Oct 13, 2020 | Feature |
by Brittney Lee, Contributing Writer
The Landing has been a staple venue for student-lead events on campus.
Photo courtesy of Sam Shirley.
The Landing has been the small event venue at UMF for years, but COVID-19 has had a significant effect on the traditional weekly happenings this semester.
Throughout the years, The Landing has been a staple venue for student-lead events on campus. Events such as mug painting, tye-dying, and many others have been held in The Landing as a way for students to participate on campus when classes aren’t in session.
Before the pandemic hit, students were able to freely go to these events without worrying about social distancing guidelines or wearing a face covering. In previous years, The Landing also had couches and chairs throughout the entire room. However, that’s not the case this year because the entire layout of the room has gotten a makeover in order to abide by the schools social distancing guidelines.
Going forward, the events and their safety precautions are set to stay consistent. The events have been reported to be going very well. “When I attended an event [at The Landing] students seemed to have easily followed the social distancing requirements and everyone was cooperative for the most part,” said Harley Carter, a second-year student.
This year the student-lead events have been occurring rather regularly and have had great student attendance. These happenings have been held on some weekends and most weeknights as a way for students to take a step back from their coursework and enjoy a stress-free evening. However, it’s hard to ignore the impacts the new changes to The Landing have made on how events are led.
Students are enjoying the events and have thought of them to be a “great way to deal with the new world we live in today,” says Carter. Some students mentioned that with the stress of the new school year, these events have been a positive distraction.
Oct 13, 2020 | Feature |
by Nevaeh Rush, Vice President
The changes in the dining hall on campus due to COVID-19 have left the majority of students unsatisfied with their meals and wanting more for the price of their meal plans.
With new regulations on campus, the cuisine at UMF has vastly changed. South Dining Hall has been changed to a buffet style where students take their food and leave. “You walk in and tap your dining card,” said Sophomore Julia Partridge, “It only goes one way, and you have to grab food items through the line.”
There are 50 people allowed to be in the South Dining Hall at one time, leaving students feeling rushed as they go through the line. Sophomore, Emily Thompson said, “If you forgot to grab something and you passed it, forget about it.”
New signage posted outside the new entrance of the dining hall, changed due to COVID-19.
Photo courtesy of Sam Shirley.
Having unlimited swipes comes in handy for those students who feel that the lack of options is a greater problem this semester than it has been previously. “I find it harder to eat healthy,” said Partridge. “There are less healthy options and the ones they do have often do not taste good,”.
Senior, Thomas Watson struggles in particular with the options in the dining hall this semester. Watson struggles with Celiac disease, a hypersensitivity to gluten. This limits many of the options for him to eat in the dining hall. “I am basically limited to the gluten free sandwiches or the simple servings,” Watson said. “And the simple servings happen to be closed on the weekends.” All of the prepackaged food is already out for the day, therefore often the gluten free sandwich options he is limited to are gone by the end of the day.
“I do believe that I have the option to call ahead an hour or more and ask them to prepare me something gluten free.” He said. Although that is a better alternative some days, it is not always convenient in the uncertainty of a college student’s busy schedule.
Watson as well as Thompson, both having the highest meal plan (meal plan A), voiced their concerns about spending their own money on top of the meal plan cost due to being simply unsatisfied with the food. “I am a picky eater,” Thompson said. “There often are not many options I will eat.”
“I wouldn’t call it a need to technically, there are the things in the dining hall that are needed for survival,” Watson said. “But I am finding myself spending more on outside food than I normally had.”
Yet there are some benefits with the new system, “I have been sick less from cross contamination of gluten products,” Watson said, “because everything is now packaged separately.” Many students are also enjoying the new eating areas on campus, such as the Mantor Green. “It is nice to sit outside and eat when it is nice out,” Watson said.
“It is a necessary evil,” he said. “The dining hall is doing what they have to to be open.”
Oct 13, 2020 | Feature |
by Emily Cheney, Contributing Writer
As campus life adjusts to the new policies, local businesses and restaurants downtown are also struggling to handle the new modifications.
When COVID-19 first hit, businesses began to shut down in order to stay safe. The Homestead, a local business located in downtown Farmington, has been one of many local businesses that has adapted to the pandemic lifestyle.
The Homestead in downtown Farmington.
Photo courtesy of Sam Shirley.
