We all thought things would be back to normal after the summer.”

At the beginning of the school year, Mercer’s Student Government Association encouraged students to not only wear their masks, but to remember social distancing. The SGA made a video which featured students around the campus explaining why they wear a mask.

Lanier spoke about the guidelines implemented in his classes, such as wearing a mask at all times, social distancing between students, and sanitizing chairs before and after sitting in them.

“In the business school, it’s hard for us to be socially distanced due to classroom sizes, but we try to make it work,” Lanier said.

Students are the only ones making adjustments due to COVID-19; professors have had to adjust as well.

“I feel like I am learning to teach all over again while juggling masks, new cameras in the classroom, and an online feed of my course to students in both an overflow room and in quarantine,” Andy Digh, a professor in the computer science department, said. “Some of our computer science courses have moved students to a room next door to get a live feed of our class to help with social distancing.”

Some protocols have been set for the university as a whole, such as a 20-minute break between classes, temperature checks at classroom doors, and sanitization stations in classrooms.

“I’m one who likes to walk around the room and engage students in small groups,” Digh said. “And, we can’t really do that anymore. I truly miss seeing their smiles too. I tell them I try to look for their smiles in their eyes.”

Students are feeling that rift as well. Online classes don’t give the on-hands or visual learning aspects that some in-person classes provide, especially for students with learning disabilities.

“I have friends in science classes who have to either take labs online, or socially distance from their partner,” Lanier said. “They say it’s not the same, but also know teachers are doing the best they can.”

Mercer has cut the fall semester short, sending students home at Thanksgiving break and giving finals online.

“Overall though, it is so worth it to have my students back in the classroom and on campus. They are my life and I love being around them,” Digh said. “I just try to remind them often this semester how their actions can affect not just themselves and their friends, but the entire campus and community.”

The last day of Fall Semester classes at Mercer is Nov. 24.

Maggie Shannon is a senior at Mercer University working with the Telegraph this semester.