Students Living on Campus This Fall Share Experiences

Graphic by Trinity Kendrick ‘22

By Rebecca Gagnon ’23

Staff Writer

On Aug. 7, Mount Holyoke announced that it would not be allowing the vast majority of students to live on campus during the pandemic. The only students who were permitted to remain were those who had applied to live on campus under circumstances that could not be resolved. According to Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Marcella Runell Hall, as of Aug. 13, there were about 180 students on campus. 

“It’s really sad around here,” Samira Khan ’22, who currently lives on campus, said. “It just feels like you are living in a zombie land.” 

Khan, who is from Bangladesh, describes herself as a semi-domestic and international student. She spent part of the summer in Bangladesh and then applied to stay on campus for the school year. When she was approved, she went to spend a week with family near Mount Holyoke. “I was already in this county and I was staying with my relatives [on] just a temporary basis and then, just a week later, [Mount Holyoke administration] said we [were] going online,” Khan said. “I didn’t have a place because it was just a one-week [plan] and this was my only option.” 

This story resonated with others who are staying on campus. Parikshita Gya ’22 is another international student living on campus who was afraid to go home. Gya described not living in good studying conditions back home, a large reason for staying on campus. Additionally, Gya mentioned being “very afraid of [President Donald] Trump pulling one of his cards again and barring us entry.”

Although there are some people who are still on campus on a regular basis, both faculty and students feel that there has been an unwelcome change this semester. 

“It’s just really isolating,” Emily Jones ’23, another student living on campus, stated. “I don’t know, I just think that everyone is trying to get through it.”

“My impression from my horror movie background,” Professor of Biological Sciences Gary Gillis said, “is it just feels like a zombie apocalypse about to start and I am sad that so many people are missing out on this amazing opportunity in this cool space.” Gillis is an associate dean of faculty, the director of the Science Center and a professor in the biological sciences department who is currently working from home.

As a member of the College’s administration, Gillis said, “It was kind of my job to convey to the faculty that this last spring and summer we were really trying to de-densify the campus. … The easiest thing for me in deciding to work from home was kind of just abiding by the philosophy I was telling everyone else.”  

Other professors decided to work from home as well, for the safety of co-workers and students. “The best part [of working from home],” Morena Svaldi, lecturer in Italian and the faculty director of the Language Assistant program, said, “is that I can switch my roles very quickly. The difficult part, I think, is that there is no separation between your personal life, personal space and professional space.”

This is a difficulty faced by students who are still living on campus as well. “Normally I would go to classes,” Khan said. “But now it’s just like, wake up, go to your desk, study and then whenever your lunch or dinner time is, you go out for just that. It’s sad.”  

The rules that are being enforced now are the same rules that all students who were previously planning to live on campus would have to abide by. The only difference is that it is now embedded in the community compact for Mount Holyoke to maintain safety on campus. 

“There are several restrictions and the community compact was [originally] so vague that you didn’t even know when you might breach it,” Gya recalled. 

At the beginning of the new year, there was a miscommunication between Dining Services and Residential Life that resulted in some students unintentionally breaking the community compact by sitting and eating in the Dining Commons. There had previously been no signs or notices about whether that was allowed or not. 

“Trying to have a good day and just having food and then out of the blue someone comes up to you and tells you, ‘Oh, you breached the law on campus, we need to take your name and report you,’ is, in itself, very scary,” Gya said. “Especially for us international students; we have nowhere else to go.” 

After this incident, the students did not get penalized for eating in the Dining Commons, since there was a miscommunication. Signs were put up soon after around the Dining Commons so students would know that they are not allowed to eat there. Students are only allowed to eat outside or in their rooms.

Some dorm kitchenettes are open for students to cook their own food if they want to, which helps offset Dining Services’ limited hours. “Their lunch and breakfast times clash with most class times,” Bineeta Debnath ’23 said.

“As the weather is on our side right now, it is better that we get to go outside and have dinner with our friends who are living in other dorms, but I don’t know what is going to happen during wintertime,” Khan said. “We will be staying in our rooms the whole time; even if we are getting our food, we are coming back to our rooms and we are eating in the same space, so it is going to get toxic.”

