Like many others, I was taken aback when I read Dean Arcelus’s email on the morning of September 6th that stated that two students who had approached a large group on the green the previous night with the hopes of getting them to properly social distance, were met with hostility. I was able to get in touch with the two students and interviewed them over Zoom on September 7th. Both students wished to remain anonymous so I will refer to them as Anonymous 1 (A1) and Anonymous 2 (A2) for the remainder of the article.
TCV: Walk me through the night.
A1: It was Saturday night, probably around 12-12:30am. We went on a walk around Temple Green. Halfway through, I saw the group. One guy told me later that it was like 23 people. I just told [A2] that if by the time we walk by, they’re still like that, I’m just going to go up and talk to them. When we got to them I went up and asked everyone to just keep distance and put their masks back on because I noticed a lot of people weren’t wearing them and a lot of them were holding empty containers of White Claw and stuff. Some of the girls were like “Oh we didn’t bring masks so we can’t put them on”. They weren’t really listening at all so I took out my phone and started recording. After that happened, most of them dispersed. They were kind of offended that I was doing that. I started talking to this one guy who was trying to diffuse the situation. He was saying that he was wearing a mask but he can’t control his friends. His friends can do what they want. I was telling him that he could ask his friends to put on masks.
A2: I walked over because I figured [A1] shouldn’t do this alone. These two guys come up to me. One of whom just isn’t wearing a mask at all. The other has his mask on but later pulls it down. So I’m arguing with these guys, telling them they should be wearing a mask. They say that they’re roommates and that they don’t have to be wearing a mask around each other and I’m like “well you do in public”. They’re like “nah we’ve been tested like four times so I don’t understand what the problem is with us not wearing masks”. It was this back and forth for a few moments until one of them gets super pissed at me, comes up right at my face and asks “Are you trying to start a fight, man?” And then he just pulls my mask off. That’s when the guy talking to [A1] came over and pulled the two guys back.
A1: So [A2] caught their mask and put it back on. I pulled out my phone again and started recording. I asked them for their names. They gave me fake names.
A2: They said they were Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
A1: The other thing that happened was that right when I first went over, [A2] called Campus Safety and said “There’s a big gathering on Temple Green. Can you send someone over?” and they said “Sure”. Nothing happened. After the mask incident, I called again and said that there was still a large group up here, can you please send someone over? They said that they were held up with officers but that they’d send someone over as soon as they could. Probably five minutes after that, things had already been going on for twenty-five minutes or so-
A2: Yeah this was a long, long confrontation.
A1: A little bit after my call, Campus Safety came and all they did was circle the green in two cars. They didn’t come out. They didn’t address the groups that were still there.
TCV: Do you guys even know for sure that that was in response to your call?
A1: No.
TCV: So what happens after that?
A1: They start to walk away. They go to another group that’s all together. The guys were still calling out.
A2: Yeah they were trying to get me to go over there and fight them or something. Like stupid, drunk guy bullshit.
TCV: So do you guys call it a night after that?
A1: Yeah so I called Campus Safety and reported the incident and they came to my room later that night, like 2 AM. We’ve just been talking to the dean since. No one knows who these two guys are. We know that they’re roommates and we think that they’re sophomores. I recognized a few people from class but I don’t know their names either. It’s more annoying because if Campus Safety could have shown up and went up to the big group of people, they could have ID’d some people or the situation could have just not happened.
TCV: So when did Dean Arcelus get involved?
A1: So [A2] emailed him that night saying what had happened.
A2: So I was kind of pissed off right? This is like the second night at this point where students have been out partying together on Temple Green so I sent him an email like saying what had happened. You know that people aren’t following the guidelines so why don’t you have at least one officer from Campus Safety out there as a deterrent? Like if I was gonna go out there and party and I saw campo there, I would just not, y’know?
A1: Or at least keep six feet from each other and wear masks. Like it was kinda crazy that people left their dorms without a mask. Kind of baffling to me.
TCV: Did Dean Arcelus tell you that he was going to talk about the incident in an email to the entire student body?
