Virus Continues to Shut Down Schools, but not Stonehill College

 By Rachel Galatis 

JRN421-A Stonehill News Staff Writer 

This semester is all about figuring out how to shape the old campus life into what we now refer to as the “new normal” as a result of COVID-19.  

The deans of the college’s two schools, Debra Salvucci and Peter Ubertaccio, worked throughout the summer to come up with a plan for students to be safe returning to campus this Fall.  

Without plans to reopen the campus safely, the school would not be able to open. Many precautions were taken to prevent COVID-19 on campus. Some of these efforts included a low-density population of both students and faculty, frequent testing, mask requirements, and social distancing policies.  

As the number of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 in Massachusetts has continued to fluctuate since the spring, colleges began reopening earlier so students would be done with the semester before a possible second wave of the virus could close the school yet again.  

According to Stonehill’s Associate Vice President for Finance and Operations, Craig Binney, the number of residential students living on campus has decreased from 88% to 73% for the Fall. Although not ideal, this has helped the college re-open its doors because one of the necessary restrictions is decreased campus capacity.  

Debra Salvucci, dean of the Meehan School of Business, said she, Ubertaccio, and others on campus put a lot of work into making this semester both safe and feasible.  

“We have done everything to condense everything on campus for students- we now have 455 remote students. We have taken out most seating indoors. But what we did over the summer was we looked at the square footage of each classroom and figured out how manty students we could fit in the classrooms. Everyone has to wear mask in the classroom,” she said.  

She also said the faculty trained over the summer on how to hold class via Zoom in both a synchronous and asynchronous format. This is helpful because if a student tests positive and needs to quarantine, he or she can access classes without falling behind.   

Zoom has been used by schools and businesses because it allows for face-to-face meetings.  

Stonehill planned COVID-19 testing dates and times into students’ schedules for the required weekly test. Students can be tested more often if they wish to with athletes testing twice a week. Faculty and staff also must be tested. Guests are not permitted on campus without a guest pass and are not allowed in any of the residential buildings.  

Peter Ubertaccio, the dean of the May School of Arts and Sciences, said it is important that students are tested weekly and that results are produced quickly.  

“We will be reporting out the case numbers every week to public health authorities and making the percentage available to the community each week,” he said.  

Ubertaccio said the school is using more technology than in the spring. The remote learning aspect of the classes, where students and professors are not in the class together, also allows them to “attend” class without a mask because they are in different locations. 

He said in the Spring, the performing arts and science labs were hit hard by the pandemic due to social distancing rules.  

When things will get back to normal is unknown. 

“We are really in mercy of what the state decides to do. We have no alternative but to keep everyone safe. We couldn’t do our theatre production in the spring so we are trying to help do what we can, but public health is what it is and there is really no way around it,” Ubertaccio said.  

The financial burden the pandemic has hit schools and businesses everywhere.  

 Craig Binney said the pandemic cost the college millions of dollars between having to compensate with students not living on campus and purchasing items and services to make the college safer, such as masks, sanitizing stations, outdoor seating, and plexiglass barriers.   

In total, there have been 33 positions on campus that have either been eliminated or unfilled. There have also been four employee position lay-offs and 30 employees who took voluntary retirement packages.   

“The college has also tried to cut costs and been forced to reduce expenses in general expensing,” Binney said, “We've reduced our expenses in several dining hall was reduced to a 25% capacity from 75% capacity. You can have six people at a table six feet apart.”   

Binney said he is following the schools' mission statement of having both “light and hope” which reassures students to follow the rules in order to stay on campus.  

“Whenever I listen to people talk, such as Governor Charlie Baker, we are doing all of the things he has mentioned that will be effective and beneficial to the safety of our campus,” Binney said.