Volume 135 No. 11

The Springfield Student Est. 1910

February 4, 2021

Volume 135 No. 11

scstudentmedia.com // @TheSpfldStudent

Back to Back With reduced capacity, Zoom courses and strict COVID protocols, the 2021 Spring semester is shaping up to look very similar to the 2020 Fall semester at Springfield College.

Photo Courtesy of Jack Margaros/The Student

On the Inside An explanation of the Wi-Fi issues over the first few weeks on campus.

A look at some early decisions to come from the Biden-Harris administration.

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February 4, 2021

COVID-19 Updates

PAGE 2

By Irene Rotondo @irenerrotondo

A

pproximately 60 percent of the student body made their official return to campus about a week and a half ago, signaling the start to the 2021 Spring semester and what begins a 15-week-long battery of COVID-19 testing for not just students, but faculty as well.

It has been reported that of the 60 percent already returned to campus, 13 people have already tested positive for COVID-19. Though disheartening, this does not necessarily come as a

surprise, as cases locally and nationally have been rising at accelerated, unprecedented rates.

Christine Johnston, Assistant Director of Campus Recreation, Alcohol & Other Drug Education and Health Promotion at Springfield, said the 13 positive cases did not come as a surprise to the school -rather, they were predicted.

“We know we’re in a different place now, than we were in August and September when we started the school year,” stated Johnston.

“There’s more cases in

the community, the test positivity rate is much higher, and we’re also just testing more. We’re definitely expecting more cases upon coming back than we did in the fall.”

There is a new testing area for students and faculty -- the baseball annex, behind the Health Center, has been converted into the “testing annex.” This now ensures comfort and stability for testing, especially given the newly-instated protocol of weekly testing for all students. This annex will also be indoors, a

change from the outdoor tents of last semester.

“Every student is going to be tested every single week, with automatic consequences for missing a week of testing,” said Johnston.

“So, it’s important for students to come on their assigned day. Those blocks are much bigger, in time, and there’s also the opportunity to make up your test.”

Johnston wanted students to be aware that if they miss their test, they do have the chance to make it up during the first hour that testing is open on Mondays,

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays.

Consequences for a missed test date without a make-up test, for a first offense, will mean a student must quarantine in their room and are not permitted to attend any in-person classes, nor enter any buildings on campus other than their residence hall. A second offense will result in a $100 fine, and a third offense will result in a two-week suspension from on-campus housing and all on-campus activSee Coronavirus on Page 10

Wi-Fi

February 4, 2021

PAGE 3

Same ol’ problems Wi-Fi problems have re-emerged on campus, posing problems in a fully remote learning environment.

By Cait Kemp @caitlinkemp09

T

he conclusion of the 2020 spring se-

mester brought upon the process of upgrading the networking systems within the Springfield College campus.

Throughout the summer, the technology team completed the work to fix the wireless side of the network, but the task of the wired side was still in process during the fall semester and over winter break.

Since the start of the 2021 spring semester last week, issues with the Wi-Fi have been noticed almost immediately.

Students have been trying to work around these difficulties, but it proves to be an exhausting task to deal with the unpredictable network.

The issue has also plagued instructors on campus, with the first two weeks being fully remote, constant Zoom crashes have caused a big problem.

Sophomore David Kilburn said, “The Wi-Fi is really bad, I struggle

to work on assignments because half the time the Wi-Fi disconnects and you have to wait awhile for it to reconnect.”

Along with trying to navigate the problems, there is a common theme of frustration that there is even a problem in the first place.

“It is beyond frustrating for the school to lack in an area so crucial to our education these days given our shift to remote learning,” said junior Emma Wesoloski.

Rachel Perry said, “With only 60 percent of the students on campus right now, I still find my Zooms breaking up… I can only imagine how bad it will be when the whole campus returns.”

Senior Nicholas Bratberg agreed that the connection has been anything but ideal. “I understand the school wants a strong Wi-Fi to support everyone. I have an idea for apartment style living, either allow an outside router or have a router for each individual apartment,” he said.

