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Syracuse University students leaving campus ahead of winter break said they’re relieved to return home after a semester of coronavirus precautions and social isolation.

After holding in-person courses for 12 weeks, the university transitioned to online classes Nov. 16 due to rising COVID-19 infections both on campus and in Onondaga County. Students told The Daily Orange that they’re surprised SU was able to offer in-person instruction for much of the semester and hope they can return to campus in the spring.

Julia Pepin, a sophomore electrical engineering major, was surprised by how many students wore masks this semester. She was also impressed by how SU handled the virus among students and how cases remained low enough for in-person instruction to continue for so long.

“People were a lot more responsible than I thought they were going to be,” Pepin said. “I really thought we were going to get sent home within the first month.”

Pepin’s eager to return home because coronavirus-related restrictions have made it challenging for her to meet friends. She missed the sense of community on campus and felt she couldn’t get to know people in her classes.

For Emma Platten, a sophomore mechanical engineering major, taking classes virtually made it hard to separate her social and academic lives.

“It felt very isolating,” Platten said. “It never felt like there was a break. It was just school and nothing else.”

Despite SU’s restrictions on social gatherings and visits to other residence halls, Joshua Freson, a freshman sports analytics major, was able to make friends.

For Nick Luttrell, a freshman broadcast and digital journalism major, the fear of being sent home encouraged him to experience as much of SU as he could while following health guidelines.

“You never know when the COVID cases are just going to shoot up like they have in the past week,” Lutrell said. “And so you’re kind of soaking everything up to really enjoy the little things and hang out in small groups.”

SU is requiring all students moving out of university housing to pack and label their belongings in case residential instruction doesn’t resume in the spring semester. The university is also requiring students to receive a negative COVID-19 test before leaving central New York for winter break.

SU is prepared to accommodate students who choose to remain at the university over break and those who must remain in Onondaga County for a mandated quarantine or isolation period, Vice Chancellor Mike Haynie said in a press conference Tuesday.

The university is using South Campus apartments and rooms in the Sheraton Syracuse University Hotel to quarantine students. The university has “excess capacity” to quarantine students, and quarantine housing in the Sheraton is not full, he said.

The spring semester is set to resume on Jan. 25, and it will not include a spring break.

Alex Malanoski, a broadcast and digital journalism major, expects the university to resume in-person instruction next semester, but he plans to bring all of his belongings home in case students can’t come back in January.

“I’m hesitant,” Malanoski said. “I’m trying to be optimistic about it, but obviously what’s happening here is not a good sign.”

Pepin said she’ll continue to adhere to public health guidelines when she returns home so she’s able to return to SU for the start of the spring semester.

She and her friends have followed the university’s COVID-19 guidelines throughout the fall semester because they were determined to prevent SU from shutting down, Pepin said. She hopes students will have the same mindset in the spring.

“We want to start off with a clean slate again, just like we did in the fall and not start behind because then we’re gonna get sent home way earlier,” Pepin said.

Asst. news digital editor Chris Hippensteel contributed reporting to this article.

Published on November 18, 2020 at 10:25 pm

Contact Abby: akweiss@syr.edu | @abbyweiss_21