by Sean Doherty, Student Reporter
With dorm visitation limited, Northwestern students are venturing out from their residence halls in search of new activities to peak their interests.
They found one of those activities right outside the doors of Coronado Hall.
“What we’ve got is a fantastic group of young people that have been enjoying the volleyball court, which is something we love to see,” said Matt Adair, housing director and assistant dean of student affairs. “It’s been very organic. It’s not like an organized activity, it’s just a bunch of students going out there and playing volleyball, playing kickball, having a good time.”
The volleyball pit, intramural field and recently refurbished tennis and basketball courts saw light activity in years past, but they’ve become popular with students this fall.
“There’s times when there’s been over a hundred people out there,” Adair said. “The competition out there—we’ve went and watched a few times—it looks like it’s been really, really fun. I’ve even seen the kids bring out big speaker systems and play music.”
Adair says the university isn’t requiring students to wear masks while participating in the games, but officials do encourage students to practice social distancing and wear masks.
“We want them to be able to enjoy the outdoors as much as possible, and I know that’s a great way to get a break from wearing a mask,” Adair said. “It’s just with the pandemic, when we see that much of a crowd gathered out there, we want them to be as safe as possible.”
These get-togethers are just one way students are adapting to socializing on campus with new COVID-19 rules in place.
Dorm residents from different residence halls may gather in public areas of the residence halls while maintaining social distancing and wearing masks. Residents may only enter dorm rooms in the residence hall in which they live, and no more than two people are allowed in a dorm room at a time. No outside guests are allowed in the dorms. Not wearing a mask – or improperly wearing mask – could cost students $25 per offense.
Resident assistants from all four residence halls monitor the outside activity and remind students to follow safety guidelines.
“I think it’s a good chance for (students) to get to engage one another and get to know one another,” said Dustin Goodno, head resident of Coronado Hall. “There may be a student out there that maybe you haven’t had a class with, but maybe you get to know because you met him at the volleyball pits, or you met them at the intramural field – somebody who could end up being a friend for the next four years for you.”
Goodno says students have complied with the new rules, and he said he sees no need for RAs to start handing out tickets. Adair agrees. But some students still see it as being too much.
“I appreciate them worrying about us,” said Chris Green, a freshman criminal justice major from Waynoka. “But we’re our own people, and we can take care of ourselves.”
Green, who lives in Coronado Hall, meets his girlfriend on the field to hang out.
“I’d like to go and hang out with [her] and chill in her room so she can make me some waffles, but the RAs won’t even allow it,” he said.
Adair and Goodno said these rules are in place for students’ safety.
“Obviously, I don’t want to have to tell my RA to go down and start writing tickets,” Goodno said. “That’s something we don’t want to do. The biggest thing is just encouraging it.”
“We’ve written no tickets, we haven’t shut down any of the events, and we don’t have any plans to,” Adair said. “We love to see the kids out there having a good time. We just want them to do their best to keep safety and health at the top of their mind.”
“I like seeing them out there, being able to engage one another, whether they’re playing kickball or some of these other games,” Goodno said. “I know that they’ve got a volleyball tournament coming up next week, so I’ll be anxious to see how that goes.”
“I love the kids to feel like that’s a facility that they can go out there and use, and unwind, and relax and have a good time,” Adair said. “I just want them to be as safe as possible while they do it.”