“Once my spring break class trip was cancelled, I planned to remain on campus for the duration of the break in order to save money on travel and to avoid unsafe living conditions. Midway through, of course, this became impossible for me, as dorms were closing. I spoke with both my dean and my head of college, both of whom were incredibly understanding of why I could not return home. Despite their efforts, however, I was unable, according to Yale, to stay on campus. Because of this, I was unsure of where I’d be living for the rest of the dorms’ closure, though thanks to the efforts of alumni, I was able to find a space to live. I spent a while moving from couch to couch but have since found a more stable place to stay in New Haven. I was fortunate enough that, as online classes began, I had borrowed a laptop from Bass Library, since I do not own one. I have no clue how I would have operated in my classes had I not done this before the libraries closed, as my studio class required us to use a remote desktop in order to complete all of the work for the course, which would have been impossible on my phone. In all these ways, I consider myself incredibly fortunate in the ways COVID-19 affected me and my last semester at Yale. That being said, I came all too close to not having a place to stay or being forced to return to unsafe living conditions, and when Yale announced that classes would be online, I came dangerously close to being unable to complete the entirety of my senior project because I couldn’t afford a laptop. Because of this – the risk of housing insecurity and academic concerns forced onto students along class lines – I call upon Yale to eliminate the SIC. If I were not being made to pay this extra “contribution” to Yale, I believe that my and my family’s financial experiences during the COVID-19 crisis would have been much improved, thus alleviating stress from me and other Yale students going through similar economic situations.”
Cole Fandrich, They/Them/Theirs, 2020, DC
