It has been almost two years since universities everywhere had to shut their doors and make the initial quick transition entirely online. After about 3 semesters of learning entirely through the screen of my laptop, sitting on my bedroom floor, I was excited to finally return to campus. However, my excitement was terminated quickly as I became increasingly disappointed by decisions made by professors and the university as a whole during the transition.
I think much of my disappointment stemmed from my ostensibly naïve assumptions that professors and administrators would have learned something from the pandemic’s influence on education. COVID really underscored the fact that being sick is not just an individual issue, but a social one as well. Illnesses are contagious. They are not something to “power through” and ignore just to show up to class. So, I was amazed to see that multiple of my classes still had very strict attendance and illness policies. I do not understand how it could at all be advisable to only have 1-2 allowed absences before a doctor’s note would be required (also while the pandemic is STILL going on).
Another major disappointment was that most of the professors did not take advantage of a lot of the online learning tools we all became familiar with over the past year and a half to continue to make education more accessible. As we are still in a pandemic, it should be expected that those same factors influencing access to education, mental health concerns, etc. during the online portion would still be at play in person. Yet so few of my professors saw an opportunity to allow for asynchronous engagement with the material, or for recorded lectures to make up a missed class.
Over the online portion of the pandemic, many professors were more receptive to student feedback and requests as well as more lenient and empathetic to an extenuating circumstance. However, in-person all of that seemed to disappear yet again. A combination of all of these previously mentioned factors puts students in a very high anxiety dilemma during the end tail of a pandemic. The student does not have access to alternative delivery of material if they get sick and they do not have the flexibility worked into the syllabus to allow them to minimize consequence if they were to take more than a day off. It puts the student in a position where their only available options are to put others and themselves at risk but continuing to attend class or risk their own grade and even the possibility of a direct point reduction for missing in-person classes and discussions.
Overall, I was very upset with my experience back in person. If the university is going to put signs up and send emails out encouraging students to stay home if they are sick, then they need to ensure their faculty are writing syllabi and enforcing policy consistent with it.
Unruly Bodies 
This is all perfectly said. With COVID still here and aloe cases still rising, it is really sad that professors are acting like it doesn’t exist. Just because we go back to in Person lectures, doesn’t mean we are still putting our health at risk. Everyone takes a huge risk. With the University encouraging us to stay home if we feel sick the slightest bit but gives us 1-2 absences before subtracting points and letter grades is piss poor considering how much money this university receives from people. The university needs to take better care of its students going forward
Thanks for sharing with us. I was fortunate this semester to have professors who were incredibly flexible and understanding about deadlines and attendance. This experience really enlightened the importance of flexibility students need. I did so much better in my courses and it lessened the stress i get from assignments. I’m sorry you had to experience and put up with inflexible courses that could also put your health at risk.
Yes, let’s talk about this. I genuinely appreciate the flexibility that some professors have used. Genuinely. I love the overall changes in class structure, “if you are sick don’t come, we get it,” but some professors? It is as though COVID did not give them anytime to reflect on the needs of students. For one, flexibility is an amazing tool for growth and success in school. Using online databases, (how a majority of students spend there time online) is also an amazing tool because students are used to preforming in an online atmosphere now, and mandatory in-person assignments are a strain at times. I genuinely appreciate the professors that allow an assignment to be turned in online or in person. Amazing! I now have grown to hate attendance based classes (yuck,) school is my main priority, yes, but it feels as though there’s this underlying message that we are built to be machines and to be in person is socially acceptable and being sick is uncalled for and a personal problem(?). I can go on and on. UMBC is an amazing school that has such adaptable professors (from my experience) but everyone in a while I will hear about a professor who is just doing it all wrong.
Reading this post I suddenly became aware that professors and faculty still had in place their absence and illness policy, despite a pandemic. It was something that I had overlooked, incorrectly assuming professors had learned that this policy, in a pandemic, was no feasible. Similar to class discussion on attendance policies that reward never missing a class, with such harsh policies, seeing all those covid posters that say “stay home!” feels outlandish as the universities policies contradict this basic statement. I firmly believe that everywhere should do away with doctor note mandates for absences. A small part of me partially understands why, but in a country with no universal healthcare, various degrees of illness not really requiring or getting much out of even going to the hospital, mixed with the general unlikelihood of being sick and even managing a same day appointment without going to the emergency room, it’s simply another way to punish students who are sick and reward those who force themselves to attend every class religiously.
Thank you for sharing, I agree with everything you stated. I thought I’d enjoy being back in person, and yet we’re hit with the “attendance over everything” mindset although it’s advised to stay home when sick. Professors and students became familiar with online resources only to never use them again when we’re back in person. What I appreciated about this course specifically was the fluidity of online and in-person, it was a great transition to be in person again while also using the online resources given. I just wish more professors did the same instead of pretending like the pandemic is nonexistent now and everything must be in person.
I resonated with this post. In Fall 2021 we tried to go back to normal, when in reality, nothing is normal, and may never be again. While some professors are lenient and understanding, some are back to the pre-pandemic guidelines and expectations. In my opinion, these ways don’t make sense in the world we are currently living in. As we continue I hope we can find more common ground, and maybe adjust, instead of trying to live likes it’s 2018.
