Op-Ed: Fairfield U Must 'Step Up' Virus Response, RTM Leader Says

On Oct. 9, 2020, the CT Post ran an article titled, “Why some CT colleges aren’t punishing students for violating COVID-19 rules.” In this article, Fairfield University was referenced as a university that has actually enforced its rules. This accolade is puzzling, considering FU has never publicly stated the exact number of disciplinary actions it has taken against students for violating COVID policies. This lack of transparency is troubling, especially in light of data on FU’s students that strongly suggests FU’s enforcement and mitigation strategies have failed. As a Fairfield resident and the majority leader of the Fairfield RTM, I feel compelled to speak out against FU’s lack of transparency and accountability.

If you have not noticed, we are grappling with a serious outbreak at Fairfield University. As of Tuesday, FU reported 57 additional positive cases (Oct. 9 to Oct. 12), bringing the total number of positive cases since FU reopened in September to 237. For a campus with 5,475 students, these numbers are staggering and reflect a complete failure of its mitigation strategies. What is most concerning is that while FU hides the number of off-campus versus on-campus positives within its data (refusing to clearly state numbers of off-campus students tested and numbers of off-campus students positive), one data point is telling: Of the 121 active positive cases, only 13 of those positives are isolated on its campus. What this means is that the large majority of positive students — 87 percent to be exact — are off campus, unattended and uncontained. The fact that the large majority of positive cases are off campus is not surprising given that FU’s enforcement policies seem to rely exclusively on self-policing to ensure that the students follow social distancing and masking guidelines, knowing full well that off-campus parties began on Labor Day weekend and have continued unabated to this day.

FU’s solution to this deeply concerning problem with off-campus students was to forbid all off-campus students from its campus, beginning Friday, Oct. 9, at 8 p.m., again relying on students to self-police and remain on their properties. Now that FU is dealing with the consequences of its weak enforcement, its answer is to lock the off-campus (beach area) students out of its campus for two weeks, with no provision for caring for its sick students and no way to enforce that these kids remain confined to their rentals — doubling down on its failed self-policing approach. Rather than bearing the burden of its failed mitigation strategies, FU has externalized the risk that these students represent onto the Fairfield community.

Fairfield University has to step up. I will repeat what I have asked for over the past month: Release the numbers of “disciplinary actions,” which have remained suspiciously vague. Disaggregate your data for off-campus and on-campus students. Prove that you are randomly testing off-campus students at appropriate levels — to the proportion that they comprise FU’s population. And most importantly, isolate your positive students so that you can care for your sick students and ensure that they do not pose a risk to the general population. To do otherwise is patently irresponsible and represents a failure of leadership. All of Fairfield County should be put on notice: FU’s ballooning numbers pose a very real threat to our county numbers as a whole.

Jill Vergara

Majority leader, Fairfield RTM