Partying students make peers nervous

BY ALY REIFF / VN Staff Writer

Several students who attend Detroit Mercy have an uneasy feeling after returning to school and living on campus.

The reason: partygoers who are not following mask requirements or social distancing. They are stressing out some other students. 

Detroit Mercy does not require students to be tested for Covid-19 upon returning to campus. However, it is required students quarantine for 14 days.

A sophomore living on campus, Abbie McDowell, said groups of students all dressed up and not wearing masks headed to a party the first weekend back.

“That was very frustrating since it’s something the school has talked about and said not to do,” she said.

The first weekend was bad but the following weekend things seemed to die down a little, she added.

Several other students, who asked not to be identified, said college party life is not worth the risk. They said students need to be safer or they are going to put everyone around them in danger.    

“I think it’s really important that students follow the guidelines because we can control what we can control,” said McDowell. “But (for) our campus being able to stay open, we have to depend on other people. I can do everything in my power, but if other students aren’t doing the right thing then it doesn’t really matter what I do.”

A student who asked not to be named noted, “I was planning on going to a party with my roommates, but then decided not to go. It wasn’t worth it. It’s stupid to put your health at risk just for that when I can go back to partying when Covid is over.”

Another student said having a little party in your dorm room, depending on the number of people, should be ok.

“As long as you don’t have random people there that you don’t trust or know where they have been, it should be ok,” the student said.

Bridgid Fox is another sophomore living on campus.

“It’s really important that students are being smart with the decisions they are making on whether or not to go to a party,” she said. “I have noticed some students going out to parties when the semester started. But as classes and everything have progressed, I see less people going out to party.”