Fear of coronavirus: law students want online classes
The fifteen students, who for the most part attend the Honours College, sent the International Office an e-mail on Monday asking for access to online classes for everyone.
Vindicat
The students are worried they could catch the virus at the RUG from anyone who travelled to infected areas, like the Vindicat members who are currently on a skiing trip in northern Italy. They also think that sick students would be more likely to come to class if there’s no alternative where they can stay home.
The initiators say putting the videos online wouldn’t be much trouble, since ‘most classes are being recorded anyway’. Michaela Stavridou, one of the students, says the law faculty has been promising to put the videos online since the first academic year. ‘We’ve been told this in various classes, but we never got access. Only European law gave us access, but their videos were wrong.’
No recordings
Kirsten Wolkotte, the law faculty’s International Office coordinator, has not seen the e-mail yet, but can answer the question: ‘We never recorded any of the classes in the English-language programme, so there’s nothing to be put online.’ Only the part-time programme records classes.
Wolkotte also says it’s not as easy to arrange as the students think. ‘It would take an immense amount of work. I don’t even know if any of the classes are in rooms with recording equipment. We could find out of course, but there have been no infections in Groningen yet.’
She therefore sees no need to start recording classes, or to cancel any. ‘If the situation changes, we’ll reassess.’
Wolkotte pointed to the ‘need-to-know’ messages on Nestor, saying the students should read them. They contain information about the measures taken against the virus, and what people can do to protect themselves.