I left my neighborhood for a little while today and went over to campus to see what was what. I’m really glad I did because in thirty years at Rice I’ve never really seen anything like it. It always quiets down over breaks of course, but this was something else entirely. I spent about an hour and a half walking around the colleges and the central part of campus and I don’t think I saw more than a dozen people, almost all of them either FE&P employees or Campus Police. There were a couple of dog walkers, a family on bicycles, and I could see that there was a little bit of activity in some of the lab buildings. It was so desolate that I nearly had the wits scared out of me when a couple of college magisters turned a corner and surprised me.
It was particularly bleak around the colleges, with frightening signs posted all around and evidences of hasty departures:
Hand sanitizer. I used it even though I didn’t touch anything. It’s good luck!
For some reason all the outdoor chairs are piled in groups and tied up. It looks striking:
Totally empty Cohen House lot:
More to come.
Bonus: Sad!
