On Friday, Oct. 16, it was reported the president of SUNY Oneonta, Barbara Jean Morris, resigned from her post. Dennis Craig from SUNY Purchase will stand in as the acting president the search has begun to permantenly fill the role.
Earlier in this semester SUNY Oneonta sent its students home after reporting 712 student cases. A spokesperson said that Morris’s resignation did not come about in the middle of the crisis. His comments give the impression that her resignation is not COVID-19 related, but I find that hard to believe.
I have seen on social media that people believe SUNY Oneonta’s administration was in the wrong for how the school dealt with COVID-19. Compared to other SUNY schools, SUNY Oneonta did not have the same requirements at the beginning of the semester such as requiring all students to be tested upon arrival to the campus. This was a big mistake on SUNY Oneonta’s part. When the virus spread there was no stopping it.
On the SUNY Oswego campus, this semester we have seen only 300 cases, as of Oct. 20. Across the board when looking at all the SUNY institutions, there have been 1,266 positive cases. The fact that SUNY Oswego only contributes 300 of those cases shows how well SUNY Oswego has handled the situation. SUNY Oswego has done far better than other SUNYs when it comes to the number of tests being conducted, with 13,221 test completed to as of Oct. 20. This can be compared to SUNY Geneseo’s 2,667 tests and SUNY Plattsburgh’s 5,142 tests. Having students get tested every three weeks is a smart decision that will help prevent an outbreak from happening.
A common question among SUNY Oswego students is what the spring semester will look like. Now that numbers are down and appear to be staying down, we should keep the restrictions and processes that we have now because they are working. If the school eases up on those restrictions, we could have an outbreak on campus and possibly see numbers like SUNY Oneonta had.
Some students on campus, would rather have the restrictions and remain on campus than have the school shut down. I do not mind leaving campus just for essentials, reducing the number of people I come in contact with and getting tested every three weeks if that means I get to stay on campus and attend my hybrid classes. Some students are not comfortable with being on campus and have gone home after the two-week remote period, and SUNY Oswego has done a good job accommodating those students as well.
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