Anthony Mutti, Chief Information

Officer of Information & Technology Services (ITS), said that the network path was rebuilding every few minutes, meaning that connection was taking longer to get from one point to another. This network is supposed to calculate its path and be able to follow that every time, but this was not happening correctly.

“It slows traffic down and things like Zoom which are expecting a continuous flow of data stopped working,” said Mutti.

“We made a lot of changes over the weekend, we had staff here all weekend long… we made a bunch of configuration changes to simplify the network and to implement a different way of dealing with the ports that students were plugging into,” he added.

These ports mentioned are another reason that connection could be bad in dorms for students.

It has been found that students that plug in their own routers or networking systems could be affecting the Wi-Fi for others in the building

Photo Courtesy of Danny Priest/The Student

around them, as they are not connecting to the correct spot.

Mutti said, “If students can just help and not connect wireless routers to their access ports, and not connect any sort of network device in any of the jacks in the room… all these things are things we keep finding and they just make everything worse.”

While searching for the root cause of the issues, ITS discovered that there could be a problem with one of the buildings itself.

“We know one residence hall that if we disconnect from the internet, the problem goes away, so we’re looking

at that today and tomorrow. Hopefully we find the solution because we have isolated it down to that one building,” said Mutti.

However, as of now, the cause of the problem is still unknown.

Students are urged to contact ITS if they are having trouble with connectivity, as some issues could be resolved at this time.

Students should also know that a new password is required for login to Pridespace, so if there are any troubles with that they should also contact ITS to reset their password. With any other questions, contact its@springfieldcollege.edu.

February 4, 2021

Hoophall

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Priest: Forever grateful for Hoophall 2020 The 2020 Spalding Hoophall Classic was a culmination of hands-on learning and memories that will last a lifetime.

By Danny Priest @dpriest3

L

et’s throw it back to January of

2020.

January 16 to be exact.

It was the first day of the Spalding Hoophall Classic, an annual tradition at Springfield College that sees the top high school basketball talent in the nation take to the hardwood inside Blake Arena and put on a show.

Quite literally, it’s a show. It’s high flying dunks, packed crowds and a glimpse at the future stars who will light up the NBA. This year would have been special. It would have been the 20th anniversary of the Hoophall Classic being held at Springfield College.

There was going to be storylines, star talent and intrigue like there is every year with Hoophall.

Instead, due to COVID, Blake Arena laid silent over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, rather than being filled with thousands of fans all taking in the moment.

The cancellation of the event this year has personally made me all the more grateful that myself and six other Communications/ Sports Journalism students had the opportunity to cover the event last year.

Kris Rhim interviews former Montverde Academy standout and current Oklahoma State star Cade Cunningham. (Photo Courtesy of Danny Priest/The Student)

Ian Snowdeal stands next to sevent-foot tall USC star Evan Mobley. (Photo Courtesy of Danny Priest/The Student)

It’s cliche to say that you’re “lost for words” when describing an event, but truthfully, Hoophall is difficult to describe.

It was months of prep work leading up to the event. Planning stories, developing contacts, scrapping plans and putting them back together again.

Coordinating the printing of the newspaper we would eventually put together, numerous attempts to put together a schedule for posting content online and then the ability to adapt knowing that the teams/players who arrive at Hoophall could change at any moment.

I had no idea what to expect when January 16 rolled around. What ensued was five days of walking into Blake Arena around 7 or 8 a.m. and leaving usually after 10 p.m. Constant work, constant emails and a handson learning experience like no other.

It was exhausting, but it was so worth it. Fortunately, we had a team that nailed their coverage and handled all challenges head on with an outstanding level of professionalism.

Now a year later, there are a lot of amazing moments looking back. Yet the ones I remember the most might not be what you’d expect.

I’ll give you a few examples of those “amaz-

February 4, 2021 ing moments.” First and foremost, we shared the locker rooms with the potential top two picks in the NBA draft this summer (or November, depending on COVID) in Cade Cunningham and Evan Mobley.

I recorded on my phone as Kris Rhim laughed with Cade Cunningham while asking him about his favorite video games to play and who his funniest teammates were. I also took pictures while Ian Snowdeal became likely the only student reporter in the country to nearly match Evan Mobley in height.

