By Lexi DeMinter
On-campus workers are being kept to a minimum at Edgewood College during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Edgewood switched to virtual classes for the rest of spring to avoid the spread of COVID-19. There are still faculty and student-staff who work on campus.
Ed Taylor, director of strategic communications at Edgewood College, said there are on-campus facilities that require a “presence on campus.”
Business Office functions, the Mail Center, and the Technology Assistance Center (TAC), need on-campus assistance from staff. “Some offices are ‘rotating,’” Taylor said. “Someone from an area comes in at set times during the week to handle in-person functions.”
Rachel Gomoll, an Edgewood senior and limited term employee (LTE) in the Mail Center, works twice a week while the mail center is closed. Gomoll said campus “feels lonely” and is “practically deserted.”
“When we do have a customer come in, we keep six feet apart from one another and don’t make any physical contact,” said Gomoll.
Student workers’ hours were cut to minimize the risk of infection. “I’m still getting screwed out of most of my paycheck because I can barely come into work,” said Gomoll. “It’s not the college’s fault or anything, but I barely have a paycheck right now.”
Edgewood College complies with Governor Tony Ever’s Safer-At-Home order. Taylor said “more than 10 people, but less than 20” staff members are working on campus. “The majority of us are working remotely and have been for a month now,” he said.
Security and Dining services require on-campus staff for the few residents living on campus. The library is “not accessible in person,” but, “is staffed to assist students and faculty as we move toward the end of the semester,” said Taylor.
Most of the medical-grade equipment the college had was sent to local hospitals and clinics in Madison in March. “We have protective equipment and cleaning products in use,” Taylor said,
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