Last week we Brown students received a daunting email. The sender? “Provost Richard M. Locke.” That right there was enough to arouse discouragement— Big Mr. Provost doesn’t make it a habit to send us daily horoscopes or weather updates. The subject? “New temporary COVID-19 restrictions.”
I received the dreaded email while at dinner with a group of seven friends– a number that would, the following day, become a massive no-no. Distress ensued immediately among my group. “Not again,” one friend said, “F*** this,” said another.
Before I launch into a fervent critique, let me summarize the contents of the email.
The restrictions– put in place due to an increase in asymptomatic COVID-19 cases– included increased testing, indoor masking, outdoor masking, a limit of five people for social gatherings, a ban of “small-group hopping,” and, most tragically, a pause on in-person dining. Good night Blue Room. Carefully snuck into the list (number 5 of 7) was the heading, “No Size Limits on University Gatherings,” followed by the shortest description of any of the list items: “University-hosted events of any size — which are structured, staffed and supervised by academic or administrative units — may continue to be held in compliance with mask protocols.”
So Brown was essentially telling us, “you can’t have gatherings, but we can.” That was one of the things that really got to all of us sitting at dinner: the seeming hypocrisy of it all. Just hours before the email went out, Brown hosted an outdoor dinner for all undergraduate athletes. Hundreds of students and faculty were in attendance– maskless.
Another component of the restrictions that students seem to be taking issue with is the fact that they were announced less than one week into the semester; before we had time to really enjoy a more ‘normal’ Brown, but after, of course, we’d all paid tuition. “Had I known that Brown’s restrictions would be so similar to last year’s,” said one student, “I would have taken a gap year, or at least a gap semester. Now, of course, I can’t.”
The comparison to last year is an interesting one. Last year, Brown’s heavy restrictions (virtual classes, no indoor dining, no co-living) made sense. The administration did everything they could to bring students back to campus in the wake of a global pandemic. I admire those efforts, as well as the administration’s continued efforts to maintain a safe and healthy community. The pandemic is by no means over, but this year we’re working with one major difference: we’re all– well, 98% of us are– vaccinated. Even if we get Covid, we’re not in the kind of danger we were last year.
Now, I want to make it clear that I do not take Covid lightly. I myself was hospitalized for Covid in March of 2021 after my oxygen levels dropped into the low 80s, and I endured a lengthy recovery. This virus is no joke. I fumed at those who refused to wear masks when the pandemic hit, and I enthusiastically participated in virtual classes, as I understood that in-person learning, at that time, was simply unsafe. But I also do not take science lightly. The vaccine works and 98% of us at Brown have gotten it. The university’s current positive test rate is .5%– the same as the breakthrough infection rate. In other words, what the CDC expects.
I urge us all to start getting a little bit more comfortable with Covid– to understand that a slight spike of asymptomatic cases in a week where students are traveling to Brown from all over the world makes sense, and shouldn’t cause too much alarm. I urge the Brown administration to prioritize the wellbeing and happiness of students over its own public image. (Keep the dining halls open, at least for the freshmen. I formed my most valuable friendships over chicken fingers in the V-Dub. Let us sit on the green in groups of 6 or 7 on a sunny day without masks). Most importantly, I urge us all to continue to listen to science.