Some students and staff at Western Michigan believe that with the rising number of new Covid-19 cases, classes should be moved to online and campus buildings should be closed in favor of having students complete classes from home. While the threat of these cases is real, the threat is not great enough to override the choice of students who have received their vaccine and booster and force them to stay home.

We believe that all students and staff should be given the choice of how to conduct their learning and that the fears of a few should not outweigh the needs of many, as for some students it is near impossible to focus in a non-academic setting. We care deeply about these students and don't believe that they should be overlooked to fulfill requests that would severely restrict their ability to learn.

Of course, we also understand the concerns of those who do not want to be exposed to Covid-19 and believe they should be given the free choice to conduct their learning online, just as we wish to have the choice to conduct it in person.

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Here are some resources that show the damaging effects lockdowns can have on students:

https://www.pnas.org/content/118/17/e2022376118

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7490481/

https://voxeu.org/article/impact-covid-19-education

https://www.productivity.govt.nz/pandemicblog/lockdown-the-effect-on-childrens-learning-and-wellbeing/