After promoting NSU’s efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 on campus and requiring masks in classrooms and at all events on campus, you would think that NSU would coordinate with their social media accounts to at least make it seem like they are enforcing their own rules. Whenever I log into Instagram, I’m disappointed but ultimately not surprised to see that NSU’s stories of students enjoying events usually include several people obviously not wearing masks correctly (or at all), not following social distancing rules and generally not following COVID-19 restrictions on campus.
Although I am really glad to have in person events again, I find myself not wanting to go to a lot of the busier ones, especially if I see NSU’s Instagram account promoting it. I see pictures of huge groups of students, mostly freshmen who are a little too eager to party, crowded together and not wearing masks. Already, it makes me uneasy enough sitting in a packed class and hearing the girl a couple rows back from me coughing and wheezing, or having the guy sitting in front of me sniffling underneath his mask. I can’t imagine how many unknown cases of COVID-19 attend those large events; even if it’s a small amount, I would rather be safe than sorry.
I’m not fooling myself about NSU enforcing their COVID-19 safety guidelines; I know that they rarely do. Every day after work, I walk out of the office and I see pretty much the entire third floor of the UC maskless. People in my classes wear their face coverings below their noses or even around their chins, with little effort from anyone else to correct this. I don’t blame my peers for not stepping up; it’s not their fault NSU doesn’t enforce their own rules on students.
However, I would think that NSU would put more effort into marketing themselves to new and prospective students as a safe place, and if not to students, to their parents. From what my own mother tells me about the infamous NSU parent Facebook pages, lots of parents are concerned about their children’s health and safety. If NSU doesn’t enforce their own guidelines, especially with several new COVID-19 variants on the rise, then they may be losing out on prospective students and prospective profit.
Overall, I haven’t felt protected by NSU throughout pretty much the entire pandemic, but seeing safety guidelines blatantly ignored on NSU’s own official Instagram account is just icing on the cake.
