"Institutions are letting their financial and reputational worries cloud their judgment about when they can safely reopen …
… Because of the manner in which most residential colleges are operated, these institutions cannot use traditional face-to-face instructional methods and expect anything other than an unacceptable rate of disease transmission. Because we do not yet have the ability to bring students and staff back to campus while keeping them safe and healthy, we simply cannot return to business as usual. To do so constitutes an abdication of our moral responsibility as leaders." …
Thank you, Dave, for posting this. It’s an outstanding piece. Lately I’ve been thinking that the 2 college kids in my family should go to school in August. Now I’m not so sure. It’s important to always have our thinking challenged.
There will be outbreaks on college campuses, that is one of things we are certain about for Fall.
I wonder if the author feels the same about opening K-12 schools? I have said this on other threads, but I am more concerned about S21 in a HS where 3500 students and staff are in one building every day for 7-8 hours than I am for D19 at her LAC.
Those 3500 students and staff will share germs indoors for 7-8 hours, then go home to their parents, siblings, SOs, kids, etc…share/exchange germs with those people, many of whom had multiple exposures during their days…then return to the HS the next day. Rinse and repeat.
Will transmission rates be higher than if everyone stayed at home? Of course. But that isn’t the alternative. I do not see any realistic option of 18-22 year olds sheltering at home through 2020. They will be out socializing, and meeting friends, and probably trying to work and/or travel, even domestically. Adults expect to resume their lives, even to travel for pleasure, judging by many posts here. It seems cruel to deny young adults that option.
I’d rather evaluate each college individually based on their location and the plans and protections they are putting in place. The one-size-fits-all isn’t going to work for all colleges nor all students.
The earliest a vaccine has ever been developed for any virus is four years. Any estimates of having one sooner is pure speculation. Students can exercise the option to settle for an online education (easier for some majors than others), or they may opt to postpone their education indefinitely (perhaps until a vaccine is available). A poll posted in another thread indicated a majority of students would return to campus in the fall if they can. If the safety arrangements the colleges will be making are acceptable to the students and their families, they ought to have that opportunity.
We were never going to stay at home until a vaccine was discovered. This was about flattening the curve and not overtaxing health care resources. We’ve managed to do that in most places. Time will tell if the gradual reopening of states works to continue to flatten the curve or not.
I for one am very happy D’s school is going back to campus. They even announced yesterday that they will do summer start on campus in July.
A cure or an effective treatment seems a lot closer than a vaccine. With an effective treatment in place, colleges and businesses can safely open. If not, our economic recovery will be multi-generational.
Numbers are dropping, and we still haven’t gone through the summer months. Australia is in their fall, and their numbers look good.
We need to open while protecting the vulnerable and elderly.
Historically we do much better with cures/treatments for illnesses caused by bacteria than we do with those caused by viruses. And some of the treatments for viral infections are actually treating bacterial infections that result. That is not to say that there is no hope for treatments or even a cure but its not certain we will find either. Vaccines are the more comment route of addressing viruses. And even that is not a sure thing and particularly not a sure thing in a year or 18 months.
Of course it won’t be business as usual. At S’s school move out in March was a controlled choreography with tight time slots to ensure social distancing and a record keeper at the elevator for possible contact tracing of student and his one move out helper.
Can colleges guarantee safety? No. Can colleges create policies to reduce risks? Yes. Can students behave in ways that increase or decrease risks? Yes.
Believing colleges have ever had an ability to eliminate risk is the delusion.
The moral and legal responsibility of Government for K-12 children and college students are very different .
You can tell a middle class, intelligent 18 year old who has their own computer with good internet access and a safe home environment, to stay in their parents home and study on line and be reasonably safe in the knowledge that they will be ok.
A low Socio - economic 5 year old in an unstable home is in a very different situation. Providing them with in person schooling is unequivocally mandatory.
There is a difference between providing a luxury experience and a service of social need.