While the city of Martin is a bit more lively as a result of the public health crisis known as COVID-19, mainly at grocery stores, the same can’t be said for the town’s public university.
UTM was a victim of the COVID-19 crisis as the potentially lethal disease sent shockwaves across the world. Not only were classes at UTM forced to go online for the remainder of the 2019-20 academic year in mid-March, but most students were asked to leave campus altogether. Naturally, activity on campus has died down significantly.
For all of UTM’s upsides, the student body tends not to stick around on breaks and weekends. But now the students are gone again, although this time largely involuntarily, and the atmosphere around campus is surreal.
I live off campus in a fraternity house right across the street from University Village Phase I, giving me a front-seat view to mass student exoduses that led to the eventual ghost town that is UTM today.
I’ve gone on campus a handful of times since the suspension of in-person classes for various reasons. Two words came to mind during those trips to campus: surreal and depressing.
In a normal semester, students would be walking around going to classes, setting up tables in the University Center and generally just out and about. After all, exam season tends to pick up at this point in the semester. But this is by no means a typical semester. It’s like walking around campus during a weekend or Spring Break, only that now we’re in the regular academic cycle and there’s not a soul in sight.
The leads into my next word – depressing. The year of 2020 has gotten off to a very rough start, and that sentiment lingers on campus. The campus being in a state of indefinite emptiness is sad, which isn’t helped by the fact that the sun has only appeared once in the last two weeks it seems.
Not many remained on campus. The only souls I came into contact with on UTM grounds were my friends, and even most of them left Martin in the dust.
It’s no secret that UTM, judging from the vibe that Chancellor Dr. Keith Carver gives, loves its students. With the size of the on-campus student body shrinking so much, UTM has suffered and essentially turned into a ghost town. Honestly, its one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen.
Though a depressing atmosphere lingers around the university, taking a walk around the deserted campus is a peaceful experience. Social media is full of mass hysteria and misinformation. The world outside is noisy, but the campus is quiet and provides a breath of fresh air from the rest of society. In a way, UTM’s deserted status has its upside.
With everyone leaving town, UTM and the surrounding atmosphere are suffering. Even when the COVID-19 panic ends and everyone returns, UTM won’t be the same for a long time. However, UTM survived the Great Depression and WWII and came back to full strength. Martin and its university will rebuild in due time.
