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

[Anonymous]

Brown is looking on a three-semester system too

https://www.browndailyherald.com/2020/05/06/next-year-may-likely-look-different-brown-look-like-three-terms/

[Anonymous]

None of this discussion really matters. A few weeks after classes start (if they do), there will be some huge outbreaks at a few universities across the US, and teaching will be back online only. Students will get permission to stay on campus for online lectures with food delivery and once a day timed exercise in the yard, or they will get the option to go home. Since departure is optional, colleges will get to keep all fees. I wouldn't be surprised...

[Anonymous]

It would be interesting to collect data on how many university related cases there have been during this pandemic. In other words can we count how many university employees or their family members got sick as well as students or their families. Just curious. I don’t think there will be HUGE outbreaks if kids go back in the fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would be interesting to collect data on how many university related cases there have been during this pandemic. In other words can we count how many university employees or their family members got sick as well as students or their families. Just curious. I don’t think there will be HUGE outbreaks if kids go back in the fall.

A lot of campuses, including mine, shut down when there was a first case on campus in early March. We were also told we would not be informed of further cases, as case reporting was up to the state's Department of Health. I do know that some colleges have been reporting cases in the few students remaining on campus. Mine does not report.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be interesting to collect data on how many university related cases there have been during this pandemic. In other words can we count how many university employees or their family members got sick as well as students or their families. Just curious. I don’t think there will be HUGE outbreaks if kids go back in the fall.

A lot of campuses, including mine, shut down when there was a first case on campus in early March. We were also told we would not be informed of further cases, as case reporting was up to the state's Department of Health. I do know that some colleges have been reporting cases in the few students remaining on campus. Mine does not report.

Mine shut down before any documented cases. After the shutdown we were notified of a couple that did not seem to pose a risk to the larger campus community because it was after we had all been out for a few weeks.

I'm on some listservs and Facebook groups with others in academia so I get to hear what various schools are considering. The plans being discussed for fall are... interesting. At best they are planning to have small groups of students come to class on alternating days, thus getting way less time with the professor (and each other) than usual. Social distancing would need to be maintained at all times, so no group work or having a professor come over to a student for one on one help. Honestly I am not sure how any of that is much better than just doing the class online. Do students really want to come to class just to have 30 min or less per week of being in a room with a professor who can't come near them? It's all of the risk (I'm thinking of the research that shows the risks of being in the same indoor space for a prolonged period) and none of the reward. If the professor is just showing slides or writing stuff on a whiteboard and taking questions, that would actually seem inferior to using some of the technology tools that are now available for online platforms (e.g. breakout groups). I feel like colleges just want to be able to say "we are having in person classes" without accepting the reality that all of the modifications are not going to lead to a great student experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to Mike Spivey, a higher education expert who says this is being discussed behind the scenes but that public announcements from each school won't come out until May through July. https://blog.spiveyconsulting.com/universities-colleges-and-law-schools-plan-to-be-open-on-campus-this-fall/

Thoughts?

Good news

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That guy has so many facts wrong, I had to stop reading. NO ONE KNOWS WHAT THE VIRUS IS GOING TO DO. It may start coming back in a couple of weeks with all the dumsh*t states reopening. Look at Germany - they started easing social distancing and now the number of cases is starting to tick up again.

No one - except Tony Fauci and Bill Gates - seems to be able to wrap their brain around how different and how serious this virus is. Sure, you can reopen colleges and dorms, but how many seriously ill and dead college students, professors, and food service workers will you accept? One, two, ten, twenty? And say you have an outbreak at the University of Mississippi - do they have enough medical capacity to handle 5000 sick students?

An 80-yo who hasn't seen a patient in 20+ years and a college drop-out oligarch.

Trolly the troll is back! I trust the 80 and drop out more than our dear leader!

[Anonymous]

Anyone who disagrees with you is a troll? Just the DCUM standard for freedom of thought...

