Some CT colleges ease COVID restrictions

After a year of weathering a college experience scarred by the COVID-19 pandemic, at least some students are showing signs of fatigue under the restrictions meant to keep them safe.

But it appears a large party — which state police say consisted of more than 100 mostly maskless people — near the University of Connecticut campus last weekend has been the exception to an otherwise quiet spring semester at many local colleges.

With COVID violations down and the end of the school year approaching, some Connecticut colleges are rolling back pandemic restrictions.

In a letter to the UConn community last week, Eleanor JB Daugherty, the school’s dean of students and student affairs associate vice president, said incidents like the Mansfield party are a notable exception to what has been a semester marked by students’ responsible behavior.

“For the majority of our students, this has been the lesson of COVID-19 and the UConn Promise: We choose to change our behaviors for the health and safety of our

UConn community,” Daugherty wrote.

UConn spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz said the school is still investigating the party where state police ticketed three people for allegedly hosting the event they say violated COVID restrictions. Reitz said she did not have an exact number of students who have been disciplined because the school is “still conducting interviews and gathering information.”

Reitz also did not have the exact number of COVID violations this semester, because she said many of them are still in various stages of the student conduct process.

Last week, UConn began rolling back some of its COVID restrictions. As of Thursday, the university began permitting one guest per student in residence halls, though overnight visits are still not allowed. In addition, movement activities — such as vocal and dance performances — are now permitted outside.

Other Connecticut colleges are also starting to ease restrictions.

Larry Wielk, dean of students at Sacred Heart University, said students are no doubt getting tired of the COVID restrictions. He said the university is trying to help — not just by offering mental health services, but by also attempting to provide safe opportunities for them to socialize.

Last weekend, the school opened a 50 by 70 foot tent with 3,500 square feet of space to give students a place to meet.

“Students can dine, socialize and hold meetings in the tent, which has a heating system that will provide fresh air continuously by drawing air from outside,” Wielk said. “Before that, during the cold weather, we installed an ice skating rink.”

The university also has loosened some of its COVID restrictions. “For example, we recently made the decision to allow a limited number of students to attend outdoor sporting events while masked and maintaining social distance,” Wielk said.

Wielk said the school has “taken action” on “some gatherings outside what’s allowed” this semester.

“Fortunately, we have not had anything like what has happened at UConn” and some other schools, he said.

SHU spokeswoman Deborah Noack said the number of students disciplined for COVID infractions this semester “has been dramatically reduced from the fall semester.” She didn’t provide the number of violations this semester since “we are not tallying numbers because there have really been so few.”

At Fairfield University, Jennifer Anderson, the university’s vice president of marketing and communications, did not provide information on the number of COVID violations and did not say whether restrictions would be loosened on campus.

In an email, Anderson said the school “will also continue to comply with state and local guidelines with regards to in-person and on-campus events.”

She also said the entire university community is required to continue to test weekly, except for people who have been vaccinated.

At Western Connecticut State University, there are no plans to reduce restrictions, although school spokesman Paul Steinmetz said there has been some consideration in reducing the frequency students are required to be tested, Steinmetz said.

“There hasn’t been any discussion of how much it could be decreased,” he said.

The Danbury school is recovering from a recent COVID outbreak on campus . WestConn has had 45 cases among residential students this semester as of March 1, compared with 22 cases throughout the fall semester, according to data from the university.

That’s largely due to an outbreak of about 10 cases at Litchfield Hall last month that caused a stay-in-place order for those students. But the order was recently lifted, and overall, the school has been faring well, Steinmetz said.

Violations of COVID policy are fairly close to where they were last semester, Steinmetz said. About 18 students have been cited for violating the school’s guest policy, two have violated the mask policy, one has been cited for failing to isolate and 37 have been disciplined for not testing weekly, Steinmetz said.

For the most part, Steinmetz said, students have been compliant with the school’s regulations. “They’re kind of used to the procedures now,” he said.

But Steinmetz said he knows students are getting a bit weary of the regulations.

“It’s been a difficult couple of semesters,” he said. “Everybody is looking forward to next fall, which everybody hopes will be normal again.”