Move In, Move Out: For In-Person College, Everything Rests On The First Few Weeks

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Students move into dorms on Monday at the University of Georgia in Athens.





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A student says goodbye to his family after moving into his dorm at the University of Georgia.





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Kelsey Lawrence, an incoming freshman from Atlanta, makes her way up the hill to Russell Hall, a mostly freshman dorm that can house about 1,000 students. She’s pushing a luggage cart piled high with clothes and shoes. «I probably won’t have enough space for all of it, she says, «but I’m going to try.

She elects to have her father and sister go inside with her, which leaves her mother, Vanessa Lawrence, outside. Mom is feeling good about the reopening; she packed up medicine and snacks, in case Kelsey gets sick. Having her daughter away at college gives Vanessa comfort, she says. Kelsey will get better access to testing and health care on campus than back home, plus there’s less risk for the rest of the family if she decides to be social and gets exposed.





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The Lawrence family moves their youngest daughter, Kelsey (center), into her new dorm room. The university allowed each student only two move-in helpers, leaving mom Vanessa Lawrence (far right) to wait outside.





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University of Georgia Associate Professor Jon Swindler is apprehensive about the fall semester. «There’s just so much unknown still, he says.





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He stresses the value of learning in-person when it comes to art. «That moment when a student thinks that they’ve made a mistake or they think that something went wrong. And you’re like, ‘Hey, stop, let’s look at this,’ he says. Those moments are where the real learning happens — «really important moments in the studio that make being in-person in art school really important.

Pushback to in-person

The plan to reopen the University of Georgia and hold in-person classes has been met with serious dissent from faculty. In early August, students and staff held a «die-in to protest the reopening.

A major critique has been how the university plans to use coronavirus testing. There is currently a mass testing site on a field on campus that anticipates running about 300 tests a day, all voluntary.

According to Dr. Shelley Nuss, who is helping to implement campus reopening, there is a plan to make the operation more randomized to better screen the campus for COVID-19, but that plan is still in the works. «Both self-selected and randomly selected individuals will have access to free testing, according to a spokesperson from the university. «Testing will always be voluntary.



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Financial pressures are also at play in the University of Georgia, where room and board bring in necessary revenue.

«If we were to move fully online, there is no question that there would have to be layoffs, Jere Morehead, the university’s president is quoted as saying in the student paper, The Red & Black.

UGA is not the first large public university that’s been down this road. On Monday, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reversed its plan to hold in-person classes after multiple coronavirus clusters surfaced on campus. Students at UNC are beginning the move-out process, just two weeks after they moved in.





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Students on campus at the University of Georgia in Athens.





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On Monday night at around 11 p.m., the bar strip in downtown Athens was overflowing with students, most not wearing masks





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On Monday night at around 11 p.m., the bar strip in downtown Athens was overflowing with students, most not wearing masks


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On Monday night at around 11 p.m., the bar strip in downtown Athens was overflowing with students, most not wearing masks. In an effort to control the number of people packed inside, bars were enforcing capacity limits. That meant the lines outside were long and rowdy, with students reuniting after months away. There were hugs and students talking together closely, certainly not social distancing.

Ultimately, it seems the success of the college’s reopening plan will be decided on a packed sidewalk, a dark bar or an off-campus party.

Vanessa Lawrence, who dropped her daughter Kelsey off at Russell Hall, is well aware of how things might play out. When she and her husband left, she told her daughter to be prepared for campus to shut down. «Don’t worry, she said, «if it happens, we’ll be here to pick you up.

Lauren Migaki contributed to this report.