CSUB opens spring semester quietly to avoid omicron surge
Jan. 24—It was the first day of the spring semester at Cal State Bakersfield on Monday, but the campus was quiet.
There weren't many students milling about on the patio of the Walter Stiern Library between classes. Faculty were scarce in Dorothy Donahue Hall. Parking was plentiful.
The relatively empty campus was all by design. With COVID cases rising locally, CSUB announced that most classes would begin virtually for the first three weeks of the semester.
"We're doing our best to keep people safe," said Vernon Harper, provost and vice president for academic affairs at CSUB.
That announcement came on Jan. 14, and daily case rates in Kern County have not abated: On Monday, Public Health announced 6,941 new cases from over the weekend.
"We've been hearing from students that that was the best decision," said ASI President Stephanie Magaña.
Everything on campus is open and staffed for the semester, so students can get help with financial aid or even use the student recreation center. However, the lack of in-person classes made a difference in drastically reducing the number of people on campus.
The few students on campus Monday were mostly picking up books in the bookstore, working on-campus jobs or attending a few of the lab classes that are still in-person.
One of those students was Carlos Gonzalez, a biochemistry major who was on campus for a chemistry laboratory. He appreciated being able to come on campus to do hands-on work for the lab while noting the atmosphere.
"It's peaceful," he said.
The university allowed faculty members to decide which classes would start in-person. These included courses taught in science labs and art studios, as well as performance classes.
Erin Pruitt, a senior communications major, said she appreciates that the university has deferred to faculty in deciding how to run courses. Her French professor discussed the possibility of having small groups meet in the library to have conversation groups as students began to feel more comfortable with in-person meetings.
When other university campuses, especially CSUs, began to announce over winter break that they were switching to remote courses to begin the semester, CSUB students said they were interested in making that switch, too. Magaña said the ASI relayed those concerns.
Returning to virtual learning to deal with a surge of COVID cases now doesn't feel the same way it did in March 2020, Pruitt said. Faculty have learned a lot since then about how to teach engaging courses online. Her professors have done a good job encouraging students to turn their cameras on and get involved in class discussions — which is a big step from the early days of the pandemic.
Most importantly, she feels optimistic that there's an end date on the horizon for returning to in-person courses, unlike at other points in the pandemic.
CSUB announced that in-person courses would remain virtual through Feb. 11. Harper said that the university will remain flexible and listen to health authorities. However, the university feels confident about Feb. 12 as the date when in-person courses will return
"We're hopeful and forecast that (the surge) will be sharp in an uptick and sharp in a decline," he said.
Most of the courses that students have signed up for are scheduled to be either in-person or hybrid, Harper said. Right now, enrollment for those courses is at about 60 percent, he said.
You can reach Emma Gallegos at 661-395-7394.
