On Dec. 9, 2021, a class action lawsuit was filed against Syracuse University for its response to the pandemic, specifically relating to how students lost the benefit of in-person education when the university moved online in the spring of 2020. The lawsuit argues that the online learning options were not as effective as in-person methods because of a lack of access to on-campus resources. The lawsuit aims to reimburse students for a pro-rated part of their tuition paid during the semester because of the inferior education they received.

I’m not going to argue that online learning is the same, or even better than in-person instruction. It isn’t. It is much harder to learn and pay attention behind a screen than it is in a classroom. Students arguably got a worse education during the spring 2020 semester because they moved online, however, this lawsuit sets a dangerous precedent for colleges and universities nationwide. Most universities and colleges moved online during the onset of the pandemic. If this lawsuit is decided in favor of the plaintiff, then there is courtroom precedent for students across the country to sue their universities for at least part of their tuition.

The short-term effects of this lawsuit are not only for SU, but for other universities as well, and it could be catastrophic. SU having to pay a considerable portion of a $50,000 tuition to potentially tens of thousands of students means that it would have to come up with hundreds of millions of dollars. This is money that could be invested in the university: for improving classrooms, dining halls or residence halls. The school would be cash-strapped and unable to make much-needed improvements for at least several years. These are upgrades that even students at SU during the spring of 2020 who are still here now could benefit from.

Think about how this could affect other universities around the country. The cost of attending SU is admittedly high, and it’s likely that the school would rebound with time. But what about smaller schools, with lower costs of attending that might barely be treading water as is? If students at those schools sue for their tuition back, the schools will be screwed. They’re already struggling, and making them come up with large amounts of money on the spot leaves them in dire straits.

The pandemic put schools in a tough spot. Surely the SU administration didn’t want to go online, at least not for the whole semester, but ultimately the dangers of the pandemic lead it to the decision. Going online during that time was the right thing to do. We had no idea as to how dangerous the virus could be. At the end of the day, the university did the best it could with the hand it was dealt. Everyone’s been dealt a bad hand with the pandemic, and no one’s come out unscathed.

What do the plaintiffs expect the university to have done? Stayed open? There would have been campus-wide protests, boycotts and immense national pressure to close down. Especially considering the majority of universities and colleges did close down. Should they have just ended the semester on the spot and paid students their tuition back? It’s highly unlikely the university could have come up with that amount of money in a short period of time, not to speak of how far that would have set students back by not being able to complete their credits. If the university were to reimburse students at that time, it could have been strained for day-to-day operations and future campus improvements. Take the upgrades to Schine Student Center — those could’ve been pushed back tremendously, maybe even indefinitely. There was no good option in that situation, and for SU, going online was the lesser of many evils.

SU was put in a bad spot, and the administration did the best it could. In practical terms and especially with the precedent reimbursing the tuition would set, it just doesn’t make sense. What happened to those students during the spring 2020 semester wasn’t fair, but the pandemic hasn’t been fair to any of us. SU should not be at fault for doing the right thing.

John Hepp is a freshman sports analytics major. His column appears biweekly. He can be reached at jwhepp@syr.edu.

Published on February 14, 2022 at 11:34 pm