RPI dorms busier than classrooms
Students spent more days in quarantine than out this semester
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute students are entering their third week of quarantine as the university struggles to contain a spike in COVID -19 infections.
In a Wednesday letter to the school community, President Shirley Ann Jackson wrote that in-person instruction will resume on Monday as long as students adhere to quarantine and safety protocols through the weekend and if surveillance testing continues to produce few positives.
“As a result of our collective diligence, testing results have begun to improve,” Jackson wrote.
RPI students began the semester on Jan. 22 in mandatory quarantine and have already spent more than half of their spring term confined to their rooms.
By Monday, the students
will have been locked down for at least 32 days — a minimum of two weeks at the start of the semester and another 18 days ending Sunday — and free of quarantine for 24 days.
RPI has seen 114 infections among its on- and off-campus students and staff this spring, with 13 cases occurring in the last week, according to the university’s COVID-19 dashboard. In a weekly pool of 8,059 tests, that is an infection rate well under 1 percent. In the fall semester that ended Nov. 20, the campus saw 22 cases the entire term.
All students and staff, even those living off campus within a 10-mile radius of RPI, must submit to mandatory testing twice per week. Anyone who misses a COVID -19 test risks disciplinary action.
“We are using every tool at our disposal to mitigate the spread of COVID -19 within the Rensselaer community,” RPI spokesman Reeve Hamilton said in a statement.
But parents and students question the logic of keeping all students confined an extra week, regardless of exposure, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people who were exposed to the virus to stay home for 14 days. They are airing their grievances on social media about what they see as a draconian reaction to a relatively small number of cases.
The angst appears to be fueled in part by the university’s decision to restrict on-campus recreational opportunities and athletics this spring while requiring most undergraduate students to live on campus. RPI’S campus de-densification plan kept freshmen, juniors, and seniors on campus during the fall, while sophomores studied remotely. For the spring semester, juniors are studying remotely, while sophomores are back on campus.
Efforts by student leaders to lobby officials for more social outlets have been unsuccessful.
Nearly all socializing occurs virtually, two students told the Times Union.
On-campus students are prohibited from leaving their dorm buildings except for COVID -19 testing, according to students who contacted the Times Union. There are also two one-hour periods per day when students can go outside their building for fresh air as permitted by their resident assistant. Parents worry that isolation is taking a toll on students’ mental health.
“Many students are in singles and have had no human contact outside of COVID -19 testing,” one parent wrote in an email.
An Rpi-sanctioned parent council page on Facebook has grown by 44 percent, adding more than 800 members since March 2020. It has also spawned two rogue RPI parent groups started by members who feel the group is not critical enough of RPI leadership’s handling of the pandemic, according to minutes from a recent parent council meeting.
The unsanctioned groups are accused of fueling misinformation and hostility, according to the minutes.
RPI is not the only institution in the Capital Region battling COVID -19. Despite implementing strict pre-arrival testing and quarantining requirements, nearly every local college campus saw a sharp spike in infections roughly 10 days into the spring semester.