October 9, 2020

Campus Clubs Learn to Adapt to COVID Guidelines for Meetings

Courtney Milzarek

When Manchester returned to class, it had rules and guidelines to follow due to Covid-19, which are affecting some of the extracurricular activities around campus.

Clubs and organizations now have strict rules to follow about holding events. Some of the rules include when they can have events and how many people, they can have there. “The max on 50 people per event I believe is hurting clubs” said Athaniel Whitmer, Public Relations and Social Media Manager of Theatre Society.

Holding events that restrict the limit of people who attend decreases the students’ awareness of the club. For clubs and organizations to gain more people they must be able to allow more people to attend. “When an event is two to three hours, clubs can easily manage and have people distance over that course,” Whitmer continued. “I understand that if it is an hour, 50 people is a good max, but for three hours you can have people trickle in here and there and easily have over 50 people.”

Even though they must follow these rules, clubs are still coming up with ways to interact with the student body and try to keep them connected. Theatre Society can hold one event per month. This is where most of their focus goes. They try to make it a good and fun event for everyone. When they can not have an event in person, they provide Zoom meetings to stay distant and to allow interactions among the students.

During the one event this club is still allowed to hand out supplies. The ones who are handing out supplies must take extra precautions and do extra work to provide the materials that are being used. “We have to wear gloves and sanitize frequently,” Whitmer said. “It is also encouraged that one person is designated to be the handout person and if you are receiving something back, one person is designated to cleaning those items for reuse.”

This organization is following the rules given by the campus regarding Covid-19. They are preparing materials for use by sanitizing them and wearing gloves while passing them out. As it cannot be easy to make sure everything is sanitized, they are doing everything they can to try to run normally. Because of the restrictions they face Theatre Society is having difficulties watching only 50 people have fun once a month when they used to have over 100 people attend.

To be approved for more than one event per month, Theatre Society must get approved through student life. Unless they get approved, the club is only allowed to have one event per month. During this event, the 50 people who can attend have to follow the social distancing protocol.

Clubs and organizations are doing the best they can to be able to provide for the students here on campus and to follow the guidelines given with the students’ best interests in mind.