Early Tuesday morning, a handful of people gathered by the University of Idaho Administration Building to protestUI’s decision to continue with in-person classes this fall.
About six to seven community members held homemade signs while social distancing and wearing masks. The protest was organized by Holly Kim, a UI master’s student. Kim also began an online petition against the university’s decision to hold in-person classes.
“I care enough about my community and those who live here to show up and express my opinion about (UI) going face-to-face,” protester and former UI faculty member Melda Hume said.
Kyle Schumaker, a UI staff member, said he came to the protest to voice his concern about bringing students back to campus when COVID-19 cases in Latah County have increased.
“I think I’m part of a pretty prominent voice of faculty, staff and students who have a concern right now,” Schumaker said. “But we have to ask ourselves: ‘is that worth opening up for?’”
Kali Nelson can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @kalinelson6
Audrey
This coronavirus has evolved to an almost 'perfect' state: highly contagious and not too lethal. There is a good chance that it will never go away (https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/05/27/coronavirus-endemic/). Although reopening certainly carries risk, it also seems unrealistic for campus to remain closed. With diligent testing and contact tracing and timely quarantine, reopening may be doable. In fact, South Korea never shut down, and never even issued stay-at-home orders, and they still managed to keep COVID in control (https://ourworldindata.org/covid-exemplar-south-korea). Even though the situation in the nation and the state has been a disaster, perhaps we could create our little bubble of healthy and preventative living despite the pandemic