We sent our reporters on tours to the Basketball Hall of Fame, they sat baseline and captured amazing photos of all the action over the weekend and we had the ability to see so much beyond just the games.

On day four of the event, I snuck over to Dana Gym to check out a Montverde Academy practice. If you don’t know, Montverde was the best high school basketball team in the country last year and arguably one of the best teams ever assembled in the history of high school basketball.

I was standing on the baseline underneath the basket and watched as the No. 45 recruit in the nation Moses Moody got a step on the No. 12 recruit Day’Ron Sharpe. Moody, who was about 5 inches shorter, leapt up and absolutely detonated on Sharpe.

It was a mean dunk.

Like, one of those soul crushing kinds where you just feel bad that the defender even made an attempt to contest it.

The rim was left shaking and his teammates lost

their minds. Screaming, laughing and celebrating like they’d just won a title.

The practice on the other side of the gym stopped because of the commotion. Even the Montverde coaches stopped the drill and had a laugh at Sharpe’s expense. You can’t see those types of moments anywhere but Hoophall.

If all that wasn’t enough, LeBron James also showed up - which I’m sure most everybody reading this has heard about by now.

Still, that feels surreal to type. I’ve never heard Blake Arena louder than the moment he walked in.

He also left with multiple copies of The Springfield Student newspaper – that’s something I’ll always be proud of.

I could go on and on with these sorts of things that happened, but let me talk about some of those moments you might not expect that still stand out.

First and foremost, the crowd. Blake Arena had amazing energy every day.

It was incredible, but getting anywhere was a chore.

Literally, I mean getting from one baseline to the other was a task. We had to squeeze by people, bump people and finesse our way through simply because so many people were in the building.

With the way COVID has made things, a crowd like that is missed more than you could ever imagine.

I also miss the stories, but like I said it might not be the ones you’d expect.

Talking to the stars is an honor, but my favorite piece I wrote was on George Miller -- the public address announcer for Hoophall.

Hoophall

PAGE 5

Hoophall drew a large crowd inside Blake Arena each day of the event. (Photo Courtesy of Joe Arruda/The Student)

Top (left to right): Jack Margaros, Ian Snowdeal, Evan Wheaton, Kris Rhim. Bottom (left to right): Joe Arruda, Danny Priest, Gabby Guerard. (Photo Courtesy of Meredith Perri) A longtime PA man in Western Mass., he was so excited to share his story with me and it was so fun for me to get to tell it.

In a week where I interviewed Zaire Wade and a host of other big names, George Miller is always the first name I mention when I talk about pieces I wrote at Hoophall.

Lastly, I miss the human interaction. Plain and simple. Seeing my classmates everyday and working together (maskless), making connections with professionals covering the event and crowding into a small space for a quick post-game interview.

On the last day of Hoophall when our work was nearly complete, I went over to the coaches section which had almost emptied out. I spoke to two

people while I was there.

First I went up to Roy Williams, the legendary University of North Carolina coach, and asked if I could interview him for a piece I was working on.

He obliged and I spent the next 10-minutes speaking with him and staring at the big, powder blue National Championship ring on his finger.

I can’t think of many other situations where a college reporter can go up to one of the greatest college basketball coaches in the country and simply ask for an interview on the spot and have it work.

Shoutout to Hoophall and Coach Williams for that.

After that, I sat down next to Ed Lacerte, a name some people may not know.

Ed was the Boston Celtics trainer for 30-years and

also the trainer for the 1992 Olympic Dream team.

I recognized him from all the times I’d seen him on the Celtics bench watching the games on TV as a kid.

I introduced myself and we simply just talked. Not an interview, just a conversation.

We talked about his career, the state of basketball and we discovered that we grew up just a town apart from one another.

It was a small thing, but both of those instances happening now are unthinkable. COVID has changed a lot and Hoophall is the least of the damage it’s done, but I sincerely hope it can return to Springfield College next year.

I’ll forever be grateful we got the experience we did in 2020.

February 4, 2021

Ice Ice Baby The new ice skating rink on Admin. Green is a welcomed addition for the cold winter months.

