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Since last March, Syracuse University students, faculty and staff have adjusted to life amid a pandemic. In addition to the physical toll the coronavirus has taken on central New York and the university community, it has also upended university operations and forced the campus to reimagine education and the college experience.

Here’s a look back at the first signs of the pandemic on campus and in the state, as well as how things have changed — or not — since: 

First cases in the state

Before March 2, 2020, COVID-19 seemed like a distant issue to many SU students. It was a problem on the other side of the world and on the other side of the country, but not in central New York.

That changed when Gov. Andrew Cuomo confirmed the first case of COVID-19 in New York state — a woman who had recently traveled to Iran. The governor cautioned New Yorkers that the first confirmed case of the virus shouldn’t be a cause of undue anxiety and that the chances of an outbreak in New York state remained low. 

He was wrong. 

New York confirmed its second case a day later — this one a result of community spread in Westchester County. That number ballooned to over 10,000 new cases a day in April, leading to overflowing hospitals, strained healthcare systems and a desperate shortage of equipment to care for sick and dying patients. 

Cases in the state began to fall after a deadly high in April and remained low in the summer. But as a potential reopening seemed on the horizon, another wave of cases struck the state at the end of 2020. Case totals are declining now, with the vaccine rollout helping to reduce the spread, though new, more contagious variants of COVID-19 pose another potential threat.

Abroad programs sent home

SU Abroad announced on Feb. 24, 2020 would suspend all field trips and student life activities at its Florence Center as the coronavirus began to spread across Italy. At the time, Italy had over 200 confirmed cases of the virus. 

The next day, SU suspended its Florence program. Program leaders made the announcement at a meeting, which was intended to be a question and answer session about the coronavirus. Italy had confirmed at least 322 cases of the virus and 10 coronavirus-related deaths at the time. 

SU Abroad announced March 12 that it would close its London center amid the virus’s spread. At the time, the coronavirus had spread to at least 113 countries, infected more than 118,300 people and killed more than 4,000. SU had also already suspended its Madrid program and later suspended the rest of its abroad programs. 

Although the university prepared to open some of its abroad centers in the fall and then again in the spring, SU has yet to open an abroad center since closing its centers amid the pandemic. The university canceled all abroad programs for both the fall and the spring. 

SU Abroad plans to operate over the summer and during the fall 2021 semester, depending on the conditions of the pandemic, according to its website.

Pandemic arrives in county 

An Onondaga County woman and her husband became the first confirmed cases of coronavirus in the county on March 16. Two days prior to the official confirmation of a positive case, County Executive Ryan McMahon announced a state of emergency along with the temporary closure of county schools. Restaurants and essential services were allowed to stay open with precautionary measures.

At the time, there had been 950 confirmed cases of the virus in New York state and 6 deaths, although the first death in Onondaga County was not confirmed until March 24. 

As of Monday, almost a year since the county’s first case, there have been over 32,000 confirmed cases and over 600 confirmed deaths attributed to the pandemic, according to the county.

SU suspends in person classes 

Chancellor Kent Syverud said on March 2, 2020 that he did not suspect that SU would have to suspend in-person classes. The university announced a plan to suspend in-person classes in the case of a COVID-19 outbreak “out of an abundance of caution” one day after Cuomo announced the first case of the virus in New York. 

While SU did not divulge details of its plan, it entailed collaboration between the University Center for Online and Digital Learning and SU’s schools, colleges and Information Technology Services to help transition classes online.

A week later, the university announced it would move classes online the week following spring break, until at least March 30. SU asked students to bring as many of their belongings home as they could, citing the possibility that they may be away from campus for an extended period of time beyond spring break.

SU announced on March 16, 2020 that classes would remain virtual for the remainder of the spring 2020 semester, just hours after the first confirmed case of the virus in Onondaga County. 

SU announced on March 16, 2020 that classes would remain virtual for the remainder of the spring 2020 semester. Emma Folts | Managing Editor

This was not the last time SU would need to end its in-person semester early due to the pandemic. After reopening campus for the fall 2020 semester, SU finished the last two weeks online after a spike in cases. 

Under a new state advisory, SU would need 835 cases to suspend in-person activities again.

Commencement canceled

Syverud announced March 23 that SU would cancel its in-person commencement for the Class of 2020, which was scheduled for May 10. Cuomo had placed a ban on gatherings that exceeded 500 or more people on March 13.

On April 6, Syvred announced that SU would hold commencement in the Carrier Dome after its renovation. It later pushed the ceremony back until after Thanksgiving. 

Graduates received their degrees virtually on May 10.

SU has since announced plans for an in-person commencement on May 23. John Liu, interim vice chancellor and provost, said that SU will make a decision about whether the ceremony will be in person or virtual by April 1.

The shift online and challenges

After SU shut down, students and professors were left to adapt to online classes for the last two months of the semester. For many, this meant technology hurdles, unanticipated challenges and other academic barriers on top of the stress of a pandemic.

Students with disabilities faced challenges navigating virtual platforms such as Zoom or Google Hangouts while managing their college workloads. Experts encouraged professors to make their courses as accessible as possible despite confusion over the new online format. 

Other students had difficulty accessing technology at home and said online classes left them feeling fatigued and unmotivated. In the first few months of the pandemic, students said they wished their professors had been more accommodating and understanding. 

Some professors also felt the effects of isolation and said they missed seeing their students in person. They said the best way to support their students was by validating their feelings and reminding them that they weren’t alone. 

Like many universities across the country, SU eventually gave students the option to take their classes pass/fail. 

For incoming SU freshmen, the pandemic meant online tours, decisions about online classes and anxiety about attending school in a place many had never seen in person. Seniors were left to enter an unstable economy with no guarantee of finding a job. 

After a year, many students are still experiencing difficulties with online and hybrid classes. Increased screen time has been associated with anxiety, depression and attention issues. 

International students, especially, have faced difficulties with online classes. Due to travel restrictions, many international students have not been able to return to SU’s campus. The time difference between Syracuse, other countries and other parts of the U.S. poses both social and academic issues for these students.

While some coronavirus-related changes have made college life more difficult, some SU professors and students hope that certain policy changes remain even after the pandemic is over.

Published on March 10, 2021 at 12:51 am