After three separate arrival dates spaced over several weeks, all of Middlebury College’s 2,250 students are now on campus — with most arriving on Wednesday and Friday this week.
Through August, many town residents have expressed great trepidation about the students’ return, with groups of faculty, staff, and town residents publicly urging the college to go online-only. In response, college leaders said they’re confident in their Covid-19 planning, and think the benefits of having students return to school outweigh the risks.
Of the first 1,448 Covid tests of arriving Middlebury students, college officials said only one was positive for the virus.
The college’s return-to-campus plan involves strict guidelines for students, including an initial phase where students are barred entirely from leaving campus. All students were asked to quarantine for two weeks at home before arriving in Middlebury; they were tested for Covid-19 upon arrival, and tests will then continue on a regular schedule.
But now, with students on campus — starting with 300 or so “student leaders” who arrived several weeks ago — some town residents say their fears about student behavior are now coming true.
“I’ve heard reports from colleagues about students wandering back from town toward campus on arrival day carrying coffee cups,” said Mike Olinick, a math professor at the college. “Another colleague was chatting with the owner of one of the stores that sells a lot of beer to students; he’s done some business with them. A few other incidents like that have been reported.”
In a locally viral video, Pierre Vachon, a local tattoo/piercing shop owner, went on a 30-minute self-described “rant.” Vachon said multiple Middlebury students had called his shop, trying to book appointments, in direct violation of the school’s on-campus quarantine policy.
“There are students out there that do not care,” Vachon said in the video. “They don’t think the virus is real, or they don’t think it’s a problem for their communities. Most of the kids who called were great, but more than one chewed me out, saying how dare I not pierce them when they just got into town and they’re supposed to be doing quarantine.”
Sarah Ray, a spokesperson for the college, said Middlebury has received reports of “potential conduct violations,” but so far, no substantiated reports of students breaking campus quarantine.
“We take these matters very seriously, investigate every report to determine the facts, and take appropriate action if there is sufficient evidence to substantiate a policy violation,” Ray wrote in an email to VTDigger.
The college has set up an online reporting mechanism where people can report alleged infractions. She noted that matters of student discipline are confidential, so the school will not disclose the outcomes of particular cases.
A chart on the college website lists the various sanctions students can face for breaking Covid-19 rules, with “minimal,” “moderate,” and “high” categories for first, second, and third offenses.
Punishments range from a warning and parental notification for a first-time minimal violation, such as unintentional noncompliance with daily health monitoring and face-covering guidelines, to suspension for one academic year with a no-trespass order for a third-time maximum offense, such as violating quarantine and isolation restrictions, travel restrictions, student-initiated events and parties policies, or failure to cooperate with testing or tracing protocols.
“The table is intended to be used as a guide only,” Ray wrote. “Sanction-related decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis and will depend on the circumstances of each case.”
Most residents agree that, without even one full weekend under their belts, it’s too soon to tell just how concerned they should be about student behavior, but many also feel that what they’ve seen so far has done nothing to ease their fears.
“We’re not going to get these huge beach parties like we’ve seen at the University of Georgia and other places,” said Jonathan Isham, professor of economics and environmental studies at Middlebury. “That’s not our geography. We’re not a huge university; it’s hard to imagine something like that happening here.”
Olinick, the math professor, is skeptical.
“There’s no reason to think our students would be remarkably different in their behaviors than other 18- to 22-year-olds in places where things have had to shut down in a week or two,” Olinick said.
Olinick said the small size of Middlebury’s hospital, Porter Medical Center, makes the idea of a Covid resurgence especially worrisome, since the town’s capacity to treat sick residents is so small. Porter is a 25-bed acute care facility and also has a 105-bed skilled nursing facility.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t as much of a concern in places like Castelton, where the bulk of students are Vermont residents, and Vermont has done a good job of keeping the virus so low,” Olinick said.
But residents worry that the town of Middlebury is unique. For one thing, the town has had some of the lowest Covid numbers in the country, and now a stream of parents are driving into town with license plates from all over the country.
Another thing to consider, Isham said, is that Middlebury College is a central part of the town of Middlebury’s economy. It’s one of the largest employers in town, so people rely on the school economically. That means the stakes are high, if things go badly.
“The town is on edge, I think it’s fair to say,” Isham said.
But some townsfolk are optimistic that concerns may not be as warranted as they seem.
“One viral Facebook post can hit 10,000 folks in a day, but does that mean it’s any more real than the other 800 folks that have had no bad experiences?” said Tim Parsons, a landscape horticulturist at Middlebury, and member of the school’s staff council.
“It’s very hard to say who is actually a student. I’ve been fooled by that, too,” Parsons said. “I saw some people walking down Main Street, they were young, they had no masks on, and I was like ‘great, there’s students out with no masks,’ but then I looked closer and it was clear that they were in high school.”
Parsons said he hates to think of the town becoming alienated from the students, who are usually its lifeblood, but he also understands that, with a deadly virus, safety has to come first.
“It’s great that the town cares this much. There’s certainly worse problems to have,” he said. “I’d much rather have folks be hyper-vigilant than swing the pendulum the other way and have folks that don’t care.”
