BY ZOË FARR ’21
MANAGING EDITOR OF WEB
The process of reopening college campuses during the COVID-19 pandemic has been complicated. Different schools have provided different solutions to the key challenge: providing students a way to safely live on campus during the 2020-2021 academic year. In the specific case of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy initially invited undergraduate students back to campus with a hybrid program of remote classes and in-person labs. This plan quickly adapted to fit the changing circumstances of the pandemic.
Compared to Mount Holyoke’s undergraduate student population of 1,915, UMass Amherst has 31,642 undergraduate and graduate students to account for. On June 29, 2020, Subbaswamy sent an email to the UMass Amherst student body describing the structure of the coming academic year. By agreeing to live on campus, students consented to strict protocols including getting tested “on demand,” not allowing guests in residential halls and social distancing on campus.
This plan was later revised in late August due to spikes in COVID-19 cases. In a follow-up email, Subbaswamy amended that only students enrolled in essential in-person classes such as labs, studios or capstone classes would be allowed accommodations on campus, limiting the number of students. By January 2021, UMass Amherst had allowed 5,300 students into residence halls, approximately one-sixth of its cumulative student population.
UMass Amherst saw its highest number of recorded COVID-19 cases for the fall semester on Sept. 28, 2020, with 28 positive cases in a day. By Feb. 8 in the spring semester, its highest number of recorded cases in a day nearly quintupled, with 128 positive cases. According to several UMass Amherst students, the continuation of pre-pandemic party culture seemed to be the cause.
In February 2021, the weekend before classes began for the spring semester, the Theta Chi fraternity was accused of hosting back-to-back parties and was subsequently placed on interim suspension while the university conducted an investigation into their conduct. However, the disciplinary action against Theta Chi was minimal. The Daily Collegian ran an article about Theta Chi’s continuing recruitment despite the suspension. This was in direct contradiction with the school’s Code of Student Conduct.
“I heard [Theta Chi] didn’t get in trouble for [the parties] because they showed old video surveillance of their fraternity empty,” an anonymous sophomore at UMass Amherst said. “I saw people posting about being at those parties. I saw it on Snapchat and Instagram and I recognize the inside of that fraternity. I know that [a] party was thrown there.”
In the weeks after Theta Chi’s parties, Alpha Sigma Phi and Phi Sigma hosted their own events and received the same interim suspension as Theta Chi.
“The administration has seemingly responded differently to different partying situations. For example, when multiple fraternities were caught partying, they were placed on some sort of probation following an investigation. Nothing came of these investigations,” Jeff Meyers, a senior legal studies major at UMass Amherst, said. “When regular students were caught dartying [day-partying] at a condo village weeks later, however, the entire student body received an email expressing the administration’s intent to immediately suspend all of those involved. Why weren’t the fraternities given the same punishment?”
The latter incident Meyers referred to was a 200-person party thrown off campus during “Blarney,” a UMass tradition where students celebrate St. Patrick’s day on the first Saturday of March. The gathering was broken up by the Amherst Police Department, who were called by Amherst residents in the area. As a result of this incident, the UMass Amherst administration released an email to the student body addressing the large gathering and the disciplinary reaction it elicited.
“All students involved will have their appropriate due process, but under no circumstances will they continue as a university student in the interim,” Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life Hephner LaBlanc said in an email. “The actions of these haughty few are not representative of the larger student population who consistently demonstrate their commitment to public safety. This incident (and others like it) will be dealt with swiftly and effectively so those of you abiding by the rules can enjoy more university privileges.”
The most recent social gathering on UMass Amherst’s campus occurred after the UMass Minutemen, the school’s ice hockey team, won the NCAA National Championship. In response, students took to the streets, “rioting,” according to Meyers, in celebration of the Minutemen’s win. The Instagram account @zoomass posted videos of the students’ celebrations, showcasing students chanting and cheering in a largely maskless crowd. “That was crazy. Just everybody was outside, like, a huge swarm of people just without masks. … It’s, like, sometimes you want to be there,” the sophomore at UMass Amherst said. “That’s the most damaging thing about this past semester. None of us are supposed to be [partying] and everybody is telling you not to. … I’m still paying full tuition, even though I’m home, but they’re all just partying and making it worse.”
According to Meyers, this is something that the university should have expected and addressed to avoid the reality of the gatherings. “The university shouldn’t expect to bring back thousands of students and coop them up with nothing to do. This was exemplified when the school was placed on high alert in the first few weeks of this semester and students were laughably told they couldn’t even exercise outside,” Meyers said. “From this, the administration learned that students are going to socialize on campus no matter what, so these interactions must be done in a safe and regulated way. They’ve since established events such as campfires by the pond. The same thing should’ve been done with the riots in [Southwest Residential Area] after the championship. Dedicate an outside space with more room to roam than Southwest so people didn’t have to be shoulder to shoulder.”
So far, the COVID-19 dashboard on the UMass Amherst website has yet to show a notable increase in cases as a result of the riots.
“I think, truly, cases won’t spike again because, as I’ve heard it put by some of my friends in sororities, the people who were going to get [COVID-19] already got it,” a junior contract tracer from UMass Amherst commented. “The people willing to go riot are much more likely to engage in risky behavior, and they are more likely to have already gotten it. Things have also been slower with contact tracing lately, which supports that theory.”
Instead, the junior warned of a secret spreader: small gatherings. “Student gatherings of three and more are generally the cause of most new cases.
“There have been more travel-related cases lately with the warm weather, but overall, since August, this is the main driver,” the junior contact tracer said. “Parties are a big problem too, but it’s largely small- to medium-sized gatherings that are spreading COVID-19.”
Despite the protocols and guidelines put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19, students continue to gather, whether those gatherings are large or small. While some students speak out against it, there has been anxiety over openly objecting to these parties. According to the contact tracer UMass Amherst, some students feel like they cannot criticize these parties without facing some sort of backlash. “One [student] made an article about how the frats are acting terrible,” said the student, “A bunch of frat brothers tried to get him expelled I think and started spreading rumors about him.”
Meyers mused on his own experience, providing possible insight behind these parties.
“I live off campus in Amherst where students have had a bit more freedom. However, many are feeling the boredom that has resulted from the rather mundane and monotonous weeks,” Meyers said. “Sitting in my room and staring at my laptop all day makes me want to break down the walls of my house and go do something. Anything. It’s exhausting and driving many of us who live off campus crazy to have online classes all day.”
The reality of COVID-19 is that these large parties and smaller gatherings can have severe consequences, causing superspreader events in small towns like Amherst. For now, it’s in everyone’s best interest to keep the gatherings to a minimum while the country works toward mass vaccination.