Hundreds of Amherst students oppose extremist COVID policy

COVID-19 restrictions from Amherst College prevent students from leaving campus without the school’s approval.

According to the college on August 25 guiding rules For students returning to campus for the fall semester, officials are limiting student travel off-campus until September 13.

The policy states that “students may visit Amherst, disguised inside, in order to conduct business (opening bank accounts, obtaining prescriptions, etc.) during normal business hours, but they may not go to restaurants or bars.”

The petition It currently has 433 signatures opposing this policy, Live Mass reports. The petition called for more student input, suggesting that the college did not fully take their view into account before implementing the policy.

Furthermore, “off-campus travel,” except for travel to other nearby universities to attend classes, “must be approved by the Student Affairs Office.”

The guidelines also warn that Amherst may “need to place restrictions on student travel during the fall break” between October 11 and 12. For other holidays — like family weekend, homecoming and Thanksgiving — the college says it’s “too early to say if travel will be affected.”

But for athletics, only the college says it continues to “evaluate protocols.”

Travel restrictions appear to be particularly stringent for unvaccinated students – who are not allowed to leave campus at all for the first seven days of arrival. Instead of dining in the dining halls, they “must eat fast food” and “can only eat with others when they are outdoors and physically apart.”

Shortly after their arrival, Amherst will “help” unvaccinated students receive their COVID-19 vaccine.

In addition to travel restrictions, Amherst is enacting a maximum capacity of 50 percent of capacity for all indoor events outside of the classroom.

Campus Repair Amherst College asked if professors and other university staff were subject to the same travel restrictions as students; This article will be updated accordingly.

Source: Campus Repair

Ben Zisloft is a student editor for Campus Reform and a senior reporter on campus in Pennsylvania, reporting on liberal bias and abuse for campus reform. He studies finance and marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Benjamin also writes for The UPenn Statesman and Wharton International Business Review.