Well, I honestly do not know where to begin. I, as I’m sure everyone else included, had absolutely no idea that when we were all sent home for March break last semester that we would not be returning. Not only were we completely oblivious to the fact that the rug we were standing on was about to be ripped out from underneath us, but we were blindsided by the wave of crisis after crisis that we faced. From not being able to go back to school, to how serious COVID became, to murder hornets, to the Black Lives Matter protests, 2020 has been an emotional roller coaster to say the least. Since it would be very difficult for me to adequately cover every event that has happened in the past six months during The Vanguard’s hiatus, I am going to keep the focus of this article on a topic we are all very familiar with—Bentley University.
With everything that went on, it is obvious that the student body was not the only group of Bentley affiliates that experienced major changes; Bentley as an institution had to undergo huge adjustments as well. Now, there are two very opposing views with regard to Bentley and how they handled everything. On one hand, the student body is incredibly upset, annoyed, and frustrated with our university for doing too much. Students are not happy that they have to deal with all of these restrictions on campus, that there was no 2020 graduation, that there are no fall sports, they will not be able to party, that they will not be able to see their friends, that they have to get tested weekly, that they still have to pay full price for tuition, that they have to take all online classes—the list could go on. Many students want some semblance of a “normal” college experience and are angry with Bentley for getting in the way of that.
On the other hand, a large group of the student body is angry at Bentley for seemingly not doing enough. Students are angry that Bentley is even allowing students back on campus at all, they are frustrated that they are not being strict enough with restrictions, they are confused as to why Bentley is putting students and their families at risk with the lack of improvement with the entire COVID situation—the list could go on. So, the point here is, Bentley cannot win. Regardless of what Bentley does, they will be villainized, criticized, and ridiculed from every which way. Now, this is not about me advocating for Bentley and saying that they have made the best decisions and handled this entire situation with grace, because they most certainly have not done that. However, this is me saying that we might want to take a step back and evaluate the gravity of the situation. This is a global pandemic, and one that no one was prepared for, Bentley included. Just as us students lack the slightest clue as to what is going on, Bentley is in the same boat. Bentley also has to evaluate situations that have never been seen before, make decisions that have never been made before, and adjust to circumstances which are ever changing. While we are responsible for ourselves and our families during this pandemic, which we all know is more stressful than we could have ever imagined, Bentley is responsible for all of its staff, all of its faculty, all of its students (both on and off campus)—their physical health, their emotional and mental health, their education, their housing, their safety, their meals, their decision making, and more.
On top of all this, Bentley is still a business, which means they have to make all of these critical decisions and do what is best for everyone involved, while still managing to not go bankrupt. So, when you put things into perspective, Bentley has a lot on their plate. Once again, I am not sitting here and writing this article to defend Bentley and all of its decisions, because some of them I do not agree with. For example, Bentley is horrible at informing us about any changes or updates in a timely fashion; they are constantly waiting until the last minute to let us know what is going on. Bentley’s decision to not have a 2020 graduation due to safety concerns, but allowing the student body to move onto campus days later makes no sense whatsoever to me. So, it is evident that Bentley could most definitely do better, but I think we, as students, could do a little better, too. Attacking Bentley from every which way and publicly ridiculing them on social media because we are angry about other things, is not fair to Bentley. I know we are all upset, for a number of different reasons. We are angry that we are missing out on our college experience—a time we will never be able to get back. We are mad that there is no end in sight for COVID and that we are still having to make sacrifices that we are not used to. We are frustrated that everything is still so uncertain and there are not any answers for us. We are disappointed that the Bentley we left in the spring is not the Bentley we are returning to (or maybe not returning to) this fall. However, the thing is, we are all in this together. The student body, the staff, the faculty, and Bentley University as a whole—we are all adjusting and figuring it out together.
While neither us as a student body or Bentley as an institution is close to perfect, I think it is important to note that we are all trying our best. We are all doing everything in our power to get through these horrible, confusing, and stressful times. And yes, while we could sit back and continue to criticize every move that Bentley makes and talk about how horrible and awful it is, we could also make the decision to actively shift our mindsets and look at everything in a different light. We could think about how lucky we are to attend a university that is providing us with weekly testing for COVID, and fronting all of the costs. We could think about how lucky we are to be attending one of the best business schools in the country. We could think about how lucky we are to be able to take our classes online and still have access to all of Bentley’s resources. We could think about how lucky we are to have the ability to choose whether or not we return to campus. We could think about how lucky we all are to still be alive, despite everything going on in the world right now. Yes, this situation sucks—it truly is awful. But, in the grand scheme of things, I’d like to say that we are all pretty damn lucky.
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