NEWS

A not-so-empty-campus at WCC

A sign describing COVID-related procedures for visitors on a door of the Technical and Industrial building. Torrence Williams | Washtenaw Voice

By Debra Destefani
Deputy Editor

Washtenaw Community College has been open since 1965, and nothing has put things on hold quite like COVID-19. From March to June, the campus was essentially a ghost town.

Beginning on June 1, a gradual number of operations started happening again, but things on campus are anything but normal.

Students enrolled in programs that need to complete lab work for their degrees have all been continuing to meet on campus, albeit with strict sanitary restrictions.

The duty of screening the health of each person who enters campus has been picked up by campus security, who according to Chief of Public Safety Scott Hilden, are projected to see up to a thousand students per day this fall.

“A year ago I didn’t think I would be setting up protocols to protect the public from a pandemic, but it’s a serious safety threat. In order to provide opportunities to the public, it’s critical,” said Hilden.

Benches and other public seating on campus are temporarily chained off due to COVID-19. Torrence Williams | Washtenaw Voice

Students have to decide how comfortable they’d be on campus while planning their schedules.

Neil Sterling, 34, a student of the nursing program at Washtenaw Community College and resident of Ann Arbor, is early enough into his degree to be able to choose to forego his labs this semester in favor of completing his prerequisites online.

“I didn’t really like the idea of being there during all this mess. Because of the uncertainty of what they were going to do with labs, I chose all my classes to be online purposefully,” said Sterling.

Before allowing faculty and students back on campus, WCC contacted four specialized companies to assess the facilities to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. These companies established capacities, tested the water quality and airflow of buildings, and developed new cleaning and sanitation guidelines.

If an employee or student suspects they have COVID-19 or think they have been exposed to the virus, the college will perform additional disinfecting of classrooms, offices, or other building spaces the individual visited, said President Bellanca in an email sent in July.