Background: In January 2020, a virus known as covid-19 but more commonly referred to as the “Coronavirus” was identified in Wuhan, China. Highly infectious and with a roughly three percent mortality rate, the Coronavirus quickly spread outwards from China. By March 11th the World Health Organization declared the virus a “global pandemic.” On March 16th, following the guidance of the Maryland state government and the lead of private and public universities, both local and national, Goucher College closed its campus and switched to online classes for the remainder of the Spring 2020 semester and into the Fall 2020 semester.

Our Vision: In this unprecedented time, we at the Q wish to share the stories and perspectives of Goucher students, faculty, and staff on the impact of the Coronavirus and how (or if) they are adapting. We are accepting a broad range of submissions including but not limited to creative writings, scanned artwork and photography, in addition to so-called traditional writing pieces. As all pieces will be published online, there is no fixed deadline for submission.

Featured Image: A Quiet Van Meter Highway devoid of the usual student crowd. Image Courtesy of Jay Garaycochea via the GopherApp

Special Thanks to Digital News Coordinator Marquis Kurt. Please check him out on GopherDon

Stories from Goucher

  • Attendance Policies in 2023 Are Weird, Right?  
    In August at the start of the semester, Goucher rolled out the new and improved attendance policy for the 2023-2024 school year. The first week after being back on campus there were murmurings between both students and professors about the success and necessity of the policy to begin with. The new policy details that faculty…
  • 2019 to 2023: A Retrospective the Tumultuous Four Years at Goucher
    What’s Changed, What Hasn’t, and How Goucher Students Have Banded Together Through It All. It has never been a more eventful time to be a Goucher College student. When the class of 2023 entered in late August 2019, no one could have expected what the next four years would entail for them. Beginning alongside them…
  • Goucher Enrollment Slowly But Surely Recovers From Pandemic-Era Low Point
    Like many other small liberal arts schools, Goucher has been suffering a notable decline in enrollment over the past few years. Much of this is due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a significant decline in college enrollment overall, and led to smaller incoming classes in 2020 and 2021.  Vice President for Enrollment Management Jonathan…
  • Goucher Unmasked: The Implications of Dropping the Mask Mandate (Opinion)
    Since the pandemic began in 2019, it has been made very clear how selfish people can be when it comes to preserving the health of those around them. It is evident that those who pushed against the health and safety guidelines before the mask mandate was lifted disregard the well-being of immunocompromised people.  Recently, the…
  • Alice’s Restaurant Reopens
    Alice’s Restaurant opened in August for the first time since 2019. The popular spot, operated by Bon Appétit, remained closed until this semester due to the outbreak of Covid-19 moving the college temporarily online and recent staffing issues.  “It has been a very challenging time and it has been difficult to get the appropriate amount…
  • Goucher Still Lily-White Teach-In Series Continues
    By Neve Levinson ’21 and Jake Pellett ’24 Since its founding over fifty years ago, Goucher’s Black Student Union (GBSU) has published lists of demands necessary for combating anti-Black racism in Goucher’s community. Current GBSU members released their most recent list of demands to their Medium page in June. While it has been updated since…
  • Spring Reopening: What to Think?
    By Nicholas Enoch ’23 With less than four weeks left in the semester, speculations on what the Spring 2021 semester will look like and whether we will be coming back to campus is still up in the air, which is leaving students confused and in the dark about what to expect. During the current Fall…
  • GSG Instagram Repost Gaffe
    By Neve Levinson ’21 with additional reporting from Jibril Howard ’22, Co-Editors-in-Chief The second headline-worthy recent GSG news relates to social media, our favorite topic of discussion. As casual observers within the Goucher community, we were a little confused about why @goucherstugov [GSG’s official Instagram account] reposted a job listing, but thought it was a…
  • A Look Inside GSG Changes: Observer vs Active Senators
    By Neve Levinson ’21 with additional reporting from Jibril Howard ’22, Co-Editors-in-Chief Under its current Constitution, there are 16 Senators within Goucher Student Government, with either two Co-Presidents or a President and Vice President leading the organization. Each of these eighteen members are elected by the student body through a digital voting process overseen by…
  • Comedy, Tragedy, and “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend”
    By Madeline Tredway ’24 I don’t think there’s anything I could say about the 2020 pandemic that hasn’t been done to death. Loneliness, existential doom, constant fear, Animal Crossing — it’s all been reiterated over and over in so many different ways, to the point where it doesn’t really mean much anymore. However, when you…
  • Adjusting to Goucher under Quarantine
    By Nicholas Enoch ’24 Walking on Van Meter Highway and being told the stories of students walking into Mary Fisher Hall with large groups of friends at night and sitting outside the Big Lawn, it felt weird seeing an almost empty campus coming to Goucher for the first time. All residential students are living in Welsh…
  • Letter from an Editor-in-Chief, September 2020
    Welcome to week three of the most distanced semester of college any of us have ever experienced. Black lives matter. Black Goucher students’ lives matter. Black trans lives matter. That is the most important message I can share with you right now, as one of two Editors-in-Chief of The Quindecim.  This club has existed for…
  • The Alternative to an Antiquated Response
    By Sam Anderson ’21 In the years since 1918, Goucher College and the world have experienced many changes. The two most notable of which for the small, liberal arts college in Maryland were moving from a campus in the heart of Baltimore City to a expansive, wooded campus in Baltimore County, and a shift in…
  • A Tale of Two Presidents: A Suggestion for the Fall Semester
    By Sam Anderson ’21 Our former President, José Bowen, and current President, Kent Devereaux, have both made their way into the pages of major publications covering higher education’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The differences between their published comments thus far could not be more stark.  In a recent article published in Inside Higher Ed…
  • Abroad Students’ Experiences of Waiting, Watching, and Wondering
    By Sam Anderson In my recent article for The Quindecim called, “Waiting, Watching, and Wondering: A Response to Kent’s Leadership in the COVID-19 Pandemic,” I wrote that I had heard my sentiments about the lack of decision making and thoroughness of Goucher’s COVID-19 response reflected by my peers studying abroad around the world. After The…
  • Waiting, Watching, and Wondering: A Response to Kent’s Leadership in the COVID-19 Pandemic
    By Sam Anderson A few weeks ago in an article published to The Chronicle of Higher Education on April 16, 2020 entitled, “How College Leaders Are Planning for the Fall,” Kent Devereaux, President of Goucher College, was quoted speaking about Goucher’s planned response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The article quoted President Devereaux as saying, “‘A…
  • Life in the Age of Coronavirus
    By Monica Valdez Ramos COVID-19, a virus that changed my life rapidly. Hearing “coronavirus” on repeat whenever I open social media, when I wake up hearing my mom tell me the new cases that are in my state, from news alerts and hearing my neighbors talk about it as well. This is the new normal.…
  • A JERUSALEM ISRAELI’S FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT ON THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
    When the Covid-19 virus first arrived in Jerusalem Israel two weeks ago, my workplace Mobileye Intel, a global safe-driving startup, cancelled work days and shut doors indefinitely. I celebrated the Jewish holiday of Purim again in Jerusalem for the third straight year with my Israeli family members however, for the first time, in all of the years that I have celebrated…
  • A Gopher in Musherib: Life under Quarantine in the Arab Gulf
    Handshakes, hugs and sighs of relief filled the air outside the Intercontinental Katara, in Doha, Qatar. An unusually cool breeze had settled as the Rolex clock on the curbside chimed midnight alongside a row of the seven remaining brand new Jeep Cherokees and Dodges Durangos. The usual exchange of farewells was in full swing. I…