UK’s handling of COVID is responsible and safe for the community

Many recent news stories blame Lexington’s COVID-19 woes on UK students and UK’s response to the pandemic. I’ve followed these stories with frustration.

The university’s approach is largely commendable. UK’s plan to test returning students showed exceptional judgment – many colleges recklessly failed to test proactively.

UK’s plan is flexible as circumstances change. When infections increased within Greek organizations, UK retested them. UK added wastewater testing for dorms and random testing of students. Students can get retested for free any time. As UK President Dr. Capilouto said in July, “We’ve got to live in a COVID world.” The school’s dynamic response to changing conditions reflects that reality.

Increasingly, UK students are blamed for preventing local school children from returning to classrooms. Kentucky’s public schools have 785 active student cases and 376 active cases among employees (154 cases in FCPS).

UK or not, FCPS has little chance of returning to the classroom now without steep infection rates. Too many of their students’ parents and other adults continue to behave as if there’s no pandemic.

Where was the chastisement now aimed at college kids this past summer, as many adults did nothing to slow the spread – eating out, vacationing in Florida, holding 4th of July get-togethers? We’ve seen the pictures on social media: adults mugging for the camera within inches of each other, no masks in sight.

The “grown-ups” could have slowed the virus’s spread with a modicum of self-discipline but chose not to. But, let’s blame the colleges. Adults should consider who’s serving them when they dine out or visit a bar, among the least safe places to be. Officials accuse students of hanging out in bars and restaurants, but a lot of them are working there, too.

Most concerning is the naïve belief that UK students will vanish if the university goes fully online. But only students living on campus would have to leave, and that’s just 30 percent of students. That other 70 percent is living off campus, in apartments for which they have signed leases. They’re staying here.

UK is providing the best educational experience possible during incredibly challenging conditions. They already had to shift many classes online, a move not well-received by students. Students want to be in class, a pretty safe place to be with social distancing and mask requirements enforced.

My son, a freshman living on campus, and my daughter, a senior living in an apartment, have been frustrated by pockets of fellow students behaving irresponsibly. But they’re encouraged by the many more students who limit the number of people they hang out with in hope of completing the semester with some normalcy.

My children, both Alltech vocal performance scholars, also are encouraged by UK’s commitment to providing experiences crucial to their major. Their choirs have found a way to safely meet in person, and the UK Opera Theatre program is forging ahead, safely, with a Fall Gala.

In her commentary this week, one UK professor glibly claimed UK could easily go virtual because “Undergraduates can learn calculus online.” Apparently, she is unaware of the many performing arts students, whose education depends on in-person activities. And how many UK visual arts students have access at home to the space, equipment and supplies they need? Or fields requiring labs and hands-on learning experiences?

Currently, these students are getting the education they need. If UK opts for the easier route and gives up, all of this ends.

Maybe that doesn’t matter to most citizens. But this should: if UK goes fully online, it has no more obligation to test students, most of whom will remain here. Think Lexington has an explosion of cases now? See what happens then.

Shelly Slatin Hancock teaches English at BCTC and is an avid supporter of the University of Kentucky’s arts programs and their students.