DURHAM — The University of New Hampshire says it is reevaluating some of its COVID-19 protocols following a campus event Wednesday night when roughly 100 freshmen were observed not complying with social distancing requirements while gathered around fire pits.
Kenneth Holmes, UNH’s senior vice provost for student life and dean of students, said that reevaluation will include how UNH approaches student entry and egress for campus activities to minimize potential transmission of the coronavirus.
Holmes attributed entry and egress challenges to why the crowd size at Wednesday’s event, a university-organized freshmen welcoming event outside Christensen and Williamson halls, swelled beyond the 25-student cap UNH has on all gatherings.
"After yesterday’s event, we are relooking at even our small gatherings," Holmes said in a Zoom interview Thursday. "We just need to revamp how we set up so that we’re paying attention to both (entry and) egress… so that we can maintain social distancing at all times."
UNH staff broke up the student gathering after students witnessing it complained about the lack of social distancing, Holmes said.
Students shared images of the crowd on various social media platforms, including the Twitter account of student-run newspaper The New Hampshire. The images prompted heated social media comments from students. They also prompted voicemail and email complaints to UNH administrators, according to a UNH spokesperson.
"The initial response from students was one of fear and frustration and rightly so," Student Body President Nicholas Fitzgerald wrote in an email interview Thursday. "However, as more information from last night has come out, that frustration has dissipated. Now students are looking for the administration to help make sure this will not happen again in the future."
Wednesday’s event occurred the same day Holmes emailed a warning to students about "reckless" partying spelling the demise of in-person learning this semester. Holmes sent the email after Durham police found 50 students packed, mostly unmasked, in an off-campus apartment at 23 Main St. at 12:10 a.m. Aug. 24.
Holmes said the crowd of roughly 100 students outside Christensen and Williamson halls, two large freshmen dorms on Evergreen Drive, lasted for "less than 30 minutes."
The event was supposed to only include groups of 25 students from a single floor at any one time, but Holmes said the crowd exceeded that because students "congregated" while waiting to reenter their dorms.
"It wasn’t that there was an event of 100 students," he said. "It was when they were sort of heading back to their respective buildings that they congregated and were all socializing and the staff had to intervene."
Similar events featuring fire pits happened at other smaller freshmen dorms Wednesday.
"All of the other events were fine," said Holmes. "Even to say ‘without incident’ is too strong. It wasn’t an incident. It was just too large of a group."
Fitzgerald said similar events can and should be held because the "last thing any of us want is for our university to become a prison where students are confined to their rooms outside of classes."
However, he said "changes need to be made." He said he believes UNH can make a "tremendous impact on safety" by better regulating the dispersion of students and limiting the food provided during events, like the ice cream provided to students Wednesday night.
"Due to the very nature of an event with food, masks would be lowered or removed," he wrote. "Therefore, students were seen without a mask on. All students at the event had a mask with them, which is thanks in part to the #unhtogether campaign on campus."
Fitzgerald said he doesn’t blame students for what happened Wednesday.
"Most students just wanted to socialize and make new friends, which is a huge reason we want to be on campus this semester," he wrote. "However, we cannot stay here if the six #unhtogether steps are not maintained. We have seen across the country universities opening then closing immediately following huge, dangerous, gatherings of students. Being on campus is not a guarantee and if we are not working together then we will be sent back home. UNH is one of the best prepared schools in the country, and I would hate to see all that hard work disappear because a small group of individuals could not follow these simple rules."
Since announcing UNH would reopen its campuses, administrators have released various messaging and videos instructing students to "Do your part" and take COVID-19 safety guidelines seriously.
Holmes said achieving full compliance is "going to be a challenge" on a campus the size of Durham.
"When you’re talking about having almost 5,500, 6,000 students across the campus in residences, it’s just going to be a challenge," he said. "That’s why it’s going to be important that we make sure all of our students get tested twice a week. That’s why it was so important for us before students moved into residence halls they had a test eight days before arrival and (they) could not move into the halls unless (they) had a negative test. And again we’re going to be testing them twice a week. That’s going to be critical."
As of Thursday, UNH had conducted 14,061 COVID-19 tests, according to data posted on UNH’s website and 99.79% have come back negative. Thirty came back positive and 26 were recorded at testing sites on campus.
"I shudder to say people at the event yesterday were in a bubble, but they were all tested and they all presented negative tests," Holmes said. "Can I say that’s foolproof? Absolutely not. But they were tested."
UNH officials, including President Jim Dean during a roundtable event with U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas on Monday, stressed they’re doing all they can to ensure social distancing, carry out thorough cleaning protocols, and take enforcement actions against students who violate the guidelines.
Holmes echoed those remarks Thursday.
"If that’s not always compliant, we’ll certainly follow up, especially if it’s something where students are being willful," he said. "But to date, outside of that one event off campus, our students seem to comply or are complying."
Traditionally, the first weekend includes a number of events, performances and festivities. They will be held online this weekend, a decision made before Wednesday’s event, Holmes said.
Durham Town Administrator Todd Selig commended UNH on its COVID-19 measures Thursday while saying he hopes the entire university community takes compliance seriously.
"I think UNH has made a herculean effort to put in place the protocols and rules to effectuate a safe reopening and really whether or not they’re successful is in the hands of the student body at this point," Selig said.
Wednesday’s events occurred as area communities have implemented different restrictions on outdoor fires due to the drought. Durham Fire Chief Dave Emanuel said UNH was fully permitted to operate fire pits outside its dorms. He said the town had no fire bans Wednesday, which he said was a Class III fire danger day in New Hampshire.
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