It rained throughout the day on Thursday, Aug. 27 — and for the first time, Hamilton College students got a taste of what much of this socially-distant semester will look like.

Doom and gloom quickly descended upon the Hill. The Hamilton Emergency Response Team (HERT) sent out an email notifying the community that all outdoor canopies were to be closed during the storm for safety reasons — leaving all Hamilton students without a place to meet. So, for a day, we all sat inside, isolated, connected to each other only by our Zoom calls and feelings of despair.

Within a few short weeks, however, these outdoor canopies — which have quickly become one of the only safe and reliable ways to see friends on campus — will be closed for the semester due to the colder weather. Meeting outdoors will become infeasible, as the fall months will usher in a climate inhospitable for class meetings or dinners with friends.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hamilton students are not permitted (thus far) to congregate indoors, a policy designed to flatten the curve and ensure the community’s greater well-being. Students are also discouraged from leaving our all-residential campus for any reason, although it is not technically prohibited. And, all of the campus dining halls (including the Field House and the Hub at Bristol) have 315 seats combined, meaning that many students have already found themselves eating inside, alone.

So, when the weather gets colder, students will be forced to retreat to their dorm rooms and will find themselves in an even deeper isolation than what they were welcomed back to campus with.

Of course, I understand that the COVID-19 pandemic is quite literally an existential threat to humanity. It is our obligation and duty — not only as Hamilton College students, but as human beings — to protect ourselves and others from this deadly virus. But we’re all human; humans are social creatures! And isolation has the potential to drive

anybody

crazy. So, once the tents are taken down, Hamilton students will face two massive, related problems: isolation and depression.

Much like it is

our

obligation to protect one another from COVID-19, it is the obligation and duty of

Hamilton College

to look after the welfare of its students — both mentally and


physically. Thus, Hamilton students are going to need safe spaces to see each other — while masked and socially distanced — and it is going to need to be inside.

The campus’ two largest indoor spaces (the Field House and the Tolles Pavilion) are already occupied due to the pandemic, so without change, neither of these facilities will be able to accommodate student socialization. Spaces such as Wellin Hall, the Bradford Auditorium, or the Red Pit might prove to be suitable solutions, but the rigidness of their seating arrangements would only accommodate ~200 socially distant students, combined; not to mention the fact that it would feel like a dystopian study hall. But without Hamilton-sanctioned spaces for socialization, students will be forced to make a choice: live in seclusion or break the rules to see their loved ones.

So, as we approach the cooler months, I urge the Hamilton College administration to consider cold-weather alternatives to the outdoor canopies for the collective welfare of our community. And please — rely upon your students! Hamilton College is the home of hundreds of incredibly thoughtful and intelligent people; I am sure that asking for student input in this important decision would be warmly welcomed.