“We saw this all coming,” the DTH editorial staff wrote.
Adding, “But university leadership must have expected students, many of whom are now living on their own for the first time, to be reckless. Reports from parties all weekend come as no surprise. Although these students are not wrong, it was The the university’s responsibility to disincentivize such meetings by rethinking its plans to operate in person. “
The school chose to ignore the recommendation of the Department of Orange County Health (OCHD) to restrict on-campus housing to ‘students at risk’ and move to distance education for at least the first 5 weeks of the semester, said the editors.
In a letter to students addressing the OCHD’s recommendations, UNC Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz said the school was taking action that “we believe will address its concerns.” However, while the school took some actions, such as reducing living capacity, it does not appear to be sufficient.
“As much as we believe we have worked hard to create a healthy and safe living and learning environment on campus, we believe that current data presents an untenable situation,” Guskiewicz said.
UNC is not alone, as outbreaks have been reported at the University of Notre Dame, the University of Kentucky, Oklahoma State University and several other schools.
“We are angry – and we are scared,” the board wrote. “We are tired of the gas lighting, tired of the secrecy, tired of being treated like cash cows by a University with such blatant contempt for our lives.”
North Carolina has the ninth most coronavirus cases in the country with 145,516 cases, according to a Johns Hopkins University census.
The editors of DTH and Guskiewicz did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNN.
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