Harvard closing for rest of semester

[Anonymous]

Harvard has a huge endowment. I would expect that there are plans being made to help students on financial aid with the costs of moving out, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have major concerns with this. I went to Amherst — one of the schools shuttering it’s on campus operations — and I had classmates who were homeless, disowned by their families for being gay, refugees of war, first-gen, the primary earners in their families, and otherwise lived very precarious lives. If their dorms closed down as is happening here, they would have had literally no where to go. And there were way more than you’d think. The DCUM posters (and anyone else) who think everyone has a safe home and supportive family to return to, reliable internet access, food to eat, etc. are stunningly naive.

I live in a college town. We have homeless shelters in our college town. We also have about 3000 homeless living in tents around our college town (by choice).

Generally the unhomed in cold weather climates can get vouchers for travel to Florida and/or California and set up camp there due to the warm weather.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From a logistics perspective, seems it would be easier to send kids home for a few weeks and let them return to pack up their stufff, etc. . . at some point in the future. Kids that can't afford to go home might be given the option of staying. It seems the goal is to prevent large gatherings of people. There are other ways to get there that would take into consideration the students' well being and financial situation.

+1. Exactly. A longer break would make much more sense.

[Anonymous]

Rice, NYU also just did this.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:This is good. Prevention of spreading the virus is the best thing we can do for ourselves.

+1

Does it lead to prevention, though? Won't the students now be off to other places, but still out and about? Maybe more so because no longer tied to going to classes and their college campuses. I'm just not sure?

I suspect the college kids will be going to movies and bars in their local towns and doing pickup games in their local towns.

This, it seems premature to take these kinds of steps unless there is an actual case of coronavirus at the college. I'd be upset if my student was sent home (kids aren't old enough) given how much tuition is. It isn't like Harvard is going to reimburse families for 1/2 semester room and board, or 1/2 semester of no college experience. Would make more sense to offer virtual offering just to kids who are high risk and don't want to remain at school.

The workers that clean the classrooms, dorms and work in the cafeteria will probably be laid off and go on unemployment. THat is what happened after 9-11 in many areas.

It's the professors that are high risk, and the workers.... but rich schools historically don't care about workers. They got a big black eye last huge snow storm... workers had to get to Harvard to feed the poor students during the snow storm when they easily could have just served them sandwiches... or asked the kids to work the cafeteria.

You think Harvard is going to continue to pay hourly workers who aren't working?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those saying it's an overreaction when there hasn't yet been a CV case at Harvard, Jason Furman makes this point in his twitter thread linked above:

"How do 6,700 undergraduates living in dorms and eating together in dining halls self isolate? How could we send them home then?"

Once there is a confirmed case, the logistics of handling it become incredibly complicated, more so than the logistics of closing early.

Who cares what Furman thinks. Harvard should have followed Rice and NYU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The email to Harvard parents makes it clear that the "asked not to return" isn't optional. The FAQs linked in the email state that there are only narrow circumstances where a student can remain on campus, such as their home country is not possible (Italy etc).

Apparently students are in a frenzy this morning. There are no boxes available to pack in for example. The adults seem to be passing the buck for questions raised by students.

I imagine so. The local hardware stores usually put extra packing boxes in stock at the end of the year, they would not have that many now. Everyone is caught off guard.

Seems not well-thought-out at all. "Hey kids pack everything and get out in four days! And don't forget to take your exams in the meantime!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard has a huge endowment. I would expect that there are plans being made to help students on financial aid with the costs of moving out, etc.

My friend's daughter goes to a similar school and (even without this "emergency") she was give a stipend to travel home to visit family.

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Force move-out of dorms by Sunday, that is insane, in light of the circumstances (or lack thereof). There is no reason not to allow more time, like by the end of spring break.

Dear Harvard: just because you are among the first colleges to do this doesn't make it an example of leadership.

You can't figure out how to move out by Sunday?

Kids have more stuff then they used to and decorated dorms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Force move-out of dorms by Sunday, that is insane, in light of the circumstances (or lack thereof). There is no reason not to allow more time, like by the end of spring break.

Dear Harvard: just because you are among the first colleges to do this doesn't make it an example of leadership.

You can't figure out how to move out by Sunday?

Aren't they having midterms this week? Most of the students are from out of state and no, they do not generally fly all their crap home in May. They will have to find storage solutions with no planning ahead and then get on a flight they haven't even booked yet. Though the flight is the easy part. It'll probably take multiple uber rides to get the dorm crap where it needs to go.

Think, for a moment, about the dorm move-out procedures. It is not as simple as changing the date from May to Sunday. There will be no system in place if everyone, including the other students who typically help with that, have their own move-out happening.

[Anonymous]

Generally in college town the kids stack what they can't take by the dumpsters and locals drive around and make a killing and upgrade their couches etc. I suspect a lot of the kids
stuff will be bagged and left outside of the dorm dumpters and
locals will forage.

[Anonymous]

Tell your kids to bag their stuff, stack it by the dumpsters and the locals will recycle the stuff to themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rice, NYU also just did this.

Move-outs for the entire semester, or a temporary move to online classes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Force move-out of dorms by Sunday, that is insane, in light of the circumstances (or lack thereof). There is no reason not to allow more time, like by the end of spring break.

Dear Harvard: just because you are among the first colleges to do this doesn't make it an example of leadership.

You can't figure out how to move out by Sunday?

Kids have more stuff then they used to and decorated dorms.

It's Wednesday, go to Home Depot at your home, get some boxes, rent a van and drive to Mass.

It's not that complicated.