Colleges adapt to 'new normal' during COVID pandemic

NEW YORK - Masks and plenty of signage reminding students and staff to social distance are just some of what’s become the new normal on college campuses throughout the state. Don’t forget temperature checks too.

Hofstra University’s fall semester officially ended this week. Looking back, provost Herman Berliner says he’s pleased with their performance. Roughly 1/3 of the university’s classes were fully remote, 1/3 were in person, and 1/3 - a combination of the two.

“From the start of the semester to now, in total, 180 cases and we were dealing with a population of facility and staff of 9,200,” he said.

Berliner says financial investments early on helped them with their success. They included hand sanitizer dispensers, electrostatic disinfectant sprays, dividers in the dining areas, tents with WiFi for additional outdoor space, and retrofitting classrooms

“We’ve all the facilities on campus that we needed to take to create the social distancing space so the classes could go on.”

And it was an uninterrupted fall semester at Manhattan College where the positive test rate remained below 1% for the majority of the term. An impressive feat for Tamara Britt. The chief of staff credits teamwork and strict testing protocols for their success.

“Plexiglass where needed, with our libraries, the dining halls making sure those spaces were taking into account COVID capacity,” said Britt, chief of staff at Manhattan College.

Manhattan College had roughly half of their students living on or near campus and plans to welcome another 5-10% back in the spring. While the semester was definitely different, Sophomore Kiera Jalkut joined a sorority and stayed optimistic.

“It’s hard not to keep my hopes up for what may change now that the vaccine has been approved,” said Jalkut.

As for the Spring...

“Our libraries will be open, dining facilities will be open, our athletes will be participating in sports,” said Britt.

Both schools plan to have robust reentry testing programs upon starting up again and are making the most out of a challenging situation.