By Lucas Van Deventer @Lucasvd_26

F

ollowing through with the idea of embracing winter during the long season as people know it in New England, what’s more perfect than to have an ice skating rink in the center of campus at Springfield College?

Last weekend, the ice skating rink was opened for experienced skaters or anyone on campus willing to give skating a try. There were over 100 students who decided to take advantage of the accommodation that has been offered.

Moreover, ice skating can become a great activity to keep moving amid the long-standing Coronavirus pandemic.

Laura Cafaro, a Graduate Assistant in Student Activities, believes that the ice skating rink provides a great way to stay in motion for everyone.

“Springfield College is filled with students who are athletic and love to be

outside, so I think it’s great to kind of keep that going,” she said.

Cafaro also commented that a lot of the work and progress to get the ice skating rink up and running for students and faculty to use should be gratified by appreciating the hard work of the facilities crew at Springfield and Director of Student Activities Annie Warchol. The rink could not have been created without them.

“We wanted this semester to be special, so Annie came up with the wonderful idea to have the winter wonderland theme.

It [the rink] wasn’t entirely specific to go with the winter wonderland theme, but to go in competently with what the Division of Student Affairs put out to kind of embrace winter is what we were going for,” Cafaro said.

Not only did this action go through, but the efforts put in for the operation involved many helping hands.

“A lot of praise for them because if it wasn’t for them, we would not have this ice

Ice Rink

PAGE 6

An aerial shot of the skating rink on Admin. Green. (Photo Courtesy of Springfield College Marketing & Comm.) rink,” Cafaro added.

The rink will be available to enjoy following the careful precautions, procedures and rules. It is said that all students on the ice must wear a mask at all times and the limit of how many people are allowed on the ice is 25. ` The rink is also open for at least four hours at a time and most people should stay spread out.

However, with the certain rules and procedures in place, an official schedule as to when it will be opened during the week and weekend has not been decided yet. Still, more updates are to come in the near future.

If there are questions about the ice skating rink or any proceeding issues, students can contact Tom Verrico, the Assistant Director in Campus Recreation for Intramurals and Club Sports. The facility in charge of the task of maintaining the ice rink’s condition daily include Paul DeMaria, Connie Venezia, and Chris Gaumond. They are tasked with continuing the hard work and dedica-

tion to fulfill the student’s needs as much as possible during their time on ice.

As the second week rolls in for students on campus, they can continue to follow along with the schedule posted every day from Student Activities.

Students who have experienced the rink already begin to say how fun and a little more stress free it is; that is if you know how to stay up and are considered a natural. For those who are just starting, it may take some time getting used to.

“I liked that I had the rink to myself pretty much, so if I fell, it was okay since I wasn’t in any one’s way or anything,” said Gaby Pagnotta, a junior at Springfield.

Some skaters who tried it out on the ice found their time to be enjoyable, but a little hard getting used to at first. However, ice skating helps those who want the exercise, to stay active.

“It was nice. I think the ice was a little bumpy, they could’ve brushed the excess ice off, but overall it

was fine, it was fun,” said Brianna Crucitti, another junior student.

When the week begins to build up with excessive class assignments and exams, keep on the lookout for the hours the rink is open to relieve any stress.

The rink is a great opportunity for students to enjoy the nice wintery season.

Using the current positive reactions from the participants, there could be a good possibility that the ice rink comes back next year. With that in mind, the facilities and the Campus Recreation will have to bring back that same hard work again.

“Right now, we’re hoping that this becomes an annual sort of event for students on campus since our facilities team built it.

Our goal for it is to have it deeply stored away during the off season and then when winter rolls back around when that cold weather comes back for us, we’re hoping to have it back out there on the Admin Green next year,” Cafaro concluded.

New Hiring

February 4, 2021

A new voice

PAGE 7

Nicole Coakley is joining Springfield College as the new Assistant Director for the Center of Service and Leadership.

By Carley Crain @carley_crain12

S

pringfield College recently hired Nicole

D. Coakley as the new Assistant Director for the Center of Service and Leadership. The hiring of Coakley adds another woman of color to the Springfield College faculty, helping to increase diversity amongst staff members.

