Surreal Surroundings
Title
Surreal Surroundings
Subject
Shutdown, face covering, essential, abandoned
Description
Describes the experience of being on campus during shutdown and fall of 2020
Creator
Lori Bennett Baumli
Date
2021/04/14
Language
English
Coverage
On UNL campus during shutdown, Lincoln, Nebraska
Text
March 12, 2020 was the day my physical view of UNL changed. That day, Chancellor Green announced UNL would be migrating to online courses for the remainder of the semester; by March 20th, our office would be closed to the public with only those with NCard access allowed in. On April 8th, presence on campus was further limited to only those officially designated as necessary. We were issued letters stating our presence was necessary. I think that's when everyday life on campus became surreal.
In late March, I had tried to find materials to craft masks, but the run on elastic made it nearly impossible. Going to work without a face covering seems incomprehensible now. But that was our reality. Co-workers started sanitizing every surface multiple times a day. By Easter (2020/04/12) I was able to finally make some face coverings for myself, family and a few co-workers; this at least made me feel somewhat safer. Slowly, others were able to order some online until we received the red and black Husker facial coverings.
Walking on campus during breaks was truly strange. It felt like I was in an "end of the world" movie. I could walk all around campus and not meet one person. For a university with a student population of approximately 25,000, plus an additional 5,000 or so faculty and staff, to not see a single person was very nightmarish. But, I did actually see UComm video taping Chancellor Green outside one day...oh, how nice it was to see them!
When fall semester started, we saw the return of students. Not as many, but they were here. Many faculty and staff were (are) still working from home, but now that vaccinations have been made available, I expect a more normal time is around the corner.
At least, I hope so.
In late March, I had tried to find materials to craft masks, but the run on elastic made it nearly impossible. Going to work without a face covering seems incomprehensible now. But that was our reality. Co-workers started sanitizing every surface multiple times a day. By Easter (2020/04/12) I was able to finally make some face coverings for myself, family and a few co-workers; this at least made me feel somewhat safer. Slowly, others were able to order some online until we received the red and black Husker facial coverings.
Walking on campus during breaks was truly strange. It felt like I was in an "end of the world" movie. I could walk all around campus and not meet one person. For a university with a student population of approximately 25,000, plus an additional 5,000 or so faculty and staff, to not see a single person was very nightmarish. But, I did actually see UComm video taping Chancellor Green outside one day...oh, how nice it was to see them!
When fall semester started, we saw the return of students. Not as many, but they were here. Many faculty and staff were (are) still working from home, but now that vaccinations have been made available, I expect a more normal time is around the corner.
At least, I hope so.
Creator designation
Employee
Collection
Citation
Lori, “Surreal Surroundings,” University of Nebraska-Lincoln COVID-19 Digital Archive, accessed April 27, 2024, https://covid19-unlhistory.unl.edu/items/show/65.