Winter Session means a ‘dead’ BGSU campus
By ABBY SHIFLEY
BG Independent Correspondent
For senior Kelly Schroeder, the BGSU campus is in an uncommonly lifeless state during Winter Session.
“I don’t really like how it’s so dead … it’s just weird being in class when no one is around and walking on campus,” said Schroeder, who is majoring in graphic design.
This winter, 300 BGSU students decided to take on-campus classes instead of having an extra three weeks of winter break. Since there are typically thousands of students enrolled during the Spring and Fall semesters, the campus has a considerably different atmosphere.
Schroeder is in one of the 15 on-campus classes that are taking place during the 2019 Winter Session. Originally, 36 on-campus classes were offered but 21 were canceled according to information provided by Betsy Winters, data analytics coordinator of Online and Summer Academic Programs.
Besides classes, there are other on-campus activities going on during Winter Session. Some of these activities are workshops, research opportunities, a Backpack to Briefcase Boot Camp, as well as volunteer opportunities offered by the Center for Community and Civic Engagement.
Of the 1,062 students involved in Winter Session, only 300 are on campus. However, this lower number of on-campus students was anticipated by the university said Paul Cesarini, assistant vice provost of Online and Summer Academic Programs.
“The majority of our Winter Session classes were online or experiential where students are not on campus, and that is by design,” Cesarini said. “Many of them were in study abroad classes or what we call ‘study afar,’ which is essentially experiential learning but within the United States.”
Of the students taking classes on BGSU’s campus, many are like Schroeder and are living off campus. The number of students living in the residence halls varies week by week during winter break but is between 50 to 100 students. Stephanie Brinkman of the Office of Residence Life said these students can be on campus for multiple reasons, and not just during winter session. Besides taking on-campus classes, students could be on campus for sports, work or to use campus resources for online classes. They could also be out-of-state or international students who decided not to travel home.
Because only a few residence halls are open (University Apartments, Kreischer, Centennial, McDonald and Falcon Heights as of January 10, 2019), some students living in the dorms have to relocate for their stay over winter break.
The dorms that remain open depend on the students who are already in the dorms during the normal semesters. The students who wish to stay on campus during winter break but usually live in one of the closed dorms have to move to one of the open dorms, Brinkman said.
The students in this temporary housing are moved into vacant rooms, so they aren’t in another student’s space. For the Spring semester, they return to their original living arrangement.
“We try to minimize it as much as possible, but it is inevitable that if we’re not opening all of the halls, then there are people relocated,” Brinkman noted.
The front desks of the open residence halls are not staffed, but students are given personal entry devices (PEDs) to enter the buildings Brinkman said. Maintenance requests are being processed normally by professional personnel who stay at the university year-round.
If a student needs to contact a representative of the Office of Residence Life, the office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, and there are break resident advisors or hall directors available if students need to contact someone after hours.
Schroeder said she had not run into any major problems in her time on the sparsely populated campus, only a few inconveniences. Jerome Library has adjusted hours during Winter Session and closes at 6 p.m. on weekdays and 5 p.m. on weekends, which makes it difficult for Schroeder to get work done for her Computer Science class.
“For anything I have to use the campus computers, so it’s kind of inconvenient that the library is only open until, like, five, because my class ends at five,” Schroeder said. Her class is from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., so Schroeder comes to the library before class and gets her homework done the day of, which she finds a little stressful.
Schroeder also didn’t understand the parking regulations during Winter Session, except that Parking Services was still patrolling campus. With the small number of students and faculty on campus, there are many empty parking spots — but Schroeder still parks in the commuter lots because she only has a commuter parking pass. Her class is in Hayes Hall, which is about a 10-minute walk from the nearest commuter parking lot.
The limited on-campus dining hours had little effect on Schroeder because she lives off campus, but she did recall trying to get Starbucks at one point and the shop was closed. The Falcon’s Nest is open for three hours Monday through Friday and the other dining options on campus are Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts.
Other on-campus resources are limited as well. BGSU shuttles are not running during Winter Session and Campus Escorts are not available either; however, the Campus Police are still patrolling campus.
In less than a week, thousands of students will re-emerge to pull the BGSU campus out its dead state. The optional Winter Session will end on Jan. 23, and students will return for the Spring semester on Jan. 28.
