Do you think the three-semester plan was a good idea? Why or why not? How could it have been better?

Although most students seemed unhappy with the outcome for juniors, generally it was recognized that these policies kept COVID-19 levels down on campus. Many suggested that more options, such as the ability to enroll as a remote student during the fall semester in lieu of a mandatory summer term, could have benefited many students. Many students felt like the College was prioritizing revenue over the needs of the third-year class. 

• “I think it was a bad idea because for third- and second-years in vulnerable positions many of them must have felt trapped in bad living situations or financially at a loss. There’s no perfect solution and I personally gained a lot from having the semester off and hope others did as well, but Oberlin’s plan seems to be more isolating and disruptive in my eyes than any other university I’ve seen. I would’ve just resumed classes for everybody with similar guidelines and an option to do remote, and probably tried to have registered pods or allow people to live together and share germs in some way so that they can support each other.”
• “I was really impressed at how few COVID-19 cases Oberlin had, so it seems like the plan is pretty successful in that regard. I think it’s an effective compromise, but I wonder how they’re going to continue it next year (I’m assuming they will have to).”
• “It would have been better to have close groups together, so for example put juniors and seniors together and sophomores and freshmen together. This is because these groups would take most of the same classes together. I could only be at Oberlin during times when none of the classes I needed were offered.”
• “I understand why Oberlin chose a three-semester plan, but I disagree with how they handled it. I think [third-years] should’ve been given the option to go remote if they couldn’t be on campus.”
• It feels like Oberlin catered to the first-years and fourth-years while the third-years were completely ignored. They offered us only one option for Winter Term credit, gave us four semesters straight of school, and took away our last chance for a meaningful internship before graduation. Not to mention that my fall schedule was completely scrapped (and some of those classes I will now never be able to take) and the lack of class options for the summer semester. To me, it feels like the thought process was that the third-years are too far into it to transfer, so they’ll get the worst hand and just deal with it.