The Scout app was introduced to students as they came back from summer break, marketed as a safety protocol for the pandemic. Although it was created with good intentions, the app has been underwhelming.
At the beginning of the Spring semester, many students were met with a yellow screen. This was very common among students who did not get tested through Colorado Mesa University’s (CMU) own testing services. Students could not return to campus without a negative result, but this was unreasonable for students who live on campus and could not return to be tested.
Out of town or out of state students who live on campus did not have the convenient option of testing on campus before returning. This caused an outrageous amount of calls and emails to be made to the school’s helpline, who in turn had to fix each screen individually. That was a ridiculous amount of work for CMU workers who had other things to do.
The glitch caused students to miss class or not be able to eat in the Caf. It wreaked an incredible amount of havoc for some students, while others simply screenshotted a green screen and used that over and over. While some students stayed home in fear of being turned away because of their yellow screen, others went to class without even filling out the daily pass because the standard of checking them at the door is rarely upheld.
Scout has not helped CMU in the slightest and the simple fact that many students can (and do) lie when filling it out is all the proof we need. The honor code is not enough here, especially considering the people expected to uphold the entire system are the same ones that go out to party during the pandemic. In fact, the honor code in any situation is never truly enough to keep any system in place.
The CMU campus has plenty of protocols when it comes to COVID-19, most thankfully more effective than the Scout app. Socially distanced classrooms and required masks are great ways to stop the spread, and even random testing has done amazing things for our COVID numbers, so the focus should be on improving those protocols rather than wasting time on an app that cannot be considered effective.
If the Scout app were to work, we would need every single person responsible for checking the green screens at the door to do so (this includes the date on them) and we would need ramifications for students, professors and other staff who do not follow protocol. Students who are caught lying will need some sort of consequence that will stop them from doing so again, and to discourage others from lying. Professors and staff responsible for checking screens will also need to be reprimanded for not doing so. If we want Scout to be effective, we also need to make it reliable and not glitchy.
Otherwise, CMU just needs to give up on it.
