Noting the logistical and emotional difficulties of residence halls closing mere hours after Commencement, more than 200 members of the Class of 2021 recently signed a petition urging the administration to delay move-out to the next day, as in a normal year. Yet in a response letter, the Commencement Planning Committee dismissively rejected student concerns, citing the risk of COVID spreading and the policies of “peer institutions.” The Committee’s response is poorly justified: COVID risks are likely greater with the rapid forced move-out, and the College should not blindly adopt the policies of “peer institutions” without adequate justification. The administration should reconsider its policy. The petition cited numerous student concerns, ranging from a fear of driving late into the night, to a desire to more meaningfully say goodbye to friends, to frustration at the administration’s distrust of graduating seniors who have largely followed COVID guidelines. The Committee response letter cursorily notes these concerns, before dismissing them out of hand.
Consider the College’s response to students who live far from Hamilton who are worried about driving late at night. The Committee’s letter declares that any concerned students are “free to leave at noon,” just minutes after graduation. This argument is callous, and it also ignores seniors without cars on campus. Suppose a senior’s family lives six hours away, in a state like Pennsylvania or Massachusetts. Does the College expect these families, who have invested an obscene amount of money into a Hamilton education, to potentially skip part of the 10 a.m. graduation ceremony in order to arrive at Hamilton before 5 p.m.? In these cases, Hamilton faces a different situation than our many peer institutions in which parents have been invited to attend graduation in-person. Nor do students in this situation likely meet the College’s standard that it must be “impossible” for students to move out on time in order to receive a late-stay exemption.
Having been treated with derision, seniors are responding in kind. An Instagram post, widely shared among the senior class and garnering hundreds of likes, shows a member of the Class of 2021 responding to a future Hamilton request for donations with a simple “No, I don’t think I will.” Senior move-out time is not an issue of earth-shattering importance, but it has taken on symbolic significance because of the seemingly arbitrary nature of the decision.
The Committee primarily cites the continued risk of COVID spreading as the rationale for its decision. Clearly, COVID remains a threat. Some NESCAC schools, like Bates, have recently experienced surges of cases, and hundreds tragically continue to die in the United States every day.
Yet it is unclear why allowing students to move out one extra night after Commencement dramatically raises coronavirus risks on campus if testing regimes continue through senior week. Hamilton has not reported any positive cases in weeks, and Oneida County rates remain low. Additionally, many students have received the COVID vaccine, particularly in the last few weeks after New York State increased eligibility to include New Yorkers above the age of 16. Nothing is ever zero risk, but a mere 19-hour difference surely does not significantly magnify the danger of a viral outbreak or “large gatherings.”
A forced rapid move-out on Commencement day might actually increase risks. The Committee’s letter appropriately notes that in a typical year, students do not move out at the same time. Yet in a typical year, students have far more flexibility on when to move out. Here, students will be loading cars and inviting family members from outside the Hamilton bubble into dorms during a concentrated five-hour span. Most move-outs will probably occur at the end of that five hours, as students enjoy the final fleeting minutes of their Hamilton experience and frantically pack.
Perhaps more importantly, students have been vaccinated against COVID in record numbers with extremely effective vaccines. Given New York’s lax vaccination rules that allowed some students to get vaccinated months ago, an extremely high percentage of Hamilton seniors are likely already vaccinated. This contrasts sharply with a state like Connecticut — where Wesleyan, Trinity, and Connecticut College are located — that used a strictly age-based metric for rolling out the vaccine. Different NESCAC schools are differently situated with regards to COVID vaccination rates.
If COVID is the College’s primary concern, it should make more of an effort to determine the number of seniors who will be vaccinated by Commencement. Recent studies indicate that the risk of infection after a completed vaccination series is
extremely slight
. On Wednesday, April 21, the College sent out an email attempting to ascertain the number of vaccinated students, a better effort than the previous weak plea for students to upload their vaccination cards. This late effort indicates that the Committee made the early move-out decision with incomplete knowledge about the true level of vaccination in the senior class. Perhaps when making decisions, one should look at facts on the ground, rather than merely what other institutions are doing.
Yet the College’s justification remains essentially that: “other institutions are doing it, therefore we should too.” Aside from not exactly representing the kind of rigorous thinking that Hamilton typically promotes, this conveniently elides the fact that two other NESCAC schools
are
allowing move-out the day after their commencements. Hamilton deciding to allow the same would therefore not be unprecedented. The Committee’s letter to the senior class further urges seniors to be more
grateful
. After all, unlike some peer institutions, Hamilton has retained at least a semblance of senior week.
We are grateful. The hard work of everyone at Hamilton — administrators, deans, facilities management, Bon Appetit staff, professors, and more — has allowed us to spend one final year with our closest friends in the world, enjoy one final opportunity to take in-person classes with Hamilton’s brilliant faculty, and otherwise have as normal a semester as possible given the global pandemic.
In the face of all the hard work that has gone into this semester, the arbitrarity of the senior move-out decision is puzzling. The decision does not promote meaningful COVID safety, yet it adds enormous logistical difficulties for already struggling families. Seniors yearn for one last opportunity to spend time with friends in a place we love and call home, rather than the frenzy of packing to move out the same afternoon as we graduate. Unfortunately, left to choose between thoughtful dialogue with graduating seniors and dismissal on this issue, the College chose the latter.