Quarantined students have options for their Ethos requirement

Students in quarantine may feel like their Ethos opportunities are limited. However, the Ethos office gave recommendations for students who have been quarantined and the consequences for students who do not meet the requirement this semester.

Ethos Director Summer Lashley spoke about the application process for getting an ethos reduction. 

“We aren’t doing traditional ethos reductions this semester because we reduced the requirement to 20 with the option of doing any and all of one’s credits virtually,” Lashley said. 

Lashley said students who are quarantined have multiple ways to acquire ethos. 

“We have a lot of virtual events for any of our students who are interested (and for all of our students in quarantine),” Lashley said. “Additionally, we aren’t limiting the number of ethos credits students can get from virtual events.” 

According to Lashley, there have been few ethos reductions this semester.

Students who fail to meet the ethos requirement will still have consequences, most of which are found in the student handbook. 

“The most important thing for students to know is that they may not be eligible for participation in athletics, clubs, or other school endorsed extracurriculars,” Lashley said. 

Most Ethos cases are considered individually, meaning there are different outcomes depending on each student’s circumstances. 

“We are always adjusting ethos requirements on a case-by-case basis every single day,” Lashley said. “While we do offer virtual events for students in quarantine, we also know that some students are very sick and even virtual events aren’t always possible when one is struggling with COVID. We help those students, and others, all the time.”

Audrey Redfearn, a senior interdisciplinary studies major, was quarantined for a period of time this semester and spoke about her Ethos experience while in quarantine. 

“I really didn’t have much stress about not getting all of my kudos,” Redfearn said. “The campus-wide kudos reduction to 20 kudos made things a lot easier this semester.” 

Redfearn said her quarantine was only two days but it felt longer since she could not leave her room. She joked about being stuck on “apartment arrest.” She also spoke on what she was feeling and why she was quarantined.

“I was running a fever and had other symptoms of COVID, so to be safe I had to quarantine and get tested,” Redfearn said. 

Redfearn spoke about reaching ethos requirements in the past.

“In the past, I have always applied for a kudos reduction because I work at least 40 hours a week, along with being very involved on campus and keeping a full-time course load,” Redfearn said.