Update: Penn State President Eric Barron issued a statement Thursday morning saying Wednesday night’s gathering was ‘unacceptable.’ He warned that such events could lead to a spread of COVID-19 that would force the university to send students home and said individuals identified as violating university policy will be subject to discipline, up to expulsion. Read the full statement here.
Original story:
Days after on-campus move-in, a large — and largely mask-less — group of Penn State students gathered to party outside the East Halls complex, appearing in videos circulated on social media Wednesday night to be in flagrant violation of the university’s COVID-19 safety rules.
The videos showed students ignoring social distancing and masking regulations as they shouted, jumped, played music and twerked in an open area outside the mostly freshmen dorms.
Penn State has spent the summer emphasizing the need for students to abide by public health and safety rules, requiring that they sign a ‘COVID-19 compact‘ pledging to follow the rules or be subject to discipline and launching a ‘Mask Up or Pack Up‘ campaign.
“Live in the moment” my ass. Penn State won’t survive more than a week.
This is unbelievable. The fact that people had the nerve to do this, Especially after multiple schools closed, just wrong on so many levels.
I hope you had fun at your party pic.twitter.com/ZsYLJ73uMg
— Evan Diulus (@Evan_Diulus) August 20, 2020
The university has repeatedly warned that complying with public health rules would be critical to continuing with campus-based instruction. Several schools across the country, such as the University of North Carolina and Notre Dame, quickly switched to remote classes after campus outbreaks at the start of their semesters. The University of Pittsburgh is keeping classes online until at least Sept. 14 as Chancellor Patrick Gallagher told partying students, ‘Your actions will only be endangering others and you’re not welcome on campus.’
State College Borough also adopted in an ordinance which, in part, requires face coverings in public among people from different families or households when 6 feet of distancing isn’t possible.
None of that seemed to make any difference to the rowdy group at East Halls Wednesday night.
penn state should’ve made all freshmen do classes remotely this semester idc pic.twitter.com/KKz06E2gfn
— madison (@mlburnard) August 20, 2020
It’s unclear who intervened and when. Onward State obtained video showing students quickly dispersing as someone shouts loudly, which the outlet said occurred about an hour after initial videos began surfacing.
Many community members and Penn State students were outraged by the students shown in the video. A petition for Penn State to send all freshmen home had garnered nearly 3,000 signatures by Thursday morning.
‘I have reached out to [Penn State] for what actions they will take due to the total lack of disregard by students in East Halls last night for masking and physical distancing rules,’ Centre County Board of Commissioners Chairman Michael Pipe wrote on Twitter. ‘Completely unacceptable & disappointing.’
State College Borough Council President Jesse Barlow said he is ‘very disappointed’ by the gathering.
“This is very disheartening,’ Barlow said in a statement. ‘The borough is committed to enforcing the State College ordinance limiting social gatherings and we will continue to work with the university to ensure the safety of our community.”
