As some U.S. college students party, others blow the whistle
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[September 16, 2020]
By Jan Wolfe and Daphne Psaledakis
(Reuters) - Some U.S. college students are
doing the once-improbable: blowing the whistle on classmates who break
rules aimed at stemming the spread of the coronavirus.
At the University of Missouri, one senior is posting photos and videos
on a "University of Misery" Twitter account that shows students gathered
in large groups at pools, outside bars and other places - few of them
wearing masks.
The university has a form on its website where violations of the
school's COVID-19 guidelines can be anonymously reported, but posting on
Twitter "adds a different level of accountability," said the student.
"When it's up there publicly and people are retweeting it, and the
university's getting tagged over and over - then they have to reply,"
said the student, who sometimes posts videos and photos of
non-compliance sent by other students and asked for anonymity to avoid
backlash.
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Christian Basi, spokesman for the University of Missouri, which has
about 30,000 students, said there has been good compliance on campus
during daytime hours but problems arise once students leave campus.
"Where we're seeing our issues have been off campus, when individuals go
home to their private residences," Basi said.
The University of Missouri on Tuesday said in a statement that it had
expelled two students and suspended three following "flagrant
violations" of the school's coronavirus-related rules.
The county where the school is located saw a sharp rise in COVID-19
cases in August and early September, according to data on the city of
Columbia's website.
To avoid shaming individuals, the student who runs the University of
Misery account has sent content that shows smaller groups of people
violating COVID-19 guidelines to the vice chancellor for student affairs
rather than posting it online.
Still, the student has faced pushback from other students.
In one instance, the student said they heard from a sorority within an
hour of posting a video of some of its members lined up outside of a
bar, many of them not wearing masks.
"'This needs to be deleted now. We're dealing with this internally. This
does not need to be up online,'" the student said the message read.
'LUDICROUS' EXPECTATIONS
Some schools like the University of Miami are actually paying students
to enforce COVID-19 rules.
At Miami, 75 "public health ambassadors" are making $10 an hour to walk
around campus and make sure that people wear masks and socially
distance. Serious infractions can be flagged to university
administrators.
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Austin Pert, an ambassador and Miami senior, said that people
generally comply with his requests. But Pert acknowledged the
program has limitations: most violations do not take place during
the day on university grounds.
"If people want to flout the rules and put social distancing aside
for a night to go party, it's not happening on campus," Pert said.
Critics say having in-person learning during a pandemic was a
mistake to begin with.
"The notion that this population will comply with social distancing
and masking requirements is just ludicrous," said Ryan Craig, a
higher education investor and consultant. "These are college
students. They are going to do what they want to do."
At Northeastern University in Boston, administrators came across an
Instagram poll last month in which more than 100 incoming freshman
indicated that they planned to party. After the student running the
account voluntarily turned over the identities of respondents, they
received a letter warning that partying could result in punishment
up to expulsion, a university spokeswoman said.
Nearby Boston University has received about 125 anonymous tips about
violations, ranging from partying to breaking quarantine. Most have
come from students rather than faculty and staff, Dean of Students
Kenneth Elmore said.
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Ed Kellerman, a BU senior, said he would not hesitate to anonymously
report a party, calling it a matter of "life or death" for Boston
residents near campus.
Kellerman said reporting parties also increases the odds of
completing the academic year on campus.
"We're all very pro-snitch right now," Kellerman said. "No one wants
to get sent home."
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Jan Wolfe; Additional reporting
by Dan Fastenberg; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Aurora Ellis)
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