The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: Provost Jen Capps

  • New schedule for spring semester classes

    A look at the spring semester schedule for online and in-person classes

    On Nov. 2, Humboldt State University informed the student body on how classes were going to be conducted in the spring 2021 semester. Classes will start online and move in-person up until spring break, where classes will switch back to online for two weeks before going back to in-person for the rest of the year.

    HSU Provost Jenn Capps says this is essentially the same type of schedule as last year.

    “We landed at probably the same amount of face-to-face time for students, but what we did is that there is probably more hybrid courses that have a little face-to-face component versus more limited full face-to-face classes,” said Capps.

    The biggest challenge was working around spring break in the middle of the semester and planning for the return of students from the break.

    “Folks are gonna wanna go home for spring break and come back and how do we have safe reentry back to campus,” said Capps.

    A question was brought about possible moving spring break to a different time or completely removing it and ending a week early.

    “So I did actually take that question to Senate and to Associated Students and asked their perspective, as well as faculty and staff,” said Capps. “That feedback informed that we should not move it, that we should just leave it where it was. Maybe the only consensus was, please don’t take our spring break away, which I totally understand.”

    Students were uncertain about the schedule but enjoyed some of the safety aspects factored into the decision to start online. Kyra Cherry, a biology major at HSU, is one of those students who appreciated the safety precaution.

    “I think that in the beginning having virtual instruction only, is pretty good especially since we don’t know where everyone is coming from, who all they’ve been around,” said Cherry. “So, I think that’s important.”

    After spring break, the on and off switching between virtual and in-person instruction forces students to adjust for two weeks and switch again.

    “I also think that it’s a pretty decent window of time before the face-to-face instruction,” Cherry said. “But I think that after that, since it starts switching back and forth between virtual and face-to-face, that’s kind of an issue with scheduling with certain students.”

    For Cherry, changes in class schedules as a result of switching between face-to-face and virtual threw off her personal schedule.

    “I had a class where some unfortunate things happened and the course got switched up quite a bit and I had to reevaluate what I was doing for my class, cause I already had my weekly schedule of when I would do what for each class set,” said Cherry.

    Environmental studies major, August Andrews, prefers face-to-face learning and an in-person, social environment.

    “To be honest, I prefer in-person stuff. It’s just the connections you can make and the learning style,” said Andrews. “Personally I’m managing with online classes, they’re not terrible, but at the same time it’s not nearly as preferable in my opinion to in person classes or even some kind of hybrid class.”

    He does have concerns regarding COVID-19 and how it would fare in the winter months.

    “The only concern I share is that, at least from what we know from the Coronavirus that it thrives more in the winter months, but other than that I’m actually really excited about [the schedule] and I do miss the partial face-to-face classes,” said Andrews.

    There are university policies set to catch COVID-19 cases early when students return for the spring semester.

    “Students living on-campus will be required to be tested and students residing off-campus will be encouraged to seek testing if they are returning to Humboldt county for spring (from home that was outside of the county) or if they fail their self-wellness check,” said Capps in an email.

    Capps is very happy with how students have stepped up during this semester and continued to wear masks and socially distance.

    “I’m really proud of how we did and hats go off to our students and our faculty and our staff,” said Capps.

  • Humboldt State reconsiders spring break

    Humboldt State reconsiders spring break

    Proposal to move spring break to a later date generates controversy

    On Sep. 29, Humboldt State University’s administration announced an idea to move spring break for this academic year from Mar. 15-19 to Apr. 5-9, 2021.

    In the meeting, Jen Capps, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, explained the student and community health argument behind delaying spring break.

    “We face some challenges around making sure that our faculty, our students, staff, et cetera are safe, and how to bring folks from out of county into county, quarantine them, provide face-to-face instruction,” Capps said. “And then if they leave for spring break, what I’m hearing from facilities and different folks is they just don’t have the capacity to then require students to quarantine again.”

    A few suggestions for how to maneuver the situation were made by University Senate members including Cindy Moyer, an HSU music professor.

    Moyer pitched the idea to have break or rest days spread throughout the academic year to divert students from traveling and returning home.

    “Five carefully strategically spaced days off spread out over the weeks in the middle of the semester,” Moyer said. “So that students are getting some time off, but not getting enough time off that they will go home.”

    Monty Mola, HSU physics and astronomy professor, argued that spring break should begin a week later. The decision to move around spring break would have ripple effects on the greater HSU community.

    Giovanni Guerrero, a fourth-year environmental science management major, believes moving spring break to early April would be too much of an adjustment for students and faculty.

    “There’s a lot of stress on my back as a student, and I’m sure a lot of stress on the backs of teachers as well [as] our professors to meet deadlines and to carry out our rigorous university expectations,” Guerrero said.

    Guerrero added that the spring break would give everyone a chance to emerge from isolation and take a breather from responsibilities.

    “I think there’s a direct correlation with mental health. Right now we’re in a different sort of situation, virtual learning,” Guerrero said. “Sitting here at my desk inside my room for six hours a day, doing homework, attending classes and then doing my work with Associated Students. I have very little breathing room. Having a break, like a week break, where I don’t have to stay inside my room all day is super beneficial.”

    Rich Alvarez, the Diving and Safety Officer in the HSU Scuba Diving program, is less concerned about the psychological impacts of a later spring break and more concerned about the practical implications.

    For his diving certification program, Alvarez typically takes his students to Mendocino for open water dives where the diving conditions are more stable than anywhere in Humboldt. However with COVID-19 restrictions, he is only able to travel within the confines of the county.

    “Traditionally, Trinidad doesn’t really get to the point where we would feel safe taking students into the water there until April and sometimes even late April,” Alvarez said. “So if they shift spring break to the fifth through the 12th, the question becomes, can we meet with them after spring break? And it kind of sounds like a no.”

    If Alvarez can’t meet with his students after break to finish their diving certification, they will be unable to partake in open water dives.

    “That takes that whole month of April out of contention, and then we were looking at trying to, either way, putting students into water conditions that may not necessarily be safe for what we’re trying to do, or having to get people most of the way through their certification, but not able to do the open water dives.”