Permanent Oxford residents have mixed feelings about Miami University’s decision to continue with its phased return to campus, bringing even more students into Oxford.
Though Miami University carries a reputation of being relatively conservative, Oxford has been a small blue bubble in an overwhelmingly red county for the past several elections.
In the face of a pandemic, the Butler County Board of Elections and local political organizations have both been working to allow Oxford residents to vote as safely and efficiently as possible this coming November.
With Miami’s positive case rate on the decline, Provost Jason Osborne said it is “unlikely” that the campus will completely vacate again like it did in March.
The whole family packed into the room, piling duffle bags and boxes onto the bed and the floor. Clanking noises from one particular bag, full of Kylie’s coffee mugs, echoed around the quiet hallway.
Zoom, the video-conferencing application that Miami uses for online learning, was down and undergoing maintenance for nearly four hours on Aug. 24. This Zoom blackout slammed the brakes on schools across the country and introduced students and instructors alike to a new kind of virtual snow day.
Jennifer Bailer, health commissioner for the Butler County Health District, said Oxford is now averaging 25 new COVID cases a day, a decrease from several hundred a day at the end of August.
Miami University’s Associated Student Government (ASG) held elections for the position of secretary of academic affairs – the last executive cabinet position that remained unfilled – and for two members of its steering committee at its meeting on Sept. 15.
Miami University will move forward on a $96 million Clinical Health Sciences (CHS) facility, as well as other previously planned construction projects after suspending $176 million worth of construction projects due to COVID-19 in June.
Eleven Miami students who tested positive for COVID-19 this semester shared their experiences with the virus, discussing everything from getting tested, to experiencing physical and emotional effects, to life in quarantine and the recovery process.
Situated along some of Oxford’s most familiar streets such as Vine, High and Main, there resides a rich history of the Black men and women who made their impact on this town more than 100 years ago.
Miami currently has 689 active student cases on the Oxford campus.
Turning in other students to the Oxford Police Department (OPD) or the university, or “snitching,” is becoming more common around Oxford, with the desire to limit the spread of COVID-19 being a driving factor in many of these situations.
With President Greg Crawford’s announcement that Miami University would proceed with its phased-in return to campus, members of the class of 2024 had mixed feelings about starting their college experience.
Miami University will continue to offer most first-year transition and engagement events online through the fall semester. With in-person classes set to begin Sept. 21, the university will enforce social distancing guidelines and other COVID-19 regulations. To that end, campus events designed to integrate first-years into the Miami community will be held virtually.
Like most buildings on campus, MacMillan Hall, home to International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS), has seen little to no student traffic for the past few months since Miami University transitioned to remote learning — and it may stay that way throughout the semester.
President Crawford announced in an email this morning that Miami is going forward with the plans to bring students back to in-person and hybrid classes beginning Sept. 21 and will begin residence hall move-in Sept. 14. Students quickly reacted to the news with mixed sentiments.
Miami University will return to in-person classes as planned on Sept. 21, wrote President Greg Crawford in a university-wide email, with residence hall move-in beginning next week.
The Oxford Police Department (OPD) issued six civil citations to Miami University students for violation of Oxford’s mass gathering ban on Sept. 5. At least five of the cited students were under quarantine protocols for COVID-19 at the time of the incident.
The Miami University Police Department (MUPD) has changed the wording on its sexual assault safety bulletins to include anti-victim blaming language.