CU students return to new rules and high expectations

True or false? Will CU students, faculty and staff successfully avoid widespread transmission of the coronavirus when classes begin next week? The answer will be revealed over the next several weeks as the University of Colorado welcomes back students for a mix of remote and in-person learning.

The campus has been crawling with white trucks and vans emblazoned with company names and tasks like engineering, events, electrical, CU Facilities Management. Contractors and CU employees are scrambling to retrofit the campus into a safe zone in the midst of a pandemic.

The university has turned parking lots and open areas into tented, outdoor learning spaces, upgraded ventilation systems, shelled out money for hotels to get more "dorm" space, transformed campus food service to a to-go system, put numerous classes online, prepped for testing and contact tracing, and is requiring that students take a course that educates them on safety protocols and other information about the coronavirus. The university's new COVID dashboard will show how well things are going, providing data on testing and positive cases at CU and in Boulder County.

"I've been getting a lot of emails," said sophomore Colin McCaffrey who chose to return to CU in spite of facing a dramatically altered college experience. The avalanche of information from the university began before he moved from his family home in New Jersey into his off-campus apartment with three friends.

"I wanted a nice college experience. You don't want to miss out on that. If I took a gap year, I'd be behind all my friends and they are all coming back. I thought, why not? Also, I had a lease," McCaffrey said. He and his roommates signed it last October, pre pandemic, because of the fierce competition for off-campus housing. He thinks that is one reason students are returning in spite of having so many of their classes online. McCaffrey said some students are trying to sublet their places via Facebook, indicating that not everyone feels the way he does.

McCaffrey admitted he was a little nervous about coming back to Boulder, but felt better when he saw so many people wearing masks on Pearl Street and The Hill. "That was a relief. You don't want to catch anything. Especially right away," he said. He is confident in what the university is doing to keep everyone safe.

This summer, CU added a new requirement for students - an online course about the university's policies and the science around COVID-19. Passing the course requires signing a pledge to "Protect the Herd," which includes following safety protocols like wearing masks, social distancing and washing hands whether a student is on campus or off.

"Definitely with socializing, that's probably going to be the biggest flaw in the system for CU," McCaffrey said. He's noticed that students aren't wearing masks as much at night as they do in the day. He plans to avoid large gatherings, if there are any, but he's comfortable getting together with a group of 10 friends. "Normally, those are outside with social distancing," he said.

Daniel Easton, Interim Director of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution, said there will be student ambassadors who will encourage and educate others during the semester. Some will go to The Hill and have conversations about what it means to socialize in a healthy way. Some ambassadors will spread the message in their roles as leaders of various campus groups.

"Students respond to their peers. If we're talking about being successful this fall, students will feed from each other to alter their behavior," Easton said. "We've done some surveys with incoming and current students and we're seeing there is a high motivation to take classes in person. And because of that, they understand that if they want to have that, they have to take steps to keep the community safe. They understand their role in that."

If they don't, Easton said the first approach to a violation will be educational and then other forms of conflict resolution like restorative justice. He said they want to keep the communication channels open. Suspension is a last resort and might not be useful since the student could continue to live in Boulder even if they aren't going to school.

Once the semester starts, there will be constant reminders of what's expected of students and people who work at the university. A health check form must be filled out and submitted electronically each day before a person plans to be on campus.

There will be fewer people who need to do that with many of CU's classes being taught partly or entirely online. McCaffrey is a sociology major who has just one class that will meet in person on campus and that's only once a week. But he's still glad to be in Boulder for the college atmosphere. "I'm sure it will be an interesting year, but it will be a good one."

Hopefully, the entire CU community will get high marks in class and real life.