Three students currently living on Hamilton College’s campus during the COVID-19 pandemic share what life is like on an empty campus.
Krissi Kim ‘21 Campus is an interesting place to be during the pandemic. We always talk about how we’re in the middle of nowhere in Clinton, NY but really, people have no idea until they’ve been on campus with nothing open within a 10-mile radius. Around 50 people are still on campus and we’re all living in Bundy. All other facilities on campus are closed and locked, except for Bundy café, where we get all our meals to-go. You would think that if you put 50 college students in one dorm, someone’s bound to have a large gathering of a sort but surprisingly (and fortunately), people are taking social distancing seriously. I have yet to see any groups walking around with more than 4 people. Sometimes people are sent to Bristol Center for a 2-week quarantine, like that one time a few students were exposed to an employee that tested positive, or when someone had a fever and everyone who came in contact had to be quarantined (they ended up testing negative, though). Whenever that happens, there’s like a buzz of caution and some fear that goes around the dorm for a few days.
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I look forward to my daily evening walks around campus, when I can finally leave my Bundy room. During the day, I see a good number of community members walking around campus; but in the evening, I can only run into deer, raccoons, or an occasional skunk. Seeing all the campus buildings completely dark and empty is a bit depressing, but it also makes me look forward to when those places will be bright and filled with people again.
