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In this assignment, students will compare and contrast the historical and contemporary impacts of epidemics on college campuses and consider students’ responses to the protective measures put in place, such as quarantines and virtual curricular and co-curricular gatherings.
In each section below there is a topic to consider, resources to review, and questions to answer. Students should handwrite or type their responses as they will be given an opportunity to upload them at the end of the assignment.
Learning Outcomes
Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to define quarantine and isolation
Students will be able to describe at least 3 instances of quarantines on campuses from U.S. history
Students will be able to describe the positive effects of issuing quarantine orders historically in the U.S.
Students will be able to describe the negative effects of issuing quarantine orders historically in the U.S.
A photograph of students walking across campus while wearing masks and Virginia Tech shirts (Virginia Tech, 2020).
- Current Context
Currently, COVID-19 is wreaking havoc on the entire world, and higher education only is one sector dealing with the daily consequences of the global pandemic. The impacts on higher education can be considered from many angles: financial, political, economic, policy-related, physical and mental health, and social.
>Read this article from Inside Higher Ed to learn more:
Currently, COVID-19 is wreaking havoc on the entire world, and higher education only is one sector dealing with the daily consequences of the global pandemic. The impacts on higher education can be considered from many angles: financial, political, economic, policy-related, physical and mental health, and social.
>Read this article from Inside Higher Ed to learn more:
Set a timer for 4 minutes and, in a journal or Word Doc, free-write your response to the following question: How has the pandemic impacted you and your college experience (academically, financially, socially, mentally, etc.)? You will have the opportunity to polish your response before submitting.
2. Historical Experiences
2. Historical Experiences
Colleges across the country have long dealt with epidemics and pandemics that have greatly impacted the campus community. During the 1920’s, 1930’s, and 1940’s higher education dealt with waves of Scarlet Fever epidemics and in 1957 they dealt with the impacts of H2N2 or “the Asiatic Flu.”
Colleges across the country have long dealt with epidemics and pandemics that have greatly impacted the campus community. During the 1920’s, 1930’s, and 1940’s higher education dealt with waves of Scarlet Fever epidemics and in 1957 they dealt with the impacts of H2N2 or “the Asiatic Flu.”
>Use the following resources to learn about the impacts of these epidemics on students and how they dealt with them. (Students may need to do a keyword search of the following resources for words such as “quarantine,” “influenza”, “flu,” and “epidemic” to find relevant passages.)
>Use the following resources to learn about the impacts of these epidemics on students and how they dealt with them. (Students may need to do a keyword search of the following resources for words such as “quarantine,” “influenza”, “flu,” and “epidemic” to find relevant passages.)
2. As you read, students have long dealt with the impacts of pandemics on their college experiences. Set a timer for 2 minutes and note the similarities and differences between your own experiences and those of the students from the 1940's and 1950's.
![An image from Virginia Tech Libraries' Special Collections depicting Dr. William F. Henderson, College Surgeon, Miss Frances Brockenborough, Superintendent of the Infirmary, and Miss E. L. Garrison, Assistant Nurse ([Dr. William F. Henderson, College Surgeon at the Infirmary], 1903)](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/sitesv/AICyYdb8fiJJh4TD_plgK9pBgBpTVXw9JnrHlG9SDln5kiXi1RNnEmVQdRTju6kpgqifTUZe4f6tpdlxyKFZP6RXmiwUiowJ0cuOqFlriwz2yorg0tHcIh0FDYa366I83-7Nw_ftgwTQ6d6CI85rSwAJcu985uWa93BJTPiG8LNHIBQUDfHEyNhbE7JvArOcsLefjch8KQv04HGfP7Uh6vZhkw2QuMtfJ-lFpSBDU7k=w1280)
An image from Virginia Tech Libraries' Special Collections depicting Dr. William F. Henderson, College Surgeon, Miss Frances Brockenborough, Superintendent of the Infirmary, and Miss E. L. Garrison, Assistant Nurse
([Dr. William F. Henderson, College Surgeon at the Infirmary], 1903)
([Dr. William F. Henderson, College Surgeon at the Infirmary], 1903)
A photograph of an empty Squires Student Center on Virginia Tech's campus with a sign posted that reads "Be safe: Stay 6 feet away from others"
(Virginia Tech Student Engagement and Campus Life , 2020).
(Virginia Tech Student Engagement and Campus Life , 2020).
3. Contemporary Experiences
3. Contemporary Experiences
Campus administrators have a responsibility to keep students safe while advancing educational aims and maintaining operations and Virginia Tech is no exception.