The Center of Service and Leadership is run by Charlene Elvers, and is a resource for the Springfield College community to engage in service through various programs and activities.

Some of their most popular programs include: alternative spring break, Homework Heroes, Middle School Mentors, and Brookings Learning and Support Team (BLAST).

Coakley will serve as the Assistant Director, working hand-in-hand with Elvers.

A small search committee made up of Student Affairs staff, Elvers, numerous faculty members from different departments, and a student helped hire Coakley. The position was shared nationwide through national job websites, as well as through community contacts in the Springfield area. Coakley was nominated for the position from a Springfield community

member.

“She is really a person that will bring the community to campus, and bring our campus to the community,” said Elvers. “That was exactly what I was hoping for.”

Coakley was born in Springfield and raised in South Carolina, but ultimately moved back to the city of Springfield to raise her own family of seven.

She explained that she loves having a big family and raising her kids and nephews is the greatest job she has. “There is never really a dull moment in my house, but my kids really keep me going and I consider myself their role model so a lot of what I do is for them,” Coakley said.

Coakley’s education and past job experiences are extensive and bring a unique perspective to her new position at Springfield College.

She holds an Associate’s Degree in Law Enforcement, a Bachelor’s of Science in Human Services, a Masters of Education in Mental Health Counseling with a concentration in Trauma Studies and Substance Abuse, and is in the process of earning her Doctor of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Organizational Leadership at Northcentral University.

She started to work with children early in her career as a teacher’s assistant at Morris Professional

Child Care and moved up the ranks to program director, where she gained valuable experience in leadership, organizational skills and working with youth.

She also is a part of numerous organizations in Springfield, such as serving on the board of directors for Easterseals Massachusetts, being a member of the Chicopee Women of the Moose, a clerk for Morris Open Pantry, and much more.

She has and continues to embrace the Humanics philosophy through her service in the Springfield area. Her passion for helping others and engaging in her community has truly made Springfield a better place.

Throughout her years of service, Coakley has helped educate and support the youth of Springfield through numerous initiatives and programs. Most recently, she helped educate the community about gun violence, as well as organizing Unity in the Community where she brought together police officers and inner-city youth to form healthy relationships with law enforcement.

“The kids in our community feel like they can’t afford Springfield College and I have been trying to understand why they have that mindset and gear them in a different direction and have them see things differently, as well as them not giving up on themselves,”

said Coakley.

As the Assistant Director for the Center of Leadership and Service, Coakley will help create flexible community service opportunities for students, plan specific service activities for student-athletes, supervise the Partners and BLAST programs, advise the Humanics In Action club, advise the Alternative Spring Break club, and she will help develop a yearly Humanics In Action Program.

“The Springfield community and Springfield College, I really see no collaboration between them and Springfield College has been there for so long

and in this position I really want to bridge that gap that is in between our community and Springfield College because Springfield College does have a lot to offer that the community can benefit from. So, trying to connect the dots is really my passion,” she added.

Coakley’s love for the city of Springfield, compounded by her commitment to improving the relationship between the college and the city will unify, encourage, and uplift the entire community, truly making Springfield a better place, just the way she has throughout her entire career.

Nicole D. Coakley. (Photo Courtesy of Springfield College Marketing & Comm.)

February 4, 2021

Health Sciences

PAGE 8

Campus renovation: Health Sciences Center The Campus Master plans include the addition of a brand new Health Sciences building in the location where Lot 4 currently resides.

By Collin Atwood @collinatwood17

W

hen driving down Alden Street, after one cruises under the “Welcome to Springfield College” arch, one of the first buildings on the right side of the road is the Health Sciences Center.

Now, thanks to the Campus Master Plan, there will be a new and improved building for the Health Sciences Center coming in 2023.

Springfield College partnered with Centerbrook to help the college enhance the education and facilities for the students and staff. Centerbrook is an architecture firm based in Connecticut. They were founded in 1975 with a goal to make unique advancements to buildings and communities.

The new Health Sciences Center will be located next to the Facilities Management building and will be four stories high. The center will be a part of the new Academic Green which will be replacing Lot 4.