Kyra Zabel, a fourth-year student at UMF, has been working at The Homestead for two years and describes her struggles. “We closed for a couple months so I was technically out of a job, but when we got back, I was working more than before we closed,” Zabel said. “I had more time and a lot of the staff left because they lived on campus and went home. I was going in at 11:30 and working until close frequently, which is a lot of being consistently on your feet.”
Between trying to keep everything clean and the customers happy, dealing with backlash is inevitable. “Most of our customers are really respectful, but especially during lunch, there are always people who feel the need to complain and make comments about having to wear a mask,” Zabel said.
Working in any sort of local business has become significantly stressful during these past months. For restaurants, employees are much more attentive, working with food and constantly cleaning tables, one after the other, “To maximize time before, we used to be able to have all of our tables close to each other, but now we have to sanitize and wash our hands in between people, and it’s so much more time-consuming.” Zabel said.
Looking from the customer’s perspective, Farmington resident Emma Petersson shared her recent experience with dining at the Homestead. “Besides the extra sanitation precautions, I cannot say that I noticed a difference in how things are run,” Petersson said. “I would definitely say they are more on top of things as the dining area is more spread out and staff is enforcing and maintaining strict sanitation practices.”
The tables are already spread out making social distancing easy to maintain for those who are dining. “The staff has been very kind and considerate, but firm with boundaries,” Petersson said.
Though Zabel said that she has dealt with some very rude customers who complain about wearing masks, Petersson said that from a customer’s point of view, she did not see anyone being insolent about masks while she was there. “I didn’t interact with other customers, but they were all wearing masks when walking to or from their table which I appreciated,” said Petersson.
Sep 29, 2020 | Ye Olde Beaver |
Taking a look back at the past 90 years of our campus newspaper and highlighting noteworthy items that perhaps were best forgotten.
Photo courtesy of Flyer Archives
Back in the 70s, our campus newspaper was known as the Baked Apple. Why, you ask? I do not know.
However, the Baked Apple was a weekly publication which included letters to the editor submitted by students.
In Sept. 1972, a student by the name of Don Gobeil wrote to the newspaper expressing his enthusiasm for a pair of keg parties which recently took place on campus at Scott Hall and Stone Hall.
Now, Scott I can understand, but Stone? My, how things have changed.
Anyways, enjoy Don’s short, but to-the-point letter. I assume we can attribute his spelling and punctuation errors to the fact that he was likely still recovering from the parties.
P.S. I don’t think your CAs would appreciate anything similar taking place now, especially this semester. Yes, I’m talking to you, Scott Hall residents.
Sep 29, 2020 | Bite Me Beaver |
Dear Bite,
Dude…. this mask acne…. I can’t anymore. My chin hasn’t seen a breakout like this since the middle school days of bad patchy peach fuzz and a constant oil sheen over my face. The hell do I do? Look I know we’re all wearing masks 90% of the time but there’s gonna be at least a minute or two when someone’s gotta see this face and it may as well be pretty.
-Maskne
Dear Maskne,
All of us are going through the same exact thing, I promise you no one is going to judge you or your broken out face. My best advice is to take a trip to Walmart (as if you weren’t going to go this weekend already) and get yourself some CeraVe scrub and invest in a clear mask. As embarrassing as it may seem at least your peers will be able to see your shining face (and you’ll feel better too).
-Bite
Dear Bite,
With fall coming, so are my seasonal allergies. And the moment someone sneezes these days everyone dives for cover like it’s a war zone. What do I do when I sneeze in class and everyone thinks it’s corona?
-you know which dwarf I’d be
Dear Sneezy,
Allergies suck, point blank period. I say that you hold in every single urge to sneeze until you explode. There may be another route where you just stop caring in class and sneeze until your heart’s content along with keeping a secret stash of Claritin in your backpack as well.
-Bite
Dear Bite,
My roommates have been non-stop doing the WAP dance and it’s becoming a problem. In the car, in the dorm, through headphones on the way to class. Literally everywhere! I just so empowered when I hear the Cardi B tell me she wants that Big Mac truck in that little garage.
-WAP addict
Dear WAP addict,
As a fellow WAP addict I completely agree with your pain and frustration in regards to listening to that damn song all the time. I myself have managed to wean myself off of the song by listening to some Megan Thee Stallion (Captain Hook is a personal favorite). While still feeling empowered I get the thrill of catchy words while not constantly hearing Cardi B on loop
-Bite
