• About
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Join
  • Login
Saturday, January 28, 2023
The Chicago Thinker
  • Latest
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Cartoons
  • About
    • Our Story
    • The Masthead
    • Policies
  • Contact
    • Join the Team
    • Contact Us
    • Submissions
    • News Tips
    • Corrections
  • Donate
No Result
View All Result
  • Latest
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Cartoons
  • About
    • Our Story
    • The Masthead
    • Policies
  • Contact
    • Join the Team
    • Contact Us
    • Submissions
    • News Tips
    • Corrections
  • Donate
No Result
View All Result
The Chicago Thinker
No Result
View All Result

Thinker’s Jahmiel Jackson Demands UChicago End Insane COVID Dorm Rules on ‘NBC Chicago’

Evita DuffybyEvita Duffy
February 2, 2022
in News
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Thinker’s Jahmiel Jackson Demands UChicago End Insane COVID Dorm Rules on ‘NBC Chicago’
834
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedIn

Chicago Thinker writer Jahmiel Jackson condemned the University of Chicago’s strict, anti-science COVID restrictions for the residence halls during an NBC Chicago interview on Wednesday. “Open up our campus,” said Jackson. “It’s time that our university becomes a model for asking questions and setting the trend, instead of just following after the city [of Chicago].”

Jackson’s interview was the result of a recent Chicago Thinker article, in which he explained that UChicago has closed down study spaces, community kitchens, and lounges in the dorms due to COVID. The school has even banned students from visiting each other’s dorm rooms. 

Jackson, who is a resident dean assistant (RDA), stated in his article that the rules are “unfair to RDAs like me because they are nearly impossible to enforce.” 

“I did not sign up to police every single social interaction of my students, nor do I want to, given the mental toll COVID isolation has had on young people,” wrote Jackson. “I fear for the well-being of my students. They are being cheated out of the full dorm experience for which they paid, and they are being bullied into seclusion by the university.”

During the interview, Jackson pointed out that nearly 100% of students are vaccinated and boosted for COVID. Moreover, the university is not experiencing a COVID outbreak.

Jackson added that students are charged a fee of $1,707 a quarter to cover amenities and social events. Yet, since the start of the pandemic, students have had no access to amenities and have been forced out of many in-person social events, as well. Despite these restrictions, students this year are being charged the same $1,707 fee as charged before the pandemic. 

“I have to ask the question,” said Jackson, “why are we still paying the same amount when the product isn’t being delivered?”

Gerald McSwiggan, UChicago’s assistant director for public affairs, has still not responded to the Chicago Thinker’s questions regarding a discriminatory UChicago COVID dining hall policy. However, McSwiggan was able to find time to respond to NBC Chicago’s request for comment. 

In a statement to NBC Chicago regarding Jackson’s article, McSwiggan wrote that the university is “monitoring conditions with experts from UChicago Medicine to see when conditions will allow some additional precautions to be rolled back…” 

According to McSwiggan, and perhaps due to Jackson’s article, the university has promised to “provide an update on February 4 once [they] have more data about infections on campus.” 

However, as Jackson pointed out to NBC Chicago, the campus should already be free from oppressive COVID rules, given the school’s extremely low COVID case rate and its exceptionally high vaccination rate. “If we can’t get back to normal now,” said Jackson, “it just begs the question: when will we be able to?”

Tags: COVIDCOVID-19dormsGerald McSwigganJahmiel JacksonUChicagoUChicago CommunicationsUniversity of Chicago
Evita Duffy

Evita Duffy

Evita Duffy is the Chicago Thinker's Managing Editor. As a senior at the University of Chicago, she studies American History and Creative Writing. She loves the Midwest, lumberjack sports, writing, & her family. Follow her on Twitter at @evitaduffy_1 or contact her at evitapduffy@uchicago.edu.

Get The Thinker in Your Inbox

Trending Articles

  • people holding banner

    BREAKING: UChicago Leftists to Host BIPOC-Centered Event on ‘Climate Anxiety’

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • UChicago Students, Faculty Robbed at Gunpoint

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • A Primer on the Upcoming Grad-Student Unionization Vote

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
The Chicago Thinker

© 2021 The Chicago Thinker

Site Navigation

  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Join
  • Login

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Latest
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Cartoons
  • About
    • Our Story
    • The Masthead
    • Policies
  • Contact
    • Join the Team
    • Contact Us
    • Submissions
    • News Tips
    • Corrections
  • Donate

© 2021 The Chicago Thinker