A2: No, he didn’t email me back until after the campus-wide email went out. I don’t really mind that he went out and emailed the whole student body first. I think it was important to tell people that this happened and ask people to come forward. He reminded everyone that if you know who this was, it’s your job to report it.
TCV: I feel like it shook a lot of people to hear about something like that happening on campus right now.
A2: Yeah cause it’s one thing to party with your sports team. I understand wanting to do that. I think everyone’s kind of hanging out in smaller groups, even if they’re not supposed to. It’s not wearing masks and not feeling like you’re in the wrong at all. Like trying to start a fight with me cause I tell someone that they should be wearing a mask.
TCV: So how do you guys feel about Campus Safety after this incident?
A1: I agree with [A2]. I think someone should be posted out on Temple Green, out of their car. They were able to respond to my report and come to my room later that night and they were there within four minutes of me calling. Yet in the thirty minutes that we were out on the green, they may or may not have responded. They just had the two cars drive by. Later that night, about an hour after the incident, I called again because there were still huge parties out and I ended up just flagging a car down and I asked them why they weren’t separating the groups and they just responded back saying that if they saw the groups, they would break them up. I pointed out a large group that was obviously visible from where we were and only after I pointed it out did he go talk to them. I just don’t understand what campo is really doing. You’d think that responding to a claim would mean coming out and addressing people but it seems like they’re just driving around, trying to show their presence in the hope that it gets people to follow their rules which didn’t really work this weekend.
TCV: So do you feel that Connecticut College needs to change the way that it’s addressing these issues?
A1: I think if you’re willing to throw a party of more than ten people, inside or outside, Conn should be setting an example. The majority of people on campus are trying their best to follow the rules. They’re eating six feet apart, they’re wearing their masks. I know Northeastern suspended or expelled eleven students who threw a party. I think Conn needs to set at least one example of what happens when you break the rules. Plenty of people aren’t following the rules and with the little things I think it’s almost fine. It’s hard to follow everything but when over twenty people gather on the green to drink and some of them didn’t even bring masks…
A2: You have to know that’s wrong.
A1: It just shows that you don’t care about this community and the people on this campus.
A2: Plus if we all get sent home now, we aren’t getting back in the spring. I don’t think everyone should have to suffer just because 100 people don’t follow the rules properly.
A1: I think it’s tough because you can rationalize it because we have so few positive cases but the only thing a positive test tells you is that you were COVID-free like two days ago. You’ll never know if you’re COVID-free that day and there’s plenty of people who don’t show symptoms and there’s plenty of people who are our age who are dying with no pre-existing conditions.
TCV: If you guys were to go back that night, is there anything you would have done differently? What advice would you want to give to people who might end up in a similar situation to what you went through?
A1: Don’t go alone. Don’t be addressing groups alone. That’s not the smartest thing to do. I think I probably would have done just about the same thing that night. I’m not afraid to speak up and speak my mind. The difference is I probably would have called Campus Safety and been really explicit about wanting them to come out. I think if we had some kind of authority figure with us, it wouldn’t have escalated as much.
A2: I think if we had called them from a distance they would have seen how big the group was before we started talking to them and before some of them wandered off and they would have had to address it.
TCV: So there are two guys that the administration is actively looking for. Do you know anything about how they’re trying to find them?
A1: They have a video I sent them of the two guys talking but it’s pretty blurry and dark and you can’t see much. I know they’re talking to REAL Staff to see if anyone recognizes them based off the footage but other than that I think they’re just waiting.
TCV: If you guys want to provide some kind of physical description of these guys, you’re welcome to do so.
A1: They were white males. Both pretty tall. One was wearing a hat.
A2: One had dark hair. The other was a blonde. That doesn’t narrow it down too much.
A1: Neither of them had beards or anything on their face.
TCV: Any final thoughts?
A1: Just be smart. Wear a mask. Understand that if you aren’t following the rules, you’re at fault so don’t get defensive. I don’t want this disease to spread on campus and big gatherings with open containers are one of the easiest ways to have that happen.
