Story and photos by Thomas Iacobucci
The week before spring exams, a campus normally bustling with college students sits barren.
In dorms that hundreds of students call home and lecture halls that hundreds of students call class, an air of emptiness remains.
As USF St. Petersburg’s faculty and students grapple with mandated social distancing amid the COVID-19 outbreak, many have been left to wonder what is next.
On a campus that nearly 5,000 students attend, in-person classes are obsolete for the time being.
Though USF St. Petersburg’s faculty and administration have adjusted accordingly — or at least to the best of their ability — its central hub of learning and exchange of information essentially remains untouched.
Now, with each step across the campus grounds, an echo will call back off of a wall in the distance. A mask-wearing runner may appear from around a bend, or a bicyclist might weave their way through a path. But the silence always remains.
Silence.
The place is filled with it, making the campus unrecognizable.
And the eeriness it leaves you with does nothing but drain you of any hope that might have been left.
The campus will remain where it is, while we remain in our home.
Decisions have been made and mandates have been put into effect for the remainder of the spring semester and for all of summer, too.
The Osprey residence hall, slated to open before the fall of this year, continues construction, aiming to house nearly 400 new students.
Davis Hall also continues with renovations on its second floor during this time.
Whether the impacts of COVID-19 will affect the revenue costs on these projects is yet to be determined.
Students who had hoped to live in the new residence hall will certainly be affected.
Instructors who hoped for a new place of learning will most likely have to wait.
The impact of this pandemic seems everlasting, each day blending into the next, distorting everything in its path.
The safe places that the campus once offered are now locked, only to be seen through dark windows.
It could be days or weeks before we return to normal — or at least a new normal.
USF St. Petersburg will not open to students until at least the fall semester.
When it does open, though, do not expect to feel the emptiness described above. Although a fall opening may bring more social distancing, USF St. Petersburg is a beacon of light for so many: a place for higher learning, a place for new experiences to be had.
The campus will remain where it is.
And USF St. Petersburg students will be there to greet it when they can.