[Anonymous]

<<None of this discussion really matters. >>

+1

"Will it rain next Saturday? -- I say yes"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would be interesting to collect data on how many university related cases there have been during this pandemic. In other words can we count how many university employees or their family members got sick as well as students or their families. Just curious. I don’t think there will be HUGE outbreaks if kids go back in the fall.

Now this would be so unfair to the students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be interesting to collect data on how many university related cases there have been during this pandemic. In other words can we count how many university employees or their family members got sick as well as students or their families. Just curious. I don’t think there will be HUGE outbreaks if kids go back in the fall.

Now this would be so unfair to the students.

Liberty actually saw zero coronavirus cases after they let some students back. Two inspections from the state health department gave them high Mark's and said they were in full compliance with the giv's guidelines.

Not a big Liberty fan but followed their story to see how it worked out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be interesting to collect data on how many university related cases there have been during this pandemic. In other words can we count how many university employees or their family members got sick as well as students or their families. Just curious. I don’t think there will be HUGE outbreaks if kids go back in the fall.

Now this would be so unfair to the students.

Liberty actually saw zero coronavirus cases after they let some students back. Two inspections from the state health department gave them high Mark's and said they were in full compliance with the giv's guidelines.

Not a big Liberty fan but followed their story to see how it worked out.

I can't say anything about the inspections, but the first statement is not consistent with the press reporting I read in mainstream papers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just heard from our uni for the first time. The admin is completely deluded. There will be 3 semesters to reduce density, students will be quarantined along the lines of the oped, we can trust the students to protect the community by social distancing and wearing face coverings. Nobody asked the faculty if they are willing to spread their teaching over 3 semesters, or if students will be happy with 3 semesters...and everything will have to be prepared for online and in person instruction. But no worries, our teaching loads are not increasing.
It's pretty obvious that their committee on reopening consisted almost entirely of administrators, not teaching faculty...Other unis have apparently surveyed faculty about their comfort teaching in person, their health conditions etc. Nothing here so far - just decisions by admins removed from education. Oh and only 1/3 of our faculty are in an at risk age group (what to they consider at risk?).
What I think will happen is that we start out with this plan, a huge outbreak inevitably occurs so that we move online again, and then both students and faculty are stuck with this moronic 3 semester layout, but online! The worst of both worlds.

You're faculty, right? I'm sorry they didn't consult with faculty because that sounds like an absolute must in this situation. How devaluing of faculty, not to include them in the decision.

I know this site and I know someone else will come to ask this so I'll just go ahead and do it: Can you name the university? I get that you might not want to. I wouldn't. Can you at least tell us -- what size school is it and is it in the US? (You referred to it as "uni" which I hear done by people in the UK and Canada but less here.)

I am asking not because I think it's my own kid's college but because I'd like to get a bead on what size your university is just for comparison. Is summer supposed to be the third semester? Are all three semesters shorter? That would be more like my own undergrad with three quarters Sept-June and the fourth quarter being summer -- that's not "semesters" at all and you'd have to cut the number of classes in a student's class load if you have much shorter "semesters." ??

And I agree that your employer is insane to think that students are going to wear masks and practice social distancing for long or in any meaningful way. They still have to share dorm rooms, bathrooms, dining halls, etc., right? That alone -- forget classrooms -- will cause the virus to spread. I would not blame any faculty member, administrator or staff member who quit as these kinds of wildly stupid plans emerge.

PP here. We are a top private school in the US in an urban location, with a student population on the order of 10K. The semesters will all be regular length, with a summer semester. Vacations would apparently be cut short or eliminated. But we haven't heard the details yet on dates. Each student would attend 2/3 semesters in person.

This is Columbia. President recently announced this. I think it makes sense. They are doing the best they can. They are consulting their faculty - the ones who are top public health and medical faculty

[Anonymous]

Even Purdue's plan has a million caveats. It's ridiculous to assume this is safe for students or professors. What a joke this thread is.

[Anonymous]

It will be safe when treatments - which exist - are more widely publicized.