There must have been some complaints of the hypocrisy, because Duke was serving drinks and food at earlier games last week and this week, banned eating and drinking at these fully packed IN PERSON basketball games. So they are covered! (But students can’t attend in person classes during the same time period… it’s ok, they have basketball games to attend).
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Here is your approving description of colleges which aren’t surveillance testing or mandating isolation for infected kids:
I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree on whether “no tests, no Covid, just colds” is sound policy.
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I believe about half of students are on-campus for January term this year, which is the same as in a normal year.
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Has any college cancelled their sports season or forbidden its athletes from traveling to other campuses with unvaxxed athletes or hosting games? If not, that tells us all we need to know about the priority of sports over in-person class. Silly of posters to pretend otherwise, or expect much of the covid theater to be effective when sports are an exception, regardless of the schools’ selectivity. Perhaps some of the Southern state schools are just more honest about this in applying the same lack of restrictions to all.
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If you are asking that the general student population be treated the same as athletes, a least in the power conferences, you are endorsing daily testing and isolation.
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For their visiting athletes and all spectators and staff as well? How remarkable.
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Agree. Location though it seems does no matter here. only thing is that those colleges in Urban areas have had just as much, sometimes more restrictions. GWU stayed online the entire 20/21 year, allowed a select few students to return to campus with limited services. RIT returned to on campus for those who wanted to (majority) and offered onine, hybrid, and a few inperson classes. no clubs. S had major depression spring semester.
Fall 21. Both schools required vaccines. GWU had required testing as well, RIT only had symptomatic testing. GWU did have the majority classes in person, while RIT, when creating its schedule last spring allowed for online classes still, so my S had 2/4 classes online (5th class was intentional self directed study). But RIT did have clubs back. Both schools seem to have seen lots of illnesses in the fall that were not Covid.
Winter 21. --after thanksgiving both schools see uptick in cases.
GWU- requires boosters before returning and announces before end of semester. Starting Spring semester online, but kids are moving back. Requires two PCR (I believe ) negative tests, with exceptions for those who had covid. Parents are freaking out because afraid it will remain online.
RIT-First says that return to campus, please get a booster, and please test before returning. Kicks kids out last minute from some housing to hotels tomake room for sick kids. 3 days before return, changes to “required booster by end of month, hopefully we will have vaccine clinics on campus”. I have a HUGE problem with this , as we did not have time over break to consult with my S’s doctors in regards to the booster. If they had said something on the 23rd of December, our winter break would have been different, and 4 months from graduating. Also by the end of January things will be different. I understand that things are changing by the hour, but decisions that students and parents want to make for spring is getting harder. So far tomorrow starts classes, but who is not to say they switch to online?
If I had a crystal ball, S would have gone to school here in the South. Would have been cheaper for what has happened the last 3 years. RIT preCovid was the best fit for him. Now, decisions would have been different. Save money and stay closer to home. RIT has been closer to normal than many other schools, but still.
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UCLA, Stanford, and USC are prohibiting almost all fans from indoor games.
Only families of team members will be permitted inside Pauley Pavilion on Thursday afternoon for the Bruins’ first game in nearly a month after a rash of cancellations and postponements forced by the surging Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The virus’ increasingly rapid spread was among the reasons that UCLA decided to bar most fans, according to people familiar with the situation who spoke with The Times on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the rationale. With cases spiking across Los Angeles County, the school did not want to host a potential superspreader event, given the number of breakthrough infections among vaccinated and boosted individuals.
. . .
UCLA also did not want students to attend the game at a time when the school is holding classes exclusively online until Jan. 18 as part of its efforts to control the virus’ spread. Excellent student turnout had helped the Bruins average 8,290 fans for home games this season.
. . .
USC and Stanford have adopted similar policies barring fans from athletic indoor venues, with the Trojans’ ban set to last through Jan. 14 and the Cardinal not announcing a timeline. UCLA athletic officials are expected to continue monitoring the situation and adjust their policy accordingly. Fans won't be able to pump up the volume at UCLA basketball's long-awaited return
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My sons school contracted with Quest to send test kits to all students. Students had to sign on to a website and request a test be sent to them and they they test and send it back for processing. Kids who live on campus need to show proof of a negative test before moving into dorms. Apparently these tests are not being shipped. My parents group is going nuts because tests were requested a week ago and supposedly a shipping label was created but it seems like there is no further record of them being shipped. Kids are supposed to be moving into their dorms now and they still haven’t received their test kits. I have no idea how the school is responding. I’m thankful mine is living off campus and not having to deal with this nonsense.
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NESCAC winter athletes are competing and I believe taking rapids daily. Not in isolation. Students and staff are allowed to go to indoor events because they are in each college’s testing regimen but no outside fans right now. I know it’s not the same as D1 basketball but students are allowed to go to games so class really should be in person.
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Exactly- because they are conference rules, they apply to both the home and visiting teams. As for spectators, masks are typically required + more facilities are requiring proof of vax to enter. In all circumstances, the stands provide distance from the players.
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To me, location matters because there are much better options near campus for a normal college (albeit European style, nothing wrong with that) experience. Off campus housing, restaurants, cultural events etc. Not the same if you are in the middle of nowhere.
GWs president has been let go, and I believe their admissions took a big hit. Most other colleges in their “bracket” had on-campus instruction Spring 2021 and many had Fall 2020.
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We will have to just disagree then. Spectators, including students, attend indoor events? That pretty much guarantees transmission. And spectators aren’t necessarily vaxxed, right? But they are allowed on campus? And the masks permitted are the mere cloth ones? This is somehow less risky than vaxxed kids in a classroom? I don’t think so.
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And, in general, California schools have had more restrictions than any other. Our D wanted to consider the CA schools where she was admitted but we couldn’t even walk on some campuses in April 2021 (looking at you LMU where they told us we could drive through but had to stay in the car!). It’s not much better this school year out there.
I agree with @suzyQ7 that college seekers should look closely at restrictions. We were definitely swayed by how open or closed a college was in spring of 2021. D’s acceptances ran the gamut between schools like LMU which we couldn’t see to schools with in person accepted student days with info sessions, tours and student panels.
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The point is given sports continuing, at some schools with a normal level of spectators, some places with limited spectators, why can’t classes be in person?
Masks required at a sporting event…where the mask wearing is not enforced and where there is often eating and drinking allowed? Not seeing much protection from that…again why can’t students have in-person class?
The vast majority of students are vaccinated no different than the sporting requirement, in fact a significant proportion of schools require vaccination (including boosters) to enroll, and many schools are doing frequent testing of students.
We have sports continuing, students coming and going from campus as they please to work/eat/drink/party…as well as faculty/staff and all the people they all live with having few restrictions. Some campuses are allowing visitors as normal. The idea of any type of ‘bubble’ is laughable. Given these facts, there seems little reason not to have in-person class.
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