Tombstone-shaped picket signs marked the grounds of UB’s south campus lawn on Friday morning, August 14. But as of September 3, UB administrators have remained dead silent about the grim presentation.
Just four days after campus reopened for the fall semester, the school is already reporting 46 known cases of COVID-19. That number is expected to rise in the coming days, as UB begins surveillance testing and students continue to mingle with their peers.
Over the past few months, UB has attempted to roll out one of the most ambitious plans in the institution’s 175-year history: reopening campus amid a global pandemic.
With pressure mounting, UB announced Tuesday that it will begin random COVID-19 surveillance testing next week.
Campus Living is reporting a 37% reduction in on-campus housing assignments, from 7,864 students in fall 2019 to 4,817 students in fall 2020. This figure does not include residential advisors, community assistants or academic assistants.
UB will strip the names of racist namesakes Millard Fillmore, James O. Putnam and Peter B. Porter from four campus locations.
Students living on-campus will not be permitted to host guests in their rooms, according to the updated 2020-21 housing agreement released by Campus Living last week.
A number of campus eateries will be temporarily closed next semester, including Seasons (CFA), Baldy Walkway Café, Whispers at Capen, Bert’s and NY Deli and Diner (Talbert), Mrs. Rich’s (NSC), The Bowl (Ellicott) and the Apothecary Café and Whispers at Abbott on South Campus.
For a week, UB’s close to 7,000 international students and the administrators who supervise them hurried to understand and respond to a July 6 Trump administration directive to deport or deny entry to international students at U.S. colleges and universities offering virtual instruction only this fall.
UB’s faculty is 82% white and 5.9% black, with their undergraduates being 47.3% white and only 7.5% black.
The Student Association’s Board of Directors will adopt a new scheduling system to curb fraud following a May 19 resolution to remove Rules, Administration and Government Oversight Committee Chair Eric Weinman for “time theft” and other violations of SA’s Code of Ethics.
UB will be employing a new ePortfolio tool for the fall 2020 semester, Director of UB Curriculum Danielle LaMarre-Smith announced on June 10.
Sixty-five Black SUNY professors held an unprecedented meeting Monday to discuss their frustration over the way their universities responded to the racial tensions that have exploded across the country since George Floyd’s death on March 25.
UB will reopen campus for the fall 2020 semester under a “modified in-person” format, President Satish Tripathi and Provost A. Scott Weber announced Monday.
Omran Albarazanchi wishes he had been “more vocal” when he heard instances of “pure racism” during high school.
Tasfiah Khan always expected her freshman year of college would mean she could “become more independent.” She envisioned meeting new friends, creating her own schedule and settling into a new environment. But Khan, a senior at Manhattan/Hunter Science High School who plans to enroll at UB in the fall, thinks her vision may be “crushed” by the coronavirus. She’s worried UB will extend its “distance-learning” model into the fall semester. UB already decided the summer term will operate entirely remotely.
UB will begin processing direct-deposit fee refunds on the week of May 4 and students will see refunds within two business days, according to a Thursday email from Student Accounts.
UB data is showing that social distancing efforts are “flattening the curve” of COVID-19 transmission rates across Erie County, and will help new infections remain low as the state gradually reopens its economy on May 15.
UB is now issuing prorated credits for meal plans, according to a Wednesday evening email from the UB Card Office.
Jannat Inqiyad said that in order to complete the online work for her classes, she needs to leave her home since she doesn’t have internet access. Inqiyad, a sophomore health and human services major, said her family had to “sacrifice” internet connection to afford essentials after the family lost its main source of income due to COVID-19. Now, she needs to go to public libraries to complete her remote coursework and said she doesn’t feel safe leaving her house because she has family members and friends who are hospitalized with COVID-19.
Solutions by The State News
