Students return to ECU classrooms for fall semester
GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - Students returned to East Carolina University Monday for the Fall 2022 semester.
It was the first day of classes for many Pirates.
This year, the university will not enforce COVID-19 guidelines for the fall semester.
ECU Executive Director of Student Health Lankia Wright says there will be a space available for students to isolate if they catch the virus. However, if a student contracts monkeypox, they’ll be asked to go home.
“Isolation for monkeypox is over a very long period of time,” Wright said. “It can be four to six weeks. We do encourage anyone, if they’re diagnosed with monkeypox, to go home.”
ECU discontinued its COVID-19 dashboard at the end of the spring semester and will continue to monitor local conditions.
With the coronavirus last year came online learning, which caused challenges for a lot of students. Many of them are now concerned with how well they are prepared for this new semester, but some were content with the online option.
“I took online classes my senior year and a lot of my junior year, but I don’t think it really made me ill-prepared in any way,” sophomore Emma Leary said. “It was kind of annoying because you were out of class a lot and you didn’t really get to see your peers, but other than that it was great.”
ECU professor Melinda Doty says it is clear that the quality of work has been impacted.
“I think you can kind of tell there is a little bit of a disconnect from students, but for the most part, students are really trying,” Doty says. “They realize they may have missed a little bit during those two years from the pandemic so they’re trying a bit harder.”
Doty adds that expectations for students, like deadlines, were altered last year due to online learning but are now generally back to normal. Still, professors say students are always welcome to see them for help.
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