Other students such as Jones, Debnath and Gya shared this concern for the mental and physical health of the students living on campus. Students can currently spend time with friends from other dorms by going outside because they are not allowed to enter any dorm that is not their own. They may spend time together in Blanchard Hall, but it has to be socially distanced with masks on.

“We don’t really have a social life,” Gya said. “It is just us in one room and I think [for] people struggling with mental illness, this is going to be really harsh on them.”

According to students living on campus, Residential Life is holding some online events and putting on small get-togethers in dorms to help them feel less isolated. Along with this, according to the students interviewed, those permanently residing on campus are allowed to spend time with people who are in their dorm as well. 

Professors also shared this concern for students’ mental and physical health and are continuing to check in with their students. 

“I really care a lot about how my students are processing this because I know that some students have different situations,” Svaldi said. “This has impacted the way that we learn and recharge ourselves, so my message is to be nice to ourselves and be supportive to those around us.”

Although there are a lot of negative feelings, some students have been able to find the silver linings.

“It’s hard,” Khan said. “Especially the two [COVID-19] tests per week, but it is helping to keep us on track, like ‘Okay I’m safe, my friends are safe, the people I’m sharing the bathroom with are safe.’ … [COVID-19]-wise, the campus is safe and they are taking good care of us in that way.”  

“I am really grateful for the people around me,” Gya said. “As in ResLife people, the professors, people in the Dining Services — I feel like they worked really, really hard. … They are amazing. They are doing so much for us, they don’t even know us and they are so nice. Although they are struggling, they are trying to make your day better. … I think we should all feel really special that they care about us that much.”

Pandemica

Edition #2

By Woodlief McCabe ’23

Staff Writer

Pandemica is an advice column for anyone struggling to make life function normally in isolation. I’ll address different challenges we are all facing, and give you some tips that will ease the stress. 

Lists

Without the change of scenery that normally comes with going between classes, you might be finding that certain assignments or tasks are slipping through the cracks. With less visual and sensory variety, we have fewer unique cues in our memories to help us remember that our World Politics professor assigned an essay or that we need to change our car’s oil. Having a notebook or digital checklist is a great way to organize your thoughts. And it’s not just for assignments! Make a list of things you want to buy, long-term goals or skills you want to learn. Checking something off a list is a hell of a release and can become its own motivator. When you make a list, include a few simple things that you can do right away to get your productivity flowing. For a particularly long task or something with multiple parts, use multiple checkboxes so you can get that sweet, sweet crossing-off feeling throughout the task. Really, it’s all about maximizing the number of times you get to use a nice pen and cross something off. 

Free Time

Planning out your day is a good way to stay on task. Calendar apps let you designate time for your hobbies and errands. Not only is it a good idea to prioritize having free time during the day, but so is putting it in your calendar. Don’t let other people eat into your time for yourself. Get comfortable with the idea of time when you have nothing planned. As soon as 2:30 hits, you do whatever you want. Video games? Art? Goose-spotting? Just don’t make a hard-and-fast plan. It’s also important to forgive yourself if you go a little over into your free time zone or if you forget. Don’t throw away your whole system if you can’t get it right away. 

Date Night 

Whether or not you have a significant other, “date nights” are always on the table. We all have a person or a group of people we miss. When meeting in person isn’t possible, it’s quite easy to turn to online conferencing. Zoom and Discord both allow screen sharing, which makes it possible to watch YouTube and Netflix (via the Netflix Party extension) with anyone you want. Watch something scary or romantic, or grab a drink (of water if you’re under 21!) and watch a telenovela. Get on Steam and find some games you can play together. There are also plenty of online alternatives to card or board games like Cards Against Humanity (online as Pretend You’re Xyzzy), Uno, Scrabble and more. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing, but that you’re with someone else and enjoying their company. Sometimes when we become isolated, we forget how much we really do need company, and it’s an excellent excuse to watch the movie or TV show you’ve been putting off.