Colleges and Universities almost universally plan to be open in the fall

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Opening as normal in the fall is NOT what is being communicated at some VA state schools (per friends with kids who are currently registering for fall classes).

Holding classes in-person and operating as normal aren’t mutually exclusive, you know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Opening as normal in the fall is NOT what is being communicated at some VA state schools (per friends with kids who are currently registering for fall classes).

Holding classes in-person and operating as normal aren’t mutually exclusive, you know.

For some people, it is. You know? The kids want to be back on campus, in their dorms/apartments, doing college stuff. And do tell, how will things like labs work as "normal"? Lots of kids (and their parents) are concerned about this. So tell us, since you seem to know everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Opening as normal in the fall is NOT what is being communicated at some VA state schools (per friends with kids who are currently registering for fall classes).

Holding classes in-person and operating as normal aren’t mutually exclusive, you know.

Um, yes they are. Who the hell wants to pay for college that consists of staring at a screen at mom and dads house. College kids are more likely to die crossing the road than from covid. It’s enough of this nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Opening as normal in the fall is NOT what is being communicated at some VA state schools (per friends with kids who are currently registering for fall classes).

Holding classes in-person and operating as normal aren’t mutually exclusive, you know.

Um, yes they are. Who the hell wants to pay for college that consists of staring at a screen at mom and dads house. College kids are more likely to die crossing the road than from covid. It’s enough of this nonsense.

I don't think you understood what PP is saying? They're just saying you can hold in-person classes without fully going back to normal. Your comment isn't really responsive...

[Anonymous]

Guys. Stop.

My university, just like all the ones mentioned here, is pushing out announcements about how we are "planning to reopen in the fall!"

Then our leadership sends emails to the deans/chairs about how we need to plan all classes to be fully online and hybrid online/in-person for the foreseeable future.

Then departments meet to plan this.

We are absolutely not going to be back in person full-time in the fall. No way. Everyone knows this, despite what public emails say.

[Anonymous]

I’m sure they are planning for various scenarios, including one for in person classes in fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guys. Stop.

My university, just like all the ones mentioned here, is pushing out announcements about how we are "planning to reopen in the fall!"

Then our leadership sends emails to the deans/chairs about how we need to plan all classes to be fully online and hybrid online/in-person for the foreseeable future.

Then departments meet to plan this.

We are absolutely not going to be back in person full-time in the fall. No way. Everyone knows this, despite what public emails say.

I'm a faculty member getting similar emails. I think we know things won't be normal and there will definitely be hybrid courses to reduce the need for classroom space to allow for social distancing. But what I hear in meetings is that they expect to have some residential population and some face-to-face class sessions but everyone should prepare to adapt if the situation changes. What parents really want to know is a) will they be sending their kids off to school, and b) what will things be like when they are there? And I don't think schools have a secret answer to that yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guys. Stop.

My university, just like all the ones mentioned here, is pushing out announcements about how we are "planning to reopen in the fall!"

Then our leadership sends emails to the deans/chairs about how we need to plan all classes to be fully online and hybrid online/in-person for the foreseeable future.

Then departments meet to plan this.

We are absolutely not going to be back in person full-time in the fall. No way. Everyone knows this, despite what public emails say.

I'm a faculty member getting similar emails. I think we know things won't be normal and there will definitely be hybrid courses to reduce the need for classroom space to allow for social distancing. But what I hear in meetings is that they expect to have some residential population and some face-to-face class sessions but everyone should prepare to adapt if the situation changes. What parents really want to know is a) will they be sending their kids off to school, and b) what will things be like when they are there? And I don't think schools have a secret answer to that yet.

My hope is that it’s all either in person or all online. The hybrid idea just sounds kind of useless to me— yeah, you might avoid the 200 kid lectures but what’s the point if the students are still living in 500-kid dorms or crowding side by sweaty side in some frat house basement every Friday night?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guys. Stop.

My university, just like all the ones mentioned here, is pushing out announcements about how we are "planning to reopen in the fall!"

Then our leadership sends emails to the deans/chairs about how we need to plan all classes to be fully online and hybrid online/in-person for the foreseeable future.

Then departments meet to plan this.

We are absolutely not going to be back in person full-time in the fall. No way. Everyone knows this, despite what public emails say.

I'm a faculty member getting similar emails. I think we know things won't be normal and there will definitely be hybrid courses to reduce the need for classroom space to allow for social distancing. But what I hear in meetings is that they expect to have some residential population and some face-to-face class sessions but everyone should prepare to adapt if the situation changes. What parents really want to know is a) will they be sending their kids off to school, and b) what will things be like when they are there? And I don't think schools have a secret answer to that yet.

