Project: CovidStories

On March 12, 2021, The University of Minnesota announced its plans to return to fully on campus operations. Since then, President Gabel, Executive Vice President and Provost Rachel T.A. Croson, and other administrators have assured the university community that their plans are safe despite the emergence of highly infectious variants and without consideration of people who are exceptionally vulnerable to Covid.

Despite claiming to prioritize our health and well-being, their policies center the needs of people who are least likely to bear the deepest burden of COVID exposure. We refuse to allow them to return to business as usual without naming and recording the impact their COVID protocol has on this community.

CovidStories launched in October 2021 with the sharing of responses from an open letter written by a coalition of staff, students, and faculty across UMN campuses (SSFUHS). This letter has received nearly 750 signatures and over 400 stories from people who must negotiate the intersections of (among others) ability, race, gender, citizenship, and class as they discern how best to navigate the ongoing pandemic. From October 2021 through April 2022, CovidStories continued to share personal experiences of those most impacted by systems of health inequity perpetuated by the University.

Explore the complete collection of CovidStories as they were shared on the MNT Instagram below.