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This semester, Macalester is allowing all students, faculty and staff to return to campus for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, not all students are able to safely attend classes in person due to mental and physical barriers.
On June 10, Macalester assessed the comfort level of students returning to campus through an email, detailing an accommodation request process. The accommodations would include the possibility of attending school from a distance. Macalester does not generally offer online classes and the school is returning to in-person classes. According to Paul Overvoorde, the school received less than two dozen responses from students requesting distance learning assistance.
The email sent to students on June 10 pointed out that only a few selected courses would be available to distance students, and it cautioned against the lack of flexibility when it comes to those courses.
According to the director of international student programs, Aaron Colhapp, there are only a small handful of students who are still struggling with their distance planning. A few months ago there were a large number of students who worried them.
“International students are required to be full-time on their F-1 student visas,†Colhapp explained in an email to Mac Weekly. “If they are not [full time], or take time off, they lose their status.
Since then, almost all of them have made arrangements to come to campus or set their class schedules.
“These are situations that can be resolved at this point,†Colhapp said of the students still making their plan.
Whatever the policy, these few students struggle to achieve accessible learning, even with the help of disability services and international student programs (ISP).
Disability Services did not have a concrete plan for students who needed distance learning accommodations. Instead, they take an approach of learning what works and what doesn’t and adapting along the way. In addition to working with students to create an integrated learning environment, they also work on doing independent study and setting up parallel courses, where a student will learn the same subject over the same amount of time, but in a different environment. .
“It’s not as easy as activating Zoom,†said Melissa Fletcher, director of disability services.
Osamede Egharevba ’22 is taking online classes this semester from his home in New York. While policies and classes were difficult to navigate and put in place before school started, she now has a smooth class schedule. Fletcher helped her set up four independent distance learning studies, which have the same workload and class time as a full course load.
“The process was difficult before the lessons started, but now that the lessons have started everything is really easy and smooth,†said Egharevba. “There aren’t really any difficulties that I encounter along the way.”
ISP has been working hard over the summer to enable international students to access face-to-face classes, develop visas and travel plans.
“In some cases, students had provincial, local or regional travel policies that went against the grain,†Colhapp said. “I was worried that all the students might arrive on time.”
However, as Colhapp pointed out, not all students who want or need to take classes virtually have yet to set their plan. On August 31, Macalester President Suzanne Rivera sent a tweet expressing her enthusiasm for the start of classes the next day.
“No, it’s not the first day of school for everyone,†Rayan Hamid ’22 said in an interview, responding to this tweet. “It’s the first day of school for people who have the privilege of having the right passport and not having physical conditions. They have classes; and U.S ?
Hamid is one of a couple of students who still face distance learning issues. Hamid currently lives with her family in London and cannot attend the classes in person for several reasons: not only does she face medical obstacles, but her visa will soon expire and she does not feel safe with the classes in person. Even under extenuating circumstances, Hamid struggles to access distance learning options.
“I spoke with everyone, and everyone said to me, ‘Either take time off or come back in person. We can’t help you, â€Hamid said.
Hamid advocated for herself to get enough credits to be able to graduate in the spring, as she had previously planned. She has worked directly and closely with professors, such as assistant professor of psychology Morgan Gerald. Hamid acknowledged Gerald’s attitude and supportive actions towards distance learning.
“I tend to try and make accommodations for students as needed in general, so I was really open to the idea,†Gerald said of allowing Hamid to attend classes synchronously via Zoom. “[Hamid] I felt like she really needed more lessons and was having a hard time keeping up with her schedule, so I was ready to give it a try.
Egharevba chose to navigate the process by working closely with Fletcher and Disability Services, instead of going through individual faculty.
“At first it was difficult for me to navigate on my own, because at first it was a really daunting task figuring out how I was going to make all the teachers fit in with me.” said Egharevba. “But it was really easy because I hardly had to do any work. Disability Services helped me organize most of it.
Even after a year of distance learning, resources that might help some students learn online may not be available to teachers. This includes good microphones and cameras. Gerald moved his class to a smaller room so Hamid could hear and see the class. She says it’s not easy to run a class with students both remotely and in person.
“I don’t think my colleagues are not disposed in a truly antagonistic way,†Gerald said. “I think it’s just that we don’t have the appropriate resources to really support the students who could take the course remotely.”
Hamid also appreciated the efforts Fletcher and Colhopp had put in for her.
Fletcher acknowledged that this is a difficult effort that faculty, administrators and other departments on campus will need to continue to work on.
“I think if we can imagine the kind of resources and support that is needed, it can be something that other teachers can do in their classes as well,†Gerald said.
Hamid claimed, based on connecting with other students online, that students do not feel fully supported when it comes to the comfort and ability to attend classes in person. Even with the actions taken by Disability Services, the FAI and the Macalester administration, Hamid expressed frustration.
“They knew we were still in a pandemic, they knew people are immunocompromised, they knew there were travel restrictions,†Hamid said. “They knew that not everyone is vaccinated and that people have their own situation. “
“From what I understand, each of these students either arrived on campus (luckily visa issues and local travel restrictions eased over time) or made other arrangements depending on his personal situation, “wrote Overvoorde in an email to Mac Weekly, contradicting Hamid’s statement.
Fletcher and Colhapp expected much worse results and more students requesting distance learning, and for the good results they are grateful. They recognize that while not all situations are perfect, nearly all of their students are supported and have the resources they need.
“It’s better than a few months ago,†Colhapp said.
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