Same here. My university hasn't actually made an official announcement either way, but they are hoping to somehow have certain classes meet in person (e.g. certain science labs, performing arts) and get lab-based research back and up and running. In the absence of clear messaging from the university, individual departments are taking matters into their own hands and converting some or all of their courses to online. (Kind of similar what we're seeing with regard to states and the lack of federal leadership.) I am noticing that the courses that have been switched to online have much higher enrollment that the ones that are still listed as in person. I wonder if this means students are nervous, or just skeptical that the in-person courses won't change to online anyway and just want to know what they are signing up for. I'm not sure the "open it up" parents posting here are indicative of the larger parent and student population.

[Anonymous]

Well, according to an op-ed in the NYT, large lectures will be online, kids will wear masks at all times and move in and out of quarantine in hotel rooms if they are sick or are a contact of a case, social events will be online. Social distancing at all times. That's going to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, according to an op-ed in the NYT, large lectures will be online, kids will wear masks at all times and move in and out of quarantine in hotel rooms if they are sick or are a contact of a case, social events will be online. Social distancing at all times. That's going to work.

I'm going to look up that op-ed now. The idea (in bold) about quarantining kids? Wow. As if colleges will have the ability to test adequately to quarantine in that way. They won't have that ability, which means kids probably won't get quarantined until they are already showing symptoms -- and it's known that people are contagious early, when they do not show any symptoms at all. So kids will be in quarantine sick, not in quarantine waiting to see if they have the virus as is now largely the case. Some colleges might be able to do some contact tracing and quarantine those kids who aren't symptomatic yet. Maybe. Talk about adding a horrible new obligation (testing, contact tracing, overseeing quarantines, hoping some kid doesn't pass out or die while in a hotel quarantine, etc.) for the colleges. Oh -- and are hotels really going to be up for hosting quarantines like this? In our DC's city the hotels are nowhere near campus and may not be very willing to become quarantine locations....

[Anonymous]

Here's what will happen: most or all schools will open under some new operational scheme and with certain limitation and restrictions in place. Most or all will utterly fail to implement said restrictions because they will be impossible to implement (quarantine students in hotels, are you f'ing kidding me???). Utter chaos ensues and COVID cases spike again (which happens whether or not schools re-open). All the open schools exacerbate the spike and are either forced to close again or just carry on and infect everybody on campus and in their town and city. Will not be pretty.

[Anonymous]

https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/05/04/president-eisgruber-writes-princeton-community-about-state-university-and-planning?fbclid=IwAR1H9Al939YOb4OOigrlOU_pollOuLIPrdSh9qRU8HDl0C2hp7KANLNfTOU

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's what will happen: most or all schools will open under some new operational scheme and with certain limitation and restrictions in place. Most or all will utterly fail to implement said restrictions because they will be impossible to implement (quarantine students in hotels, are you f'ing kidding me???). Utter chaos ensues and COVID cases spike again (which happens whether or not schools re-open). All the open schools exacerbate the spike and are either forced to close again or just carry on and infect everybody on campus and in their town and city. Will not be pretty.

I'm PP at 23:46 above you and I agree completely with this assessment.

It's part of the larger pattern that is coming for the rest of 2020 and into next year: A "return to normalcy" far too early, followed by spikes and more closures not only of colleges but also of businesses and schools. The open and close cycle is going to be devastating. My college freshman is home and finishing the semester online right now (thank God, sincerely, for the Internet, not just academically but socially). She would far rather be at her college which she loves and which we love and value too, and I believe the college administration at her very caring college is really working to figure out what to do that's best for the students more than anything else. But the whole structure of ALL residential colleges and universities of any size is that people are studying, working and living together, and the living together component simply cannot work without things colleges cannot provide, like all single rooms with individual bathrooms and food delivery and, and, and....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, according to an op-ed in the NYT, large lectures will be online, kids will wear masks at all times and move in and out of quarantine in hotel rooms if they are sick or are a contact of a case, social events will be online. Social distancing at all times. That's going to work.

This seems awfully optimistic. For this plan to work, it would require incredibly effective, efficient testing and contact tracing the likes of which no city, state, or entity has successfully implemented in the U.S. thus far. It also assumes that kids who are asymptomatic won't spread it to 30 random others in tight dorm spaces before even being tested.