Thank you for sharing. I also happen to agree. Online learning was something that was very hard for me to adapt to, so when i heard that in person classes we’re returning, i was ecstatic. However, a lot of my professors stressed strict policies as well. There were a lot of promises for excused absences for sickness, and flexible due dates. I found that these two claims were not true. It seemed as though some professors acted like COVID was never a thing and something to not take into consideration.
Thank you for posting! I agree with everything said here. Being the social person I am, I was elated to be able to engage with friends and classmates in person once again. But being in a pandemic still had limitations. I was always slightly paranoid of contracting/spreading the virus, and when I had a COVID scare back in late October, I was freaking out not knowing how my professor’s would act, or if they’d even believe me. I was so lucky to have understanding professors, as you’ve have shown me that some simply would not have cared. I do hope in the future more and more professors try to promote the health of their students instead of attendance.
I completely agree. The classes I didn’t do as badly in were the classes that had accommodations for students who weren’t able to show up to class everyday. The one class I am struggling in I was supposed to show up to class. And I wanted to but some days I just couldn’t do it, or something else came up. I’m still dealing with mental health issues, family issues and just stress in general. I understand that no one asked for this pandemic but you would expect a university like UMBC to be a little more understanding. I hope that umbc sees this semester as a learning opportunity and the teachers who weren’t able to accommodate for their students do so in the future. I had teachers that were also going through it because of the pandemic which made them sympathize more with students.
I wholeheartedly agree! Although it was nice going back to campus this semester, as I am more productive when not at home, being surrounded by many people was quite fearful. In addition, there were some courses where attendance did matter a bit too much, and for that I believe there needs to be a review of such policies for the future. As the pandemic is very much so going on, I would think professors would have more leniency in their rules as the virus can be problematic to handle for students.
This!!! I was extremely surprised at how many teachers weren’t understanding about the struggles with mental health most people are facing. I feel like teachers got stricter with deadlines and emphasized them even more than before. But I completely agree with giving students more flexibility and building it into the syllabus. It would relieve so much stress and honestly is kind unfair seeing as though everyone has different circumstances that can make reaching deadlines harder.
I can feel how much I am pissed off with the university as I read through you post. I agree with what you’re saying. We have been sent mixed messages all throughout the semester as the universities academics does not seem to be connected with the universities’ covid policies from reslife and other places on campus. Just last week my roommate tested positive for covid, so my other roommate and I along with my two close friends who are always in my apartment had to get tested. One of my friends who is a commuter student had a Bio exam on that Friday and did not feel comfortable coming to school. She had not gotten her results back yet and while she explained her situation to her professor, he was adamant on her coming in person to take the exam. She had to send back and forth emails with him until he agreed to let her take the exam the next day (when her covid test would most likely be in). It is completely ridiculous how none of the individual working parts of this campus do not seem to be on the same page and the students are the ones dealing with the repercussions. Its ridiculous how some professors seem to put themselves and their class above our health and safety. Is there even being work done to get rid of the confusion and get every part of campus on the same page? Do they care enough?
Thank you for sharing this, because I think that most students have the same problem. We have literally been tossed random policies about COVID/Living on campus, and half of the time we do not even know about them. Plus, they only hold those policies for the small organizations when they want to do something, but ResLife and the campus will have all these big gatherings and do not care. Another thing would be you as a student would be out/will be absent from class for days and have to battle for their work/exam to be graded in full, but professors will be a hard guy to give it them. HOWEVER, when they are on sick leave or it takes them two months for 1 EXAM, and do not even care how long it takes them/ how it affects us. I will really have anxiety waiting for an exam to be graded but be pressured to finish multiple things at a certain deadline. It just doesn’t make sense
Totally with you here. It’s like 2020 never even happened and we’re supposed to just snap back to 2019. I can’t imagine that COVID was easy on professors too, which makes me just as shocked about the strict attendance and illness policies I’ve encountered as well. I think a lot of faculty might be holding on to the past for comfort instead of embracing the crazy yet necessary types of change that need to take place after the year and a half we all had.
This whole post was absolutely correct. A lot of teachers acted as if the pandemic didn’t happen or isn’t still happening. They would tell us to “stay safe!” but then missing a class was the worst thing you could do. A lot of teachers didn’t account that this might be a lot of their students’ first college semester on campus and didn’t seem to care about our mental health at all.
This post is so accurate. There was actually recently a COVID outbreak in the dorms as a result of people traveling and socializing for the holidays, and the response has been less than stellar. All the study lounges and community spaces were closed along with a no guest policy, and yet in the same breath students were still actively being encouraged to attend lectures that can have over 100 students. I understand wanting to prevent/stop the spread, but when attendance of in person lectures is practically mandatory without a doctor’s note and it’s very likely that many people in college don’t have the money to go to the doctor, you are still ultimately harming your students.
I really relate to this post. As a student athlete I felt as if athletics did not take COVID as seriously this semester. I have many high risk family members and could not risk the chance of getting it. I took precautions in my own hands and even told my coach I would not e attending lift or conditioning because of the recent cases on athletic teams. Once one team tests positive the weight room we all share needs to be shut down.