AU Says an Early Goodbye to Face-to-Face Semester

    11月11日星期日晚上. 15th, faculty and students received an email including an official announcement that bet365中文大学 would be moving all classes online in response to Michigan Governor Whitmer’s emergency order. The duration of the order’s execution is three weeks long, narrowly encompassing the length of the remainder of Andrews’ fall semester.
    一些学生 like Joshua Li (senior, public health) hadn’t been too surprised at the announcement. “I had been expecting it since school started,” he said.  “I registered for as many of the online sections for classes as I could.” Autumn Bange (senior, education) also had anticipated her classes to go online “way before this.”“对我来说,她评论道。, “the announcement didn’t make much of a difference but I know that for others it will be difficult.”
    就像. Bange mentioned, some students were inconvenienced by the sudden notice to switch to remote learning. In the official email sent by University Communication, 他们说, as a result of the switch to remote learning, “all exams and other classroom assessments will be done remotely for the remainder of this semester.由于这个原因, many students need to quickly consider if they will return to their homes earlier than expected to take their finals online. Most of Kristin Ferrer's (senior, 生物学, public health) classes “had been doing online assessments already.” “But, for my class with a lab, we had no clue how our lab exam would work,” she noted. For students with labs and required, 面对面的类, this will likely prove to be a source of major worry.
    On a positive note, the news came with unexpected benefits for a few. Jan Tamayo (sophomore, social work) is somewhat relieved. She commented, “I felt glad that I didn't have to get up and go to class. It's also good, because I don't have to do my final presentations in person.” Younji Park (post-graduate, nursing) is grateful that the semester was nearly completed when the transition came. “For most of my classes, the last tests and practicals were cancelled due to the closure,”她说。, though she was quick to mention after that “since we only have one week left of school, it didn’t change much in terms of how much I had to study coming into the final week.”
    The sudden switch not only affects students, but also faculty. 阿尔玛·科尔特斯·阿尔瓦雷斯, the administrative assistant for bet365中文大学’s Center for Intensive English 项目 (CIEP), is concerned primarily about “losing the last link we have to on campus operations.” Cortez Alvarez mentioned that, due to the emergency order, the CIEP had to “rush the process to switch the in-office operations online,” as they had been anticipating the switch to occur in December, “and urge teachers and students remaining on campus to finish any in-person processes.”
    一些学生, like SeungHo Park (senior, 宗教), are thinking past the end of this semester to the spring. Mr. Park commented that he was initially overwhelmed by the news and then worried about the implications it might have for next semester. “I felt like it was last March all over again. Considering the transition of power in the White House, I think it is very likely that we will go online for spring semester. I would feel sad to graduate from AU remotely,” he said. 另一个学生, Jayde Broussard (senior, medical laboratory science) is also thinking about the outcome for the spring semester. “I’m concerned about whether or not we’ll be back next semester,”她说。. It is likely that many of those who are projected to graduate in May share these concerns.
    “We are all in the same boat. It's important to go beyond ourselves and take the necessary precautions to preserve our collective health,”先生说。. Li. Although there is a short time left in the semester, and uncertainty regarding the future status of classes, the campus can only progress forward in unity and prayer.