If fall 2024 welcomes most with pumpkin-patches and midterm exams, it reminds disabled and immunocompromised students that their education, community, and overall care are conditional. They are reminded, time and again, that some “allies” are ready to drop them when allyship becomes a chore.
Students and staff are dissatisfied with current covid protocols, now that classes have resumed in-person.
Was Future wrong when he said “Mask Off”? Students at the U of O evaluate the University and Ontario’s decisions to lift mask mandates.
“With over 90 per cent of North Americans admitting that they have gone to work while sick, the importance of wearing masks to prevent transmission and illness is a lesson learnt; to remember once the COVID-19 crisis is over. We should not have to wait for another global pandemic to remind us of lessons learned.” writes Rhyanna Melanson, a 2020 U of O graduate in biology.
With masks becoming a requirement, both name brands and local stores have tried to capitalize on what has become a new market. From nicely coloured cloth masks, to fancy sportsmasks, there are endless options when it comes to face coverings, and people are willing to pay the money for them.
To motivate students, one theatre professor has made bubonic plague-era masks mandatory for all of her classes.
“Before you fling your righteousness across cyberspace, hoping for humble deference to your superior intellect, let us explore a crucial dimension to your online interaction,” writes Eric Dicaire a recent University of Ottawa graduate.
