Universitetsavisen
Nørregade 10
1165 København K
Tlf: 35 32 28 98 (mon-thurs)
E-mail: uni-avis@adm.ku.dk
University of Copenhagen
Independent of management
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Campus
Vox pop — The start of the semester on a campus without restrictions. A student, a professor, and a plumber talk about what it is like being back on an open South Campus.
How does it feel to have the campus reopened without restrictions?
»It’s great that people are back and that things are happening. It’s more fun when you are not just walking through empty buildings all day. Now I can really feel that people are using the things that I fix.«
How will it affect your work that people are back on campus?
»When the lockdown came, things were more peaceful around here. We could really get the maintenance tasks done. I’ve replaced all the inside parts of the toilets, for example, so they don’t overflow so often. But now all the urgent tasks have come back – I just got a note that there’s an overflowed toilet. Not too many of them during the lockdown. But now people are back, and the toilets clog up again.«
How does it feel to have the campus reopened without restrictions?
»It’s great. I hope to be able to have a normal semester where we’re all together in-person, and where you don’t have this expectation that things will suddenly shut down. When I’m out here, it’s a bit easier to ask a fellow student for help than when your are sitting at home and have to call someone. It is something else when you see people rather than just hearing their voices or reading a message.«
Will you be able to use your experience from the lockdown period for anything?
»I’ve got more disciplined. You have to force yourself to do the work at home —even though you don’t have to go to a physical seminar where the teacher can suddenly ask you something. I give more of myself when I’m out here, rather than being at home in my room.«
How does it feel to have the campus reopened without restrictions?
»It’s so nice. The vibe is much better when we’re together out here. It gives us an energy, enthusiasm and flexibility that you don’t have on Zoom. I find that I manage to do twice as much as a teacher when I’m present in a physical classroom. On Zoom, you have to talk slowly and wait for people to mute and unmute themselves. The whole rapid response of a classroom, where you spontaneously take up some point from some students in the corner: you don’t get this on Zoom.«
Will you be able to use your experience from the lockdown period for anything?
»I may have learned to become more explicit, and more well-structured in my teaching, because this is a necessity on Zoom. People need to be given a recipe of what will happen over the course of the next two hours, so that they know how far they are in the programme. You can transfer this to the physical teaching.«