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

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

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

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Colleges desperately want to re-open. Few can afford the financial hit if classes are online in fall: they will lose tuitions.

If states/localities allow them to open, they will open. They will not be more cautious than governments.

That said, they may well open with changed rules (renting extra space so kids aren't crowded in dorms, alternating live class attendance with Zoom days to reduce classroom crowding, making kids reserve times in cafeterias, etc.)

- Working in higher ed[/quote]

"Renting extra space so kids aren't crowded in dorms"? Where are you "in higher ed?" My DC's college is in a fairly large city but the area all around it has ZERO properties that would be suitable for rental by the college for housing. The college guarantees campus housing all four years in part because there is just no rental housing anywhere near the campus. Not even a bus ride away. And DC's friends at large universities already have a terrible time finding off-campus housing even in normal times.

Classes taught in lecture halls can be spaced out. SOME classes in smaller rooms can be relocated or done online. But many classes cannot. Are education majors who were supposed to do student teaching assignments just not supposed to go out into schools? Science majors not do labs unless there is enough lab space and equipment that no one ever shares a lab bench or touches the same equipment? Are music students supposed to play in orchestras spread out with several chairs between each musician? (Impossible; that would require stages of vast size--and do we tell players of brass and wind instruments they shouldn't blow into their instruments any more--?) Are theater students supposed to do only monologues, I guess? The crowd on this site will scoff at the last two examples but there are students of many subjects that can't truly distance.

Shifts for dining hall use sounds good but would have to be coordinated with the entire class schedule and who can do that? And will dining hall staff close between shifts to clean the salad bar utensils, the drink dispenser buttons and spigots, the door handles...? It's a nice idea but how workable is it?

I've said it before here--College campuses, if students return this fall, are going to be like retirement homes have been this spring. Hotbeds of new infections. Of course some supposed adults on this thread claim college age adults "won't get sick" from Covid, so bringing thousands of students together into close quarters is fine; let it rip. I'm sure it'll be fine until the first campus outbreak and the first gravely sick student who has no pre-existing conditions...

I want our DC back on campus too. DC loves the school and so do we. But unless a lot changes between now and August, a mass return to any campuses is going to be retirement homes part two, even with good intentions and extra cleaning. I'm not saying, wait for a vaccine. I just don't know why people dont see that campuses are going to have spreading infections. [/quote]+1[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics