HOUSTON — College campuses across the country have been forced to make changes as the COVID-19 omicron variant continues to spread at an alarming rate.
Rice University recently revealed the changes students can expect when they return to class.
The biggest change is the university will require students and employees to get the vaccine booster shot. Rice will also begin the semester online.
Savannah Kuchar is a senior and is also the editor in chief of the student newspaper where the front page news is omicron.
“Staying on top of that has been interesting on top of just being a student,” Kuchar said.
She said she was disappointed to learn her final semester would begin virtually.
“Yeah, I think it was hard to hear the news yesterday,” she said.
In a letter to students, the university president laid out the changes, which were put in place in an attempt to stop the new variant's spread.
Campus changes
Booster shots will be required for all employees and students by Jan. 10 unless they're granted a medical or religious exemption.
“I was really happy to see that the booster was being mandated, that was nice, but yeah, it’s a little sad because it’s my last semester at Rice,” Kuchar said.
Courses will be held online for the first two weeks of the semester unless the class has less than 50 students, in which case the professor would decide how to hold class.
“It was kind of the same case at the start of the fall with two weeks virtual and things being restricted, and it got better by the end of the fall semester, so I think there’s hope maybe the same thing will happen this spring," Kuchar said.
Also, masks will be required indoors at Rice University and students have been asked to delay their return to on-campus housing for two weeks if possible. Staff members were also asked to work remotely.
The university said it hopes to resume in-person classes on Jan. 24.
It's an end to a college experience Kuchar was not expecting but she said it has provided her with a unique perspective moving forward.
“Just value the moments more,” she said.