“It’s going to be a new opening to the campus,” said Brooke Hallowell,

A model for the concept and design of the new Health Sciences Center. (Photo Courtesy of Brooke Hallowell)

Dean of the School of Health Sciences.

The west end of campus isn’t nearly as scenic as the Naismith Green. Part of the Campus Master Plan is to give the west end a makeover which includes the Health Sciences Center.

Not only will this building give the campus a more attractive look, but it will also make learning and teaching more beneficial and impactful. “We’ll have

upgraded, state of the art facilities,” said Hallowell.

One of those upgrades will be the new simulation suite which will be used to simulate actual scenarios where a health professional will be needed. Human actors will also come in and portray someone with a health condition so the students can have something close to the real experience.

Another enhancement coming with the new

building is a telehealth resource which is already in the works. Thanks to COVID-19, telehealth is becoming more necessary than ever. “We will have telehealth facilities and many more opportunities for students and faculty to engage in telehealth work,” said Hallowell.

Other features of the new building include a human anatomy laboratory, a living suite for

rehabilitation practices, a maker space for designing new health technologies and space for students to lounge, study and keep personal items.

The new facilities will ensure that students of the future will have the best learning experience possible.

Benefiting the students and faculty is definitely a top priority when it comes to the new Health Sciences Center, but it wouldn’t be done the Springfield College way if it wasn’t also helping the surrounding community.

The new center will have services available to people in the local community who might not have access to these services otherwise. “We really hope that it benefits the community as well,” said Hallowell.

The whole project is projected to cost 46 million dollars. This includes the building itself, the new equipment and the professionals hired to design the new look.

The design process is still in the early stages, but the plan is to have students in the building come fall 2023.

February 4, 2021

Reduced Capacity

Shortly before students returned, Springfield College altered the move-in process in an attempt to mitigate the spread of COVID on campus.

The changes to the move-in process have left first-year dorms on campus such as Gulick Hall nearly deserted for the first few weeks on campus. (Photo Courtesy of Danny Priest/The Student)

Campus Return

PAGE 9

By Amanda Hitchcock

ahitchcock3@springfield.edu

On Jan. 15 a shocking announcement was sent to the Springfield College campus community.

The President’s office announced that “approximately 60% of the student population will return to campus...of these students include: those who live in apartment-style housing (Living Center, Senior Suites, and Townhouses), winter and spring student-athletes, upper division students enrolled in select academic programs, international students and others who live at a great distance from the College, and essential student employees (including RAs).”

This email came as a surprise to some students who were planning moving in as scheduled beginning on Thursday, Jan. 21.

“When I found out that I couldn’t move back onto campus on the 22nd along with my friends, I was really upset,” said Ethan Boileau. “Not only were all of my home friends back at school, but I can’t see my school friends for another two weeks. This change just made me feel super alone and separated from my friends and a place that I would call a home away from home.

Along with not allowing all students back onto campus, the period of remote learning for all students has been extended from one week to two weeks and COVID testing has increased to once a week, instead of bi-weekly.

“As a PA student, I take a lot of tougher classes like organic chemistry. To study for those classes, I really utilize the library space on campus to study and get my work done,” said Collen Stafford. “Not being on campus has greatly affected the quality and quantity of what I learned both this spring semester and the past fall semester. So, not being considered a vital part of campus to be allowed back has made this semester even harder than it would normally have been.”

Students who weren’t able to move in at their scheduled time were upset about the change, but the decision was made out of an abundance of caution. Springfield College hopes that staggering this process will help prevent the spread of COVID-19 on campus.

February 4, 2021

COVID-19 Updates

PAGE 10

Coronavirus continued from Page 2

ities, including in-person classes.

If any student wishes to be on campus, they must be included in the weekly testing protocol.

This means students who have chosen to complete their 2021 academic year at home will not be permitted on campus; this will prevent unnecessary and uncontained spread of the virus to those residing on campus, therefore prohibiting an outbreak.

As for quarantine housing, for the unlucky few who will test positive this semester, Johnston assured that the housing will be much more accommodating to the need of space for positive students.

