Will colleges mandate that all spectators be vaccinated? Will they allow only students in the stands? NCAA said that unvaccinated players can still practice and play with no restrictions. One school can mandate the vaccine for their students but their opponent may not. If Delta is so contagious, how do you contain that?
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I actually think colleges, like us, truly arenât certain whatâs going to happen in the fall. Whatever happens, some colleges with very high vaccination rates, with or without mandates, will do just fine if their studentsâ interactions with the local communities and unnecessary large gatherings can be limited. Colleges that take a more cautious approach at the beginning of the fall term will likely do better and they can always relax the restrictions later if the threat subsides. Colleges adopting the opposite approach are taking chances that may or may not pay off. Overall, Iâm more hopeful that this fall will be different from the last, despite the presence of the new and more contagious variant.
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Well, at little Bowdoin, yes. Everyone who comes to campus, even for outdoor events will need to get a (free) ticket online and download a vaccine card. No football game without it.
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Wow. Shame on the NCAA. Maybe after the vaccines are FDA approved, theyâll mandate them for athletes.
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I donât think NCAA has the authority to mandate vaccines, thatâs a school/conference decisionâŠAFAIK, if anyone knows differently please share. I donât think Bowdoinâs rules apply to the visiting student-athletes?
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I donât know the plan for visiting athletes but I will say that XC only has one home meet this year and I donât know if thatâs on purpose. Most (all?) of the NESCACs are requiring vaccines, no? Iâm betting there will be some rapid testing of any visiting athletes.
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Doing the rapid test for visiting athletes is a good idea. And all the Bowdoin athletes will be traveling as well. I think itâs low probability sports are cancelled for this Delta wave, but more likely at D3 than D1, and more likely schools in the NE than elsewhere.
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Experts could have their own anxieties. They would also include the collegeâs legal and marketing experts, who pay attention to what students and parents may think in terms of unenrolling or suing in response to some policy choices (or potential outcomes like outbreaks).
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Was the hospitalized dad vaccinated? Or did he just assume that his having Covid in the past protected him?
@homerdog I agree with you that many posters here are overly pessimistic (some may even say unrealistically pessimistic). I recall that at the end of last summer, many posters on this thread were saying that no college protocols could possibly contain COVID, all colleges were doomed to shut down after a few weeks, Broad could not possibly fulfill their promise of tests with quick turnarounds, et cetera. Many schools, especially prestigious liberal arts colleges like Amherst and Bowdoin, were successful in containing COVID and had few cases over the 2020-2021 academic year. A few colleges did shut down (UNC, for example), but the overwhelming majority did not. And Broad fulfilled their promise of testing with quick turnarounds (average turnaround time at Amherst is less than 12 hours).
Amherst College has yet to promise something they cannot deliver. Biddy has been extremely cautious in all her messaging since the pandemic began, and I believe the same goes for President Rose of Bowdoin College.
This fall at Amherst is basically back to normal life plus masks indoors when not eating/drinking and weekly testing (and they said they hoped to ease up even on these minimal restrictions later in the semester). No limits on gathering sizes. Like in a normal year, they are holding convocation in-person at Johnson Chapel with all the first-years the night before classes start. All the normal orientation activities are happening.
Bowdoin is even more lax, with virtually no restrictions besides monthly testing.
Considering how cautious these schools were this past year, both in messaging and policies, I trust their judgement.
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Vaccinated Pfizer.
I find is somewhat amusing that people believe that what the school is saying now about masks, visitors, etc., is going to necessarily be true for the entire semester. Havenât we all learned in the past year and a half that everything is subject to change? This isnât because people are trying to be dishonest but rather the situation with this virus is so fluid, that they must be flexible.
Right now my sonâs school is not requiring the vaccine, is asking for cards to be uploaded, says there are restrictions for those that donât, and says all classes will be in person with no remote option. My son has bought season tickets for football and basketball. Is this going to hold? I donât know. Son is starting to get bummed out that with the way the virus is going that they may go back to zoom even though they keep claiming they wonât.
@homerdog your son sitting out a semester last year and getting a great internship was lucky. You do realize that, right? Even if you know others that also had great opportunities you have to realize that that is not the norm for most students. Your son is exceptionally bright and has opportunities that others donât because of that. I guarantee you that if my son, who is a poly sci major with a 3.0 gpa, took time off heâd be working for minimum wage somewhere. So he is pushing through and getting his degree no matter what this year may bring.
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I think all of the NESCACs are requiring vaccines. Amherst teams are only allowed to play teams from other schools that are requiring all students to be vaccinated. My daughter has been told that only one game on their schedule may be impacted â and it is against a non-conference opponent
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Awesome! 
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Luck? Could be some element of that, but I am certain lots of hard work and planning was involved too.
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All the hard work and planning in the world couldnât have gotten my son that internship
Wasnât lucky. He spent weeks looking for internship options and many many hours doing informational interviews with contacts he found on Linked In. He followed up with any leads that were offered to him by alumni and professors and wrote at least a dozen well-researched cover letters to those who had jobs to offer. This job did not land in his lap by any means. He made it happen.
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Biddyâs recent email said masks outdoors when you canât be more than 6 feet from someone and also raised the possibility of more restrictions. Where did you hear that all orientation events are happening in person?
Yes he did, but he started ahead. He is bright, he is going to a great school, he has aptitude in an area where there are jobs. Itâs not true for everyone.
@Gleebee Biddy said there could be more restrictions if the trajectory of the pandemic or on-campus conditions significantly worsened, but sheâs hopeful that they will trend towards less restrictions over the course of the semester. Also, I canât show this because you need an Amherst student account to access it (my D showed it to me), but there is something called âThe Hubâ that shows events hosted by various Amherst College student organizations and it shows that all the normal orientation activities are being held in-person this year.
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