Opinion: Could our action to prevent the coronavirus be more inclusive?

Universities around the world have closed to slow the spread of the coronavirus, including Utah State University. In-person courses are being changed to online courses, and university campuses across the globe are closing down until the coronavirus is neutralized. Due to these drastic measures, some students have been put in a difficult position.

Alejandra Iglesias, a student at Harvard University, is one of these students. She tweeted, “72 hrs Harvard told me to leave campus. My mom and I are homeless and I no longer have my term-time job I use to support my family.” She asked her followers to help support them while she doesn’t have a job or long-term housing. 

Iglesias is not alone. University students are expected to participate in online classes, when they originally signed up for in-person lecture courses. Students are expected to leave campus housing altogether and find different places to stay. On campus jobs and opportunities are being shut down, leaving students unemployed. What seems to have slipped people’s minds is the fact that not everyone is lucky enough to have the resources to accommodate these new realities. 

According to a set of surveys conducted by Hope Center at Temple University, 48% of four-year college students who responded to the survey faced housing insecurity. On top of that, 14% of four-year college students whose parents received a college education have been homeless at some point while attending university. The coronavirus is only making these financial and housing situations worse for students. 

While I don’t believe that universities are trying to cater to privileged students, it is very clear that this is exactly what is happening.   

My family lives in Germany, so going home is not an option for me. I’m very lucky to have a good job off-campus, so I don’t have to worry about being unemployed. I can only imagine what it would be like if USU sent everyone home; I would be forced out of the university student housing and have to find an apartment somewhere else, which would be much more expensive and incredibly stressful. 

I understand that the worldwide panic has put USU and other universities in a difficult position. However, when universities like USU make important decisions regarding their students and don’t account for the socioeconomic variances in need across the student body, poor decisions are made. In other words, assuming that each student at USU is in the same position is wrong. While shutting down the campus and transferring everyone to online courses is reasonable, I think it is unreasonable to force students out of on campus housing. Not everyone has a family to go home to. Thank goodness that USU’s official policy is to leave student housing if possible, rather than having a blanket-eviction notice like Harvard and other universities.

It’s important to remember that everyone is in a different situation, and every individual needs to be accounted for. So, while we’re all going through this unprecedented situation together, let’s think about how we can prepare so that next time: our response is a bit more inclusive. We need to consider that some students at USU don’t have anywhere else to go, so kicking students out of housing can force them into homelessness. I know that the universities around the world are doing the best they can with what they’re given, but I know that there’s a solution that doesn’t involve abandoning underprivileged students. 

Featured image courtesy of AP Photo/David Zalubowski