“We expanded, significantly, for housing our students who need to be in supported isolation, or supported quarantine housing. The entirety of Lakeside, anybody who was living there in the fall, we appreciate them and thank them very much for relocating over winter break,” Johnston said.

“There is nobody, currently, permanently living in Lakeside…

We’ve also done some consolidation on some of our spaces, so some of our suite-style living has been consolidated where we’re able to accommodate for additional quarantine spaces.

The other piece is that quarantine, in the state

The new COVID testing center is located indoors inside of the PE Annex, just past the Health Center on campus. (Photo Courtesy of Danny Priest/The Student)

of Massachusetts, has been reduced to 10 days from 14 days, so people are getting out of quarantine a few days earlier, and that helps both on our capacity to house everyone on campus, but also it’s just a better experience for the students.”

Johnston said that the key for the Springfield College community to be able to stay on campus for the entirety of the Spring semester will be keeping groups small.

She suggested keeping “pods” of who students hang out with to a small group.

“You, and a few friends that you trust, and make that your pod, and those are the folks that you’re with close contact on an everyday basis. That’s going to

have a huge impact on our ability to stay on campus,” stated Johnston.

Not only will students need to be aware of the behavioral expectations they must follow while living on campus (including, but not limited to, masks worn at all times outside of personal residential rooms, no guests on campus, and following the occupancy limits within residential rooms), but they also need to be aware of the impact their actions could have while off-campus. Attending a party or any kind of gathering off-campus could lead to a massive breakout of COVID-19 cases, therefore putting the rest of everyone else’s on-campus semester in jeopardy.

“There’s a big difference between going to the grocery store, going to Target and Walmart and getting what you need and coming back and abiding by all policies, versus going to hang out at another college or university, or going to spend time with friends at home,” said Johnston.

“We know that those are significantly higher risk than going to the pharmacy, or going to the grocery store.”

However, there will be no penalties for students leaving campus, as Springfield College is not acting as a closed environment. It would be difficult for the campus to completely bubble off into its own community, especially because of commuter students and

faculty that return home every night. Instead, the school is asking students to cooperate in limiting exposure to the virus off-campus. They are also asking students to be masked and physically distanced while getting their essentials off-campus.

For any further questions or concerns regarding COVID-19 policies and procedures, Johnston suggested visiting Springfield College’s official website, www.springfield.edu, and clicking on the green banner at the top of the homepage. There, one will find COVID-19 information that is updated regularly, along with a cumulative dashboard and many more resources.

February 4, 2021

Politics

PAGE 11 Photo Courtesy of WWD

Staff Reports

Over Springfield College winter break, Joe Biden was officially sworn in as the 46th U.S. President. Take a look below at a few of the upwards of 40 executive orders President Biden has signed off on since taking office. (All information courtesy of CNN)

‘Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act’ - Reopens enrollment to programs and reevaluates policies that reduce access to Affordable Health Care ‘Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad’ - The order implements a number of changes in an effort to focus more attention on climate control ‘Paris Climate Agreement’ - Rejoins the Paris climate accord, which was initially signed in 2015 to limit global warming ‘Create more vaccination sites’ - Urges FEMA to create federally supported community vaccination centers ‘Improving & Expanding Access to Care and Treatments for COVID-19’ Establishment of preclinical program to boost development of theraputics response ‘Ending Discriminatory Bans on Entry to U.S.’ - Reverses Trump’s restriction on U.S. entry for passport holders from seven Muslim-majority countries ‘Reinstating Deferred Enforced Departure for Liberians’ - Extended defferals of deportation and work authorizations for Liberians with a haven in the U.S. until June 30, 2022

February 4, 2021

scstudentmedia.com // @TheSpfldStudent

Gabby Guerard/The Student

Volume 135 No. 11 Joe Arruda/The Student

The cancellation of the Spalding Hoophall classic left a large void as the event has become one of Springfield College’s most welcomed traditions. Co-Editor-in-Chief Danny Priest reflected on the 2020 event in light of the cancellation this year.

-- See Page 4 --

Gabby Guerard/The Student

Gabby Guerard/The Student