Open CSM for in-person classes

We urge you to open CSM up for in-person education (with suitable safety measures in place).

In December 2019, we visited CSM with my teenager (then a senior) and a group of their peers. We were impressed by the beautiful campus and the signs of student life everywhere. We received tours, had lunch in the cafeteria, and peeked at student life. Our student decided to enroll.

Then the pandemic hit. Our student graduated from high school, online, and started taking classes at CSM, all online. They have really applied themselves and made strong connections with their peers and their professors at CSM, but there are limits to online learning. For example, playing music together over Zoom just isn’t feasible.

During the entire school year, my student has visited CSM’s empty campus exactly once, to pick up books from the bookstore at the start of the semester. It was heartbreaking to imagine what the campus would have looked like during a regular year, from the busy parking lot to the chatter-filled student life building.

In February, CSM announced that education for the fall semester will be online. In the light of recent CDC guidance, changes anticipated in California’s state regulations, and similar decisions by the University of California, we ask the board to reconsider their decision, and open classes for in-person education.

Guido van Rossum

Kim Knapp

Belmont