Syracuse University COVID-19 Pandemic Collection
An inventory of its collection at the Syracuse University Archives
Summary |
|
| Creator: | Syracuse University. |
| Title: | Syracuse University COVID-19 Pandemic Collection |
| Dates: | 2020-2022 |
| Size: | 1.3 linear feet |
| Abstract: | Materials related to the COVID-19 pandemic's effect on Syracuse University |
| Language: | English |
| Repository: |
University Archives, Special Collections Research Center Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Ave., Suite 600 Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center/university-archives |
Historical Note
The 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) was first identified in 2019 in Wuhan, China as a localized epidemic. The spread of the virus began to seriously affect the United States, including Syracuse University, in March 2020. COVID-19 was officially declared a worldwide pandemic on March 11, 2020, and in the following week, cities across the country declared states of emergency and schools and workplaces abruptly shifted to online modes of access. At Syracuse University, March began with assurances that COVID-19 would not affect the semester but ended with students at home in online classes, faculty and staff working from home, and the campus closed indefinitely. The early months of 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic were characterized by a widespread underestimation of the severity of the situation followed by a sudden paradigm shift that left organizations and individuals scrambling to adjust to a new way of living, including creating new infrastructure for online working and learning and modes of maintaining community engagement.
As early as April 2020, the University administration's plan was to return to campus for the fall semester under an augmented academic calendar. In preparation for a return to campus and residential learning in fall 2020, the University purchased large amounts of personal protective equipment, air filters, plexiglass barriers for food services, sanitization stations, and outdoor teaching tents. Syracuse University also built the infrastructure for regular campus-wide COVID-19 testing as well as for social distancing across campus. This included required masking on campus and in public settings, both indoors and outdoors. A Syracuse University professor spearheaded a state-funded program to monitor COVID-19 in the community by regularly testing wastewater. The wastewater surveillance program was piloted in Onondaga County and three other New York counties in August 2020 and later expanded to the rest of the state. In response to many of the instructional challenges in the spring 2020 semester, the University collaborated with its online learning partner Blackboard Learn to guide faculty in adapting their classes to online and hybrid learning with the goal of implementing a hybrid model for courses that allowed online and in-person students to participate in the same lecture.
Outbreaks on campus throughout the fall 2020 semester were relatively contained but continued to regularly occur. Despite the shortened semester, a high number of cases at the beginning of November 2020 had students electing to leave campus before the term ended, prompting the University to move all learning online for the rest of the semester. While the spring 2021 semester faced similar challenges with contained outbreaks, testing infrastructure and vaccination availability markedly changed the tenor of the semester. The COVID-19 testing infrastructure on campus shifted to comprise two on-campus laboratories rather than an off-campus affiliate so as to expand surveillance testing from random sampling to regular weekly testing for all residential students. Additionally, COVID-19 vaccines became available in January 2021 with broader availability in March and April of that year. The University required faculty, students, and staff to get vaccinated as they became eligible; those with medical or religious exemptions were required to be masked at all times. Updated Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines led the University to update its masking policy to a color system corresponding with national and state guidelines. With vaccinated students, faculty, and staff as the norm, testing returned to a random sampling system for the 2021-2022 school year, and, for the first time in over two years, masking requirements fell to their lowest level in the spring 2022 semester.
Scope and Content Note
The Syracuse University COVID-19 Pandemic Collection documents the official University responses to the pandemic and the personal responses of members of the University community.
The Personal responses series comprises three handmade cloth masks and a vaccination sticker. These were donated in response to the University Archives' "Documenting the Syracuse University Experience of the COVID-19 Pandemic" project, which reached out to students, staff, and faculty to document their lives on campus during the pandemic. Donors submitted born-digital materials as well, but these remain unprocessed.
The University responses series contains public health notices that were posted around campus, a participation medal and thank you card for a virtual race held by the University, and a copy of Syracuse University Magazine from fall 2020. Additionally, there are three Syracuse University-branded mass-produced cloth masks, two that were sold in the University bookstore and one distributed to library staff, as well as COVID-19 rapid self-test kits distributed by the University, and a travel mug given to the staff members of the Division of Student Experience who assisted with COVID-19 management.
Restrictions
Access Restrictions
Please note that the collection is housed off-site, and advance notice is required to allow time to have the materials brought to the Reading Room on campus.
Born-digital materials remain unprocessed and are therefore restricted.
Use Restrictions
Written permission must be obtained from the Syracuse University Archives and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.
Selected Search Terms
Names
Subjects
Types of material
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
Syracuse University COVID-19 Pandemic Collection,
University Archives,
Special Collections Research Center
Syracuse University Libraries
Acquisition Information
Gift of various University affiliates, transfers from University offices, and collected by University Archives staff.
Processing Information
Materials were placed in acid-free folders and boxes. Masks were wrapped in archival tissue paper.
Finding Aid Information
Created by: Halsey Van Allen
Date: 2022
Revision history: Aug 2023 - Travel mug added, bookstore masks and rapid tests moved to Oversize 1
(SS)