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with students missing classes. It makes me feel uneasy that someone might attend class asymptomatically and spread Omicron unknowingly.

If case numbers rise at VCU, the university needs to take necessary steps to make sure that students can transition online. Another survey should be sent to the student body to see how the majority of people feel about returning to classes in-person.

Some students who are returning back to campus have mixed feelings about the new variant and classes being in-person.

Charlotte Mulder, a junior majoring in political science and history at VCU, sees the positives in both online and in-person classes.

“I think that I do get more out of in-person classes because I’m forced to be more present when in the classroom as it’s easier to get distracted and get away with paying less attention when classes are online,” Mulder said.

However, online classes allow for more flexibility with students if they were to get COVID-19 and wouldn’t want to miss lectures, Mulder added.

When it comes to VCU’s decision on starting in-person, Alexandra Pereira, a junior majoring in medical laboratory science, isn’t comfortable going into the spring semester.

“I think VCU going in person immediately is a bad call and I feel like they [VCU] are doing it because they don’t want to lose money or make things more complicated at the expense of their students,” Pereira said.

In addition, two weeks online would be able to give students another layer of safety as cases are skyrocketing, as of now, Pereira added.

Although an additional two weeks could act as a buffer for students as COVID-19 cases increase, COVID-19 will continue to be in our lives — we’re just learning to live with it.

From what we’ve experienced so far in this pandemic, I feel that we are slowly going to transition back to our normal pre-pandemic lives further on into 2022. I’m looking forward to living life normally and I can’t wait for the day where we can talk about this pandemic in the past tense.

Office Are An Expected Disappointment

no place in education. Last year in Loudoun County, right-wing parents pushed to eliminate school board members just for requiring implicit bias training. If that’s not absurd, I don’t know what is.

There’s a difference between discussing race and political indoctrination. Youngkin claims that the way race is taught in schools — perpetuated by CRT — prevents students from developing free will.

But that’s not what is happening at all. In addition to the view that race is a social construct, CRT encourages a deep exploration of systemic racism and the structures that perpetuate it, seeking to unearth how racism might occur in latent ways. This idea coupled with the fact that CRT is not embraced at the primary school level proves that Youngkin’s attacks on how race is approached in schools are unfounded.

Personally, I fervently believe that all children should be free to form their own opinions, nor should they feel ashamed of who they are. But Youngkin calling the state of the education system today “divisive” because race is a part of the curriculum is dangerous and ironically, is divisive in itself — it creates a stigma surrounding discussions about race.

Having the hard conversations about race is not always easy, but is essential. For example, all students need to know that of all groups, Black men bear the highest risk of being killed by the police in their lifetime. This is two times more likely than men of other races, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Sciences of the United States of America.

These statistics should be presented objectively, and students should be encouraged to explore their identity. Youngkin’s attack on CRT further divides us and prevents us from having these important discussions.

On the other front, Youngkin’s new policies surrounding COVID-19 further put students and their family members at risk.

I understand how frustrating the pandemic is, but we can’t turn a blind eye to what’s happening. Cases are exponentially increasing with the Omicron variant. People are still dying every day.

In his action to eliminate mask mandates in elementary schools, Youngkin states that the decision of a child to wear a mask should fall to the parent for reasons including that they cause “discomfort” and “children wear masks incorrectly.”

Well, I have news for you, Youngkin. I have many cousins in elementary school, and I’ve interacted with them for extended periods of time while they were wearing masks. They didn’t show any inability to wear a mask. It’s not rocket science, and any slight discomfort that stems from mask wearing is a small price to pay for our community’s safety.

I’m also shocked by Youngkin’s decision to make vaccines optional for state employees. Employees of the state should set an example for the rest of Virginians. If there was ever a time to get vaccinated, it’s now. I’m all for free will, but the last thing our state needs right now is a governor who deemphasizes COVID-19 precautions.

In short, Youngkin’s first few days in office have been, well, disappointing. I’m not optimistic that things will get better for the remainder of his term, but for the sake of our state, they must.