Yesterday, minister of advanced education and skills training Anne Kang issued a public statement saying that provincial health officer Bonnie Henry has contacted the presidents of all public colleges and universities in British Columbia to tell them to prepare for a full return to on-campus education in September. Today, Camosun College president Sherri Bell confirmed to Nexus that the college—which has been operating primarily online since March of last year—is looking at a return to in-person learning on campus in September.
“We are planning on a full return to campus in September,” says Bell. “Based on the letter that we received from Bonnie Henry, it seems like it’s safe to do so. So with the support of the provincial health officer, we can begin our planning. So we’re at the beginning stages of looking at what could this look like, for us?”
Bell says that what it looks like depends on the updated Go-Forward Guidelines for post-secondary institutions, which aren’t available yet. She was unable to comment on specifics, such as, for example, if there will be a CamFest or if cafeterias will be open in September.
“I think a lot of it will depend on receiving the Go-Forward Guidelines, but what we do know through the letter that we received yesterday [is] that we will be using other safety methods other than social distancing in a classroom,” says Bell. “So we’ll have to wait to see what those are, but, you know, mask-wearing, hand-washing, all the protection mechanisms that have been in place will be there. I’m not sure about the size of gatherings; we haven’t received any indication yet, so that’s what will come to us in the Go-Forward Guidelines.”
Bell says that although the college is planning for a full return, she’s also aware that things could change between now and September.
“Given the message that we received yesterday, we are going to go forward planning on fully back to normal in September,” she says. “We’ve gone through a year where things just keep changing, so I’m fully prepared to say we’ll be back to as normal as we can in the fall but we also have to be prepared that there may be changes that are out of our control. But the good thing is this letter came at a time where the college is planning September, that students are thinking about registering. Now, will we have more classes that are blended or online? I’m not sure. Each of the schools is looking at that exact thing right now. But I can tell you that our moving forward will look more like it was before than the way it is now.”
In her letter to the institutions, Henry said that “Given the expected timelines for immunization it is essential that we plan for a full return to in-person activities on campus in September 2021, including in-person instruction, with faculty and staff returning to campus sooner. Immunization will support what seems likely to become stable coexistence with COVID-19 as another manageable, seasonal ailment.”
On a statement on its website, Camosun said that “We are now looking at strategies to bring us all back safely,” which will involve working with Island Health and WorkSafeBC to create more detailed safety plans.
“I think this is great for students that have been struggling online,” says Bell, “students that have had been isolated for a year. As [Henry] said in her letter, mental health has been a challenge for both employees and students, so having the ability to be back to face to face, even if it looks differently, even if we’re wearing masks, even if we can’t gather in huge numbers, it’s a step forward in living with this virus. I’m very happy about the timing and the opportunities that it will allow students to engage with one another and feel like they’re back to somewhat of a normal educational learning experience.”
Nexus posted on the Camosun College Student Society app this morning to see how students were feeling about returning to campus. Reactions varied from “excited and nervous at the same time” to “I like online and limited on-campus time” to “I’m not a fan of online school… Not sure if it’ll be safe but at least I can learn if we’re in person.” Roshni Roshni said “Looking at the [COVID] situation currently, I don’t find it safe to return to [c]ampus. I guess it’s better to stay home and stay safe until [the] situation gets completely normal.” Bell says that she understands that some students will share that feeling of unease.
“I think there will be some anxiety, there will be questions, there will be concerns about coming back to campus, but we’ll work those through in the next number of months, because we have the time to do it,” says Bell. “When you think about a year ago, we flipped a switch and went from face to face to, in one week, being online. That’s not the case now—we do have time to be thoughtful and look at options and possibilities.”
The British Columbia Federation of Students, which Camosun students are all members of, issued a press release yesterday saying that it’s optimistic that students’ needs “will continue to be taken into account every step of the way” during the return to campus.
Bell—who recently announced she will be retiring at the end of the year—says that on a personal level, she was very excited to get the letter (which you can read here) from Henry yesterday.
“To be honest, I was ecstatic,” she says. “I really was. I was so excited to see her letter and just to see the possibilities. This has been almost exactly a year and it’s been a lot for all of us… Students have done their very best, and so have our instructors, and so have our staff and supports for students—people have really pulled together. It’s like, when you come close to that one-year mark, you wonder, how much more can we do? How much more can everybody take of being like this? And so when you see something that talks about at least the light at the end of the tunnel and mentions the vaccines and what we can be doing in September, I was pretty excited.”