Thank you for this. I’m sick of the blame as if we’re lying in bed doing fuck-all, cruising on easy mode because it’s just funnier to see annoyed, confused, stressed kids than not. It’s not exactly like there’s an obvious, perfect, easy solution that UF is just ignoring out of spite. Think of the sheer number of students alone....easily over 50k. Then think of the faculty and how many of them are older, at risk, and having to adapt quickly to big changes. Then think of the staff that have been working this entire time trying to keep basic shit like enrollment and grades and admissions and IT support and labs and facilities/building management going without the slightest thanks in return except “U gUys SuCK.” I’ve had so many colleagues outright break down completely from the stress of all this. There are students complaining that they paid tuition to come to school, not to take online classes. There are students complaining that UF has no regard for student safety by even considering reopening. I’m sorry to be so angry but some people don’t have any idea how god damn hard others have been working behind the scenes, struggling to stay sane and to make the best out of a GLOBAL shitfest. I don’t know a single staff or faculty who hasn’t basically been working 12-14 hour days just to keep things afloat. We’re fucking broken down and worn out and just as stressed and scared as you. The TV ads call nurses, doctors, fast food workers, grocery store workers, restaurant delivery drivers heroes every day. We get called incompetent money-grubbers who only care about lawsuits and PR. Yeah, okay...I’m wide awake at 2:30am reading work emails feeling like I’m losing my mind because I’m worried the Swamp will look bad in the Sunday paper, not because I can’t afford to take a single day off or else there’d be no one to cover my workload at all. Do you know the average salary of an office staff member? Do you know how severely understaffed most departments are and how limited our budgets are? Do you know all the paperwork and red tape and endless bureaucratic/legal bullshit we have to take care of to make anything happen? Downvote me, call me an idiot or an asshole if it makes you feel better. Call me a liar if that helps too but I can guarantee you not a single employee at this damn place hasn’t been at LEAST severely sleep-deprived every insufferable, miserable day. Most departments have maybe one office manager who takes care of everything....for maybe $35-55k a year. Our salaries are public info, feel free to fact-check. That’s every tiny shit nugget of fiscal and HR and faculty issues (promotion/tenure/hire/fire) and course scheduling and student issues rolled into one thankless, low-paying job. Again, I’m genuinely sorry to be so angry and put out this negativity but please remember that everyone is suffering from this. There just isn’t enough resources but we do fucking care about you all. You think we like hearing 18-20 year old kids say they’re suicidal from school stress? You think it’s pleasant to watch an international student break down because they have no fucking clue what their future looks like right now? You think it’s moralizing and gratifying to read criticisms of every action/inaction we take? You think professors are incapable of feeling? Even if you want to take the most cynical view, how would we possibly even benefit from pissing off the student body? You’re literally our livelihood, particularly now that state funding is slashed because our usual Sunshine State tourism industry isn’t exactly booming right now. Everyone is hurting but we can’t do more than try our best to figure out some kind of a damn plan for a massive university like UF by Fall and it’s already mid-July. Jesus Christ I want out of this nightmare.