The State University of New York at Fredonia is set to start its fall semester and there are mixed views from the community, faculty and students.

“When the schools have taken enormous efforts to establish the protocols and manage the resources to mitigate the risk, I feel good about it,” said Tracy Mitrano, the Democrat running for Congress. “Fredonia doesn’t have the size and population density that Buffalo has. So long as they continue to manage it as well as they can, to mitigate the risk, I think they should be open.”

SUNY Fredonia has taken many precautions in opening and bringing students back this semester, such as making its annual move-in day spread out to cover a week. Other efforts have been made to require face masks for students whenever they cannot stay socially distant and to stay home if they’re sick.

Classes on campus will also look different this semester, including the use of models that will be used such as normal face-to-face, but with masks and social distancing, online, remote, A/B, and hybrid models that can combine any of the others together.

Some faculty members are concerned about the risk of an outbreak within the school. The OBSERVER was contacted by an employee at SUNY Fredonia who is concerned about students not wearing masks in dorms and outside playing sports.

“So much for a safe opening,” the employee said. “No one is enforcing it, this is obvious. I don’t want to get sick, I work here in dorms, this is a potential disaster. I’m very worried, we need to take this seriously.”

SUNY Fredonia officials encourage students and faculty to be responsible.

“Promise to take responsibility for your own health and to consider the health of those around you by monitoring your health by conducting daily screenings, wearing a mask in all buildings on campus, practicing social distancing in all academic and life situations (yes, even nights and weekends), and following the procedures the university puts in place to lower the risk for everyone,” the college said in a statement. “This can be found in its entirety at fredonia.edu/promise.”

Brooke Ostrye, of Forestville, who does not live on campus, holds almost the same opinions that Sara Auchenbaugh, of Central Islip (Long Island), who does live on campus, holds. Both believe that opening the college again has good and bad aspects, such as getting to see friends and being in person for learning. But, it could be negative because of the risk of outbreak within the community.

“It will be good to have a sense of normalcy again, but I hope everyone can do their part in keeping the campus safe,” Ostrye said. “I’m unsure if holding classes in person is good or bad yet, it will be interesting to see how it will work.”

When asked if they could predict what will happen in the coming semester, both students gave answers of an outbreak.

“Personally, I have a feeling that we could end up with an outbreak within a couple weeks to a month,” Auchenbaugh said. “I’m just waiting to be told that everything is online and that we have to go home.”

Ostrye had the same prediction, “It will probably shift to all online again,” she said. “I’ve already seen multiple colleges have outbreaks after a few weeks of being back and students getting sent back home.”

Both students believe that colleges should lower the cost of tuition. “It’s not fair that I’m paying for all of these extra fees that I’m not even able to use,” Ostrye said. “Many students already have trouble paying tuition, and it does not make it easier during a pandemic.”

“The university is developing plans and protocols to lower the risk of COVID-19 spread, which are based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, the Governor’s office, and SUNY,” the college said. “Ultimately though, it’s up to each of us – every member of the Big Blue family — to be #FREDstrong and promise to do what we can to keep each other safe.”