The food trucks were lined up on the street, the bell tower rang.
It almost seemed like a normal day at college, except for the fact that all students were wearing a mask.
Despite that, many students said they aren’t noticing an obvious difference.
Sophomore Olivia Ager has a mix of online and in-person classes.
“It’s just a lot more spacious in the classrooms, which is kind of nice because normally it’s very crowded,” she said after her first in-person class of the academic year.
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The university normally has around 15,000 seats available in classrooms, but it’s
down to a little more than 3,000 this fall.
And there were 27,000 people on campus on the first day of class a year ago, but this year, there are only 9,000.
“Other than having virtual classes, it’s very much the same kind of first day,” said Ager when asked about the difference between the start of 2019 and 2020. “Things are open that we can access. Not as crowded walking on the walkways and stuff, but there are still a lot of people out, which is still nice to see.”
Emily Alderman is happy to hear that. She’s a freshman who is just beginning her college journey during these unusual circumstances.
“I wanted the real experience,” she said, “so I kind of wanted most of my classes in person. Most of them aren’t, which is unfortunate, but I’m dealing with it.”
She “feels safe” being around campus as most people seem to be following the rules.
And if you forget those rules, Temple has safety reminders posted all over campus.
But not everyone is happy to be back.
A protest was held in the morning, as students, then faculty members, rallied to get as many classes as possible held online.
“Why cause all this anxiety?” asked English professor Steve Newman. “This is not good for teaching, you’re sitting in a class and your students are worried when someone coughs.”
Newman is also president of the Temple Association of University Professionals, part of the American Federation of Teachers.
“It is extremely likely,” he added, “that just like North Carolina, just like many other schools, in a few weeks the infection rate is going to spike and you’re going to have to shut down. And our position is, why wait for that sickness, which might be severe?”
Another instructor spoke at the rally virtually, because he recovered from COVID-19 this summer.
Temple said on top of requiring masks and encouraging social distancing and hand-washing, other safety measure taken this fall include touchless faucets in restrooms, grab-and-go meals in dining halls and enhanced cleaning protocols.