Are new measures enough?

Like the pandemic, West Virginia University’s back-to-school plan is ever-changing.

The university’s start and move-in dates suddenly shifted by a week, catching us all by surprise. Along with moving the class start date to Aug. 26, WVU will also have more classes delivered online or through a hybrid approach.

Despite the whiplash it’s caused, we’re glad to see WVU is taking the advice of public health experts. It’s encouraging to see safety measures put in place, like staggered move-in, buses instead of the PRT and in-person classes moved to bigger spaces to accommodate social distancing. Townies may have a love-hate relationship with WVU students, but we respect them as the lifeblood of Morgantown. That said, we also have a healthy sense of self-preservation, and at the end of the day, we want everyone to be safe and healthy.

We do feel bad for WVU’s students, though. College is stressful and confusing in a good year, let alone during a pandemic, so we’re sending extra good vibes their way this year.

Despite WVU’s newest guidelines, there’s an underlying concern in the community that WVU’s decisions are motivated more by economics than public safety. Online-only isn’t an ideal college experience, but sanitizing every facility between classes is unbelievably expensive. No butts in seats means no seats to clean. But butts in seats justifies not lowering the tuition, despite the very different way classes will look this fall. Student fees haven’t been waived for students whose classes are entirely online; the fees have been lowered for this demographic, but considering the student fees pay for the large campus events that can’t happen this year, all students’ fees should be waived or reduced. And at the time of this writing, the football and basketball teams are still practicing. So while there hasn’t been an official decision announced, to onlookers, it appears WVU still plans to play sports.

We understand that football and, to a slightly lesser extent, basketball bring in a ton of revenue for the university, but considering 28 football and six basketball players tested positive for COVID-19 in July, should we really be considering having sports this year? With student athletes, there are so many factors to consider: Close contact with teammates, close contact with players from other teams, contact with the rest of the student body (we hope athletes still attend classes — virtual or not) and contact with Morgantown’s general population. By nixing the sports season, we can eliminate two of those risk factors. But we’re afraid WVU is thinking with its wallet.

Which led us to wonder what will happen to student athletes’ scholarships if they are unable to play. Will their scholarships be revoked? Will the students have to refund the university? What if the student can’t afford to attend without the scholarship?

These are the questions and concerns of the community as we watch WVU plan out the fall semester. As the university’s approach adapts and evolves, we still find ourselves wondering if WVU is guided by academics or economics.