Winthrop University will have an in-person commencement for graduates this coming May as well as an in-person Fall semester free of COVID-19 regulations, according to President Hynd, however, Gov. McMaster on March 5 declared that “remaining state employees [return] back to the workplace on a full-time basis.” Therefore, normal operations are coming to campus sooner than expected.
As COVID-19 vaccines become more widely available, Winthrop officials made plans to transition back into traditional in-person learning at a relatively slow pace compared to what McMaster has now ordered, which is for state employees to return to work at a full-time, in-person capacity as soon as March 15.
“Late Friday the Department of Administration sent word that state agencies must immediately expedite the transition back to normal operations. While we heard your concerns during the town hall meeting on returning to phase 3 too quickly, this is a decision we no longer control,” said Hynd in an email sent to faculty and staff on March 6. “The expectation is that most all state workers, regardless of care-giving responsibilities for school-age children or for vulnerable adults, must be back in the workplace full time very soon.”
Even though vaccines are becoming more widely available, many faculty members are not able to receive the full dosage of the vaccine before having to return to work. According to CNN, President Biden expects every United States adult to have the vaccine available to them by the end of May, which does not coincide well with McMaster’s plan for everyone returning to work this month.
“The Governor’s decision is premature,” said an anonymous faculty member. “I haven’t even gotten my first vaccine yet.”
Despite the Winthrop community generally feeling that McMaster’s executive order has come too soon, both the faculty and staff as well as Hynd and other Winthrop officials are confident in the Winthrop community’s ability to still enforce a safe campus.
An anonymous faculty member called McMaster’s plans “dangerous, irresponsible and poorly planned,” and said “the Winthrop community has done a pretty great job of keeping risk/numbers low, and I think we’ll maintain that. This has everything to do with our students, who’ve proven to be exceptionally responsible and conscientious, even in the face of public threats to health and safety like our governor has made.”
Hynd also believes that the Winthrop community is equipped to handle the risks entailed in in-person learning at this point in the pandemic and is confident that an in-person college experience will be worthwhile to students.
“I think it’s important to know that we want our students back on campus so that they can experience everything that college offers such as the opportunity to go to class in person, the opportunity to meet personally and get to know their faculty members, and form lifelong relationships, not just with their faculty members, but with the staff [and] friends that they’ve made,” Hynd said at the virtual faculty and staff town hall meeting on March 2. “This really is a place of transformation and preparation for career and preparation for life, so we’re looking forward to moving forward with the aspiration that this Fall, everybody will be back on campus, we may be wearing masks, but we’ll still have to see how that goes. Maybe socially distancing, but we want to really provide that academic experience and college experience that our students and the citizens of the state of South Carolina desire.”
Preparing for a traditional 2021 Fall semester entails significant efforts from all departments and offices at the university, particularly the Office of Residence Life.
“On the residential side, the university will likely shift back to the campus residency requirement for first- and second-year students. Waivers were provided for students who chose not to live on campus during the 2020-21 academic year,” according to News and Media Services Manager Judy Longshaw.
There have also been significant efforts made by Winthrop officials in preparing for an in-person commencement.
The university held off on an in-person graduation for 2020 graduates because of the pandemic, however, even before McMaster’s executive order, Winthrop officials were making plans for a more traditional ceremony in May 2021.
“I hope you are as thrilled as I am with the prospect of the first, large in-person indoor events to be held on campus in more than a year,” said Hynd in a Feb. 25 campus-wide e-mail. “As long as we continue to do the right things as far as our campus safety protocols for the remainder of the Spring semester, we will be able to once again host these long-awaited ceremonies.”
According to President of the Council of Student Leaders Brandon Jackson, graduating students very much value the opportunity to have an in-person graduation ceremony. It is expected that 760 undergraduate students and 235 graduate students will be graduating this May.
On the other hand, some students fear that it is too soon to have an in-person commencement and feel that other options should be available for students who are not comfortable with an in-person commencement.
“I appreciate the effort to make everything feel normal again for graduating seniors,” said Jarismary Polo, a senior Psychology major. “However, I feel like it would be best to accommodate all students, especially since most students do not feel comfortable having a physical graduation because of Covid. In a way, it can make them feel singled out for protecting their own health or their families by not attending.”
Despite such feelings from some graduating students, university officials still believe that hosting an in-person commencement will not be a significant risk to the Winthrop community.
“Winthrop has made the health and safety of the campus community its top priority, and that will not change,” Longshaw said.
There are significant strides made by the Winthrop community towards adhering to McMaster’s executive order to return to work in a safe manner as well as towards providing a fulfilling in-person college experience for students graduating this May as well as students returning to campus in the Fall.
See Spring commencement plan as outlined by Longshaw below:
This spring’s Commencement will take the form of five ceremonies in the Winthrop Coliseum:
*Thursday, May 6
7 p.m.: All graduate degree candidates
*Friday, May 7
10 a.m.: College of Arts and Sciences (B.S. and B.S.W. degree candidates) and the College of Visual and Performing Arts
3 p.m.: College of Arts and Sciences (B.A. degree candidates)
*Saturday, May 8
10 a.m.: Richard W. Riley College of Education
3 p.m.: College of Business Administration
All degree candidates will need to confirm attendance in advance for their assigned seating and will only be allowed up to two tickets for their guests.
The university will implement COVID-19 measures, such as: requiring masks to be worn; seating degree candidates and their guests upon their arrival at the Coliseum; appropriately physically distancing attendees as well as graduates’ chairs on the Coliseum floor; and limiting unnecessary close contact.
Photo by Kaily Paddie