Campus administrators have a responsibility to keep students safe while advancing educational aims and maintaining operations and Virginia Tech is no exception.
>Read these two resources from VT outlining operations
during COVID-19:
>Read these two resources from VT outlining operations
during COVID-19:
3. In your journal or Word Doc, respond to the following questions:
What measures has your campus imposed on students to ostensibly keep them safe, physically and mentally, this fall?
From your perspective, what positive and negative impacts have these official responses had on the student body?
>Additional resources to consider (optional):
4. Humor
4. Humor
Humor is one method of coping with stressful or otherwise adverse experiences.
>Consider these three resources to answer the question below. (Students may need to do a keyword search of the following resources for words such as “quarantine,” “influenza”, “flu,” and “epidemic” to find relevant passages.)
Humor is one method of coping with stressful or otherwise adverse experiences.
>Consider these three resources to answer the question below. (Students may need to do a keyword search of the following resources for words such as “quarantine,” “influenza”, “flu,” and “epidemic” to find relevant passages.)
4. In your journal or Word Doc, respond to the following questions:
What impact has humor had on your experiences with COVID-19?
How have you personally used humor to cope with the COVID-19 Pandemic?
A student's Spring 2020 graduation photo that includes humorous references to the COVID-19 pandemic such as a mask, gloves, and toilet paper (Virginia Tech, 2020).
Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets members take health and safety precautions while sitting in class by wearing masks and separated by six feet (Virginia Tech, 2020).
5. Time to submit!
5. Time to submit!
>Use this form to submit your responses to the questions above.
>Use this form to submit your responses to the questions above.
Each response should be approximately 200 words in length.
Additional Considerations
Additional Considerations
(Optional)
![An image from Virginia Tech Libraries' Special Collections ([Beds and nurses in VPI College Infirmary], ca. 1900–1910)](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/sitesv/AICyYdbGIIfK6j3dfqfp0kJTxMNKDEZgTQquMRvnYc9XYiOnI9pYmHKlc0JFXTfKb7lxWkLth4MHVdI9vOBXPotZBrsQk0doawN3DDozk3yXIVo_XgFH90M76wZeNLXYnQEZnS57pHqi1zlxSWInMQVbSRatf8gTzmJtipzTjdkJRO0X3ktIEQHa1KrPQ1mKw6J--7vEEnzNN1TR6uBK6q43cmUSx_UCL_cfMbXP4o4=w1280)
An image from Virginia Tech Libraries' Special Collections
([Beds and nurses in VPI College Infirmary], ca. 1900–1910)
([Beds and nurses in VPI College Infirmary], ca. 1900–1910)
For further review:
For further review:
Historical:
Visit this site and search for "infirmary" to view historical photos from Virginia Tech:
View miscellaneous newspaper clippings from the 1920's referencing a flu epidemic at V.P.I. (VT)
View scanned pages from the Virginia Tech publication "The Bugle's Echo Volume III, 1912-1920" about the Spanish Flu in 1918.
View scanned pages from "The Virginia Tech" about the end of the Spanish Flu epidemic on campus in 1918.
View the Medical History Form from 1978 that VT students were required to submit before being allowed to register for classes.
Contemporary
Visit these Instagram pages to view contemporary photos from Virginia Tech during COVID-19:
Visit these pages to learn more about contemporary actions Virginia Tech is taking for students' physical and mental health during the pandemic:
View the current Immunization and Medical History Form that VT students are required to submit before being allowed to register for classes.
Four VT students sit on the Drillfield while taking health and safety precautions such as wearing masks
and sitting six feet apart on a large blanket
(Franusich, 2020).
and sitting six feet apart on a large blanket
(Franusich, 2020).
For further reflection:
For further reflection:
What has been your own personal reaction to the COVID-19 Pandemic?
How should senior-level administrators weigh students’ mental and physical health concerns in this situation?
How should entry-level administrators attend to students’ mental and physical health concerns in this situation?
How should mid-level administrators manage-up and manage down regarding mental and physical health?
How should employees manage their own mental and physical health while also attending to that of their students’?
What implications are there for low-income students that may not be present for students who are comfortable financially?
What implications are there for queer and trans* students that may not be present for heterosexual and cisgender students?
How might international students be impacted differently than domestic students?
What fiscal and legal concerns must senior-level administrators also weight in addition to the health components?
How might three of the following support students differently in the current pandemic: advisors, campus recreation employees, RAs, programming boards, instructors, TAs, counseling center staff, diversity/inclusion offices, first-gen student support areas, student success centers, the Provost.
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