Wright State campus | Photo by Soham Parikh | The Wright State Guardian
Results from the campus-wide surveys about returning to campus reveal the majority of students and faculty are comfortable returning to campus.
Student body survey
A survey was conducted by the Student Government Association (SGA) and sent to the entire student body via email. It received 3,279 responses.
The top concerns of students concerning the fall 2020 school year included the learning/educational gaps in remote/online learning experience, personal health, and the preservation of their academic experience, according to the summary report.
When asked how comfortable they would be returning to an on campus educational experience, 37.63% of the students who took the survey said they were comfortable and would return to their pre-covid pattern.
18.16% said they would be uncomfortable and would continue working from home if given the option.
A write in option was given with the prompt “I will not return to campus until” and 64 responses were recorded.
“Many responses indicated that students were unwilling to return until the pandemic is over or there is a vaccine for the virus,” according to the report.
Students’ main concerns about coming back to campus mostly pertained to health protocols being followed and the pandemic still being ongoing.
When given the chance to write in a comment about other concerns, responses varied.
“Common concerns in this section included: Being fearful of catching the virus because they are immunocompromised, spreading the virus asymptomatically, to both students and faculty members, and catching the virus and taking it back to an immunocompromised loved one or cohabitant,” according to the report.
Some also expressed that they did not want to be forced to wear a mask or that they really just wanted to come back to face to face classes.
Of the students who are ready to return to campus, most are looking forward to interacting with faculty and classmates/being in the classroom.
Students are also looking forward to having an environment with less distractions, as opposed to working at home.
When asked about new protocols, a majority of the students strongly agreed that they were comfortable with new protocols such as symptom checking (56.38%), wearing a mask (42.88%), and social distancing (47.05%).
When asked about anxiety about returning to campus, 13.36% said they were experiencing a great deal while 31.23% (the majority) said they were experiencing none at all.
Comparing online to face-to-face classes, the majority of students answered that they performed about the same (39.86%).
Faculty survey
Similar to the survey for students, the faculty survey asked questions about top concerns, comfort level, and pros and cons of returning to campus.
An email was sent out to 760 faculty and the survey received 400 responses.
When asked about their comfort level about returning to campus, the majority (33.5%) said they were slightly comfortable with adequate health protocols.
In the open ended response, in which started with “I will not return to campus until,” the availability of a vaccine was mentioned in 8 out of the 15 responses.
When asked about adhering to new protocols such as social distancing, wearing masks, and symptom checking, a strong majority either agreed or strongly agreed.
A majority of faculty (29.37%) said that they are feeling “little or non at all” anxiety when anticipating a return to campus. 21.77% said they felt anxiety “frequently or a lot.”
View the full Faculty Senate Executive Committee survey report here >>
