Fight On?????

I was on campus today, for the first time since March 11th.  And it was very quiet and peaceful, for the most part.  The cardinal and gold plants were blooming in the flower beds, and .... wait!  Who's looking at them?  Let's hope that this means, at least, that some local, L.A. garden supply company has been kept in business throughout.  You'll note that "for the most part."  In fact, my first impression when I arrived on campus was how busy it was: a student (mask round chin) unloading bags and boxes from a car and moving into a hall of residence; an inter-campus bus idling curb-side (driver without a mask); a happy gaggle of students (all without masks) chatting to some campus security guys (with - yes - masks!); Facilities and Maintenance Services trucks buzzing backwards and forwards (50% of occupants with masks).

And why was I on campus?  To collect (after following strict on-line protocol about permission-gathering) a couple of backpacks-worth of books to start preparing fall teaching, which I'd been assuming would be on line.  Last night, however, our President sends round a chirpy message saying we'll be back - at least in part live!  maybe with hybrid classes! - in the fall.  A knee-jerk part of me wants, of course, to be back on campus: to teach students three-dimensionally face to breathing face; to pretend that we're back to where we were before Covid-19.  A marginally more cautious knee-jerk part is driven to cold terror at the thought of returning to a landlubber's version of a cruise ship; a petri dish full of cheerfully socializing students from all over the country (ah, but their fees are so necessary!).  The way that this has been presented to us - after some feints and lip service to faculty consultation - feels (whether or not this is the intention) as though vulnerable faculty, staff, students, and campus workers are rather too easily expendable.  Oh, to be sure, there was the requisite language about The Need To Protect - details to follow - but many of us would like these details right now - if only to calm our sense of panic and anger.