NUI Galway is displaying extracts from several essays, which were written by students who breached Covid-19 guidelines in recent months.
The 'Reflections on Covid' exhibition comes after almost 50 students were told to write a 2,000 word paper about their actions.
The material is being displayed on a number of windows outside the main Arts and Science building on the campus.
Extracts from the essays are featured alongside the thoughts of medical students and volunteers, who have been working to treat those with coronavirus in recent months.
Content from eight "reflective essays" references the thoughts of students who were found to have breached University guidelines around social distancing and public health measures.
The extracts are not attributed to the authors and are presented anonymously.
One wrote: "When I look at my actions last night, I just cannot get my head around why I would do such an idiotic thing. We were sent protocols at the start of semester 2 and I read through them but still decided to breach them for some vague stupidity".
Another extract refers to it being "one thing to accept the consequences of your own actions and poor judgement, but it is quite another to ask anyone else to, especially your loved ones. I never want to put them in that position again. I felt terrible and a huge amount of guilt".
A third essayist wrote: "The whole world is suffering. I should suffer too, play my part, suck it up, get on with it as it is and hope for better times in the future".
NUI Galway said a total of 48 students were asked to submit reflective essays over the course of the last academic year.
More than 100 students were sanctioned in some form or other for breaches of Covid-19 regulations.
The University said the exhibition "was sparked by students looking back on some of their experiences, good and bad, during the pandemic", and is being unveiled as staff and students prepare for the start of the new academic year.
Signage accompanying the display reads: "Some of the more hard-hitting thoughts come from among the small number of students who were asked to reflect after breaking Covid rules. The quotes come from essays they wrote after watching the RTÉ Investigates documentary Covid-19: The Third Wave".
"As an institute of learning there is a lesson for all of us in these windows....please take time to read and reflect".
This time last year, students were warned that they faced possible expulsion if they were found to have breached the institute’s Code of Conduct.
That lists "any behaviour that endangers the welfare of the individual or others … on or off University grounds".
Large gatherings involving students at both house parties and in the city centre in September 2020, drew attention to the actions of some of those attending the University.
And after a surge in the number of students testing positive for Covid-19 in February, NUI Galway reiterated the threat of sanctions for those found to be breaching public health guidelines.
