SAN MARCOS, TX – Although the COVID-19 pandemic brought drastic changes to class formats at Texas State University, it also had a significant impact on the students with on-campus jobs. The various adjustments that students, staff, and faculty had to make to keep everybody safe brought a lot of pressure and uncertainty.
Every individual had to adjust to a completely new way of interacting with one another. Meeting online through software such as Zoom and Teams was a solution that was quickly introduced and utilized by universities across the country, including Texas State. As there are hundreds of positions occupied by students on and around campus, the circumstances and struggles for each person varied.
Jernice Kelley, a content creator at KTSW, expressed the difficulties that moving online brought to the radio station.
“Our entire department couldn’t have in-person meetings, interviews, or events. If we wanted to collaborate at all, we had to do so virtually. This made things pretty difficult because of technology issues. and not knowing how to use the platforms in general.”
All in-person classes and activities will resume in the upcoming 2021 fall semester. Until then, the campus continues to operate with social distancing guidelines and mask mandates in place.
For a university with almost 40,000 students, it is difficult to imagine just how drastically the pandemic changed campus life. To a student who was enrolled before social distancing, these photos are an eerie sight. 
Spaces that once accommodated thousands of students were suddenly bare after what everybody thought was just going to be an extended spring break. The busiest walkways were made hollow, and only a specific group of students and faculty were allowed on campus. 
At the center of campus lies the Alkek Library, a building with seven floors and all of the technology a student could need. Alkek was only closed for a short time in 2020, but the numbers dwindled all the same even as it opened. 
The LBJ statue was once one of the busiest intersections on campus. One of the strangest parts of classes moving online has been seeing these areas empty. 
Old Main is the oldest building on campus, and can be seen far and wide from more than several points across San Marcos. It used to be a popular lounging area for students, staff, and faculty. 
Computer labs across the campus are now limited to only a specific amount of students at a time. Having facilities such as these at only 50% capacity was another challenge that students faced. 
Life for student workers and faculty was completely changed. When not working remote, employees do the best they can to work and socialize safely. 
The transition to online meant finding new ways to spend time. Nature took the place of bars and restaurants for many. 
Luckily, there are a lot of different hiking trails and waterfalls around San Marcos. This was a healthy coping mechanism when unable to see friends. 
Now that vaccines are being distributed, students can finally spend more face-to-face time with their friends. Campus life will continue to be socially distanced until fall 2021.
Making adjustments for students participating in work-study was an unexpected challenge for the faculty members at Texas State. Work-study jobs offer students priority to positions on campus, awarded through financial aid, for them to better focus on their studies. These positions were paid through the initial shutdown that took place during the spring 2020 semester, but staff and faculty had three months over the summer to implement CDC guidelines and develop a plan for the socially distanced environment that would begin in the fall. A lot of careful consideration was required to prepare for a new and unfamiliar situation that put pressure to ensure safety for everybody involved. Faculty, staff, and Student workers currently operate under these same guidelines until the campus is 100% open again.
Naomi Wilson, an administrative assistant for the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Texas State, had to have a lot of understanding with her student workers when classes moved online.
“It was a struggle. I needed to extend a lot of grace and be conscientious of what other people were going through. I wanted to be fair and not an added layer of stress. Leniency was really important.”
The campus was not the only thing that shut down at the beginning of the pandemic. Coffee shops, restaurants, parks, and other places where students commonly gather to study and socialize were closed. Students were left without jobs and with a lot of uncertainty about the future.
Information from Texas State University
Information from Texas State University
Information from Yale Medicine
Arek Thompson, a psychology student at Texas state who works off-campus as a server, expressed how the pandemic affected his balance between work and school.
“It was unpredictable. Fewer people would come in as cases rose, and vice versa. It was hard to focus on school when this would happen because I had to worry about how I was going to pay my bills.”
For more information on how COVID-19 has affected Texas State University and its community, visit their website.
