Brandeis has all classes in (same as last semester). most students in singles, seems to be going okay.
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Spread here in the UK seems to be decreasing pretty fast (sadly not deaths, yet), and the infamous English variant appears to be not a problem for vaccines. All Unis are expected to reopen in-person by the fall, though the Government has been and continues to be very cautious, after all the pain of the last few months. After having been very pessimistic for the past 9 months (I come from Northern Italy originally, so double whammy for me), I can sort of see some light at the end of the tunnel. I would expect most exchange programs to be running from September on, hopefully with a semi-reopened country. fingers crossed.
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The Pittsburgh folks in general are doing āSOMETHINGā right. ALL the universities around town have had low positivity rates. My son at Duquesne has been fully in person since August, w/ an extended Thanksgiving /Winter break from the week before Thanksgiving and back on campus January 21st. Plenty of testing, (they were ALL sent home kits BEFORE returning to campus and results had to be presented before going in the dorms) low positivity rates and school going on as best as can. Heās a music major Freshman, and has had almost ALL his classes in person since the beginning. Thereās gotta be some kind of college coalition going on in Pittsburgh there where they talk to each other, so to speak, to keep all their students safe and on campus as much as possible, save for Pitt which has been online mostly. Duquesne, CMU, Point Park, Chathamā¦ have all been on campus since day 1 usually following similar paths, as far as Iāve been following with some in person. Whatever theyāre doing is working. If Pitt, being the largest can keep it low, they all can.
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Seriously??? This is the craziest thing Iāve heard. My kid would sooooo be getting written up all the time. Thatās my sonās fitness regiment - climbing the hill several times a week to go pick up mail/packages. 
I canāt even IMAGINE them curtailing that. SERIOUSLY?? Wow !! That IS, in fact, punitive. Geeshā¦
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Yup.
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You might want to consider
Trinity reopened fall all classes. Same for Spring. Most in singles. One uptick brought under control quickly in fall.
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The vast majority of students are back on or near campus at Harvard this semester (about 20%ish are on gap/LOA, and some are doing classes at home or another location, but most are in Cambridge). Juniors and Seniors were invited to live in dorms, along with Freshmen and Sophomores who indicated that they could study better on campus (I think they loosened up the definition of hardship so most kids who requested to live on campus were granted permission). It seems like a large proportion of kids from all 4 grades took advantage of the unusually low rents this year and got nearby apartments. Things are a little looser on campus this semester based on lessons learned in the fall (the effectiveness of the testing program, etc). So for example, this semester students are allowed to have visitors to their dorm rooms, but I think still only 1 per person at this point, but thatās a lot more reasonable than in the fall when they couldnāt officially have any visitors in their room. Many students are living off campus in apartments/houses this semester (in normal times, 98% of students live on campus), and while obviously they have much more freedom than students in the dorms, from what I hear they are honoring state laws and only gathering in reasonable sized groups such as the law requires (ie no wild parties, but some socializing). I think it looks like there were about 10 positive cases caught when students returned from winter break, but there have been zero cases in the past several days, so it looks like quarantining/isolating those that brought it back from home worked well again. They are testing both on campus and off campus students. This semester there will be more opportunities to do research and certain other things in person for both the on campus and off campus students. Spaces are opening up for reservations such as the student center, common spaces, gyms, music practice rooms, etc. All dining is still takeout-only, and classes are still remote. But they will be piloting some classes being in person after some professors are fully vaccinated. An email this week indicated that they are still planning for multiple scenarios in the fall, but that they expect/are cautiously optimistic that it will be 90% normal in person in the fall. In that case, I expect the vast majority of students will go back to living on campus. The two obvious variables are vaccine availability (which I think is extremely likely to be ok by fall) and the impact of variants (which I think we just have to wait and see what happens). Kids seem to be largely making the best of it and from what I hear they are happy but will be even happier when things are more normal.
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This came through to us today from Purdue:
February 11, 2021
Dear Purdue Community,
As we continue to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic amidst this frigid Indiana winter, we also are actively planning for fall 2021, approaching the upcoming academic year just as we have all of our COVID-19 decisions to date, knowing we have to be flexible and adapt quickly when circumstances warrant. We will rely on the very best science and public health guidance available and build upon lessons learned from our experiences and those of our peers, with the ultimate goal to keep the Purdue community safe while delivering on our teaching, research, and engagement missions.
Most important as we look forward is our best forecast of the state of the current pandemic and how it may evolve into an endemic. Our Medical Advisory Team (MAT) believes that by late August everyone in the U.S. who wants to be vaccinated will have been vaccinated. In addition, epidemiological projections estimate that a large proportion of the population will have contracted COVID-19 by that point in time, also leading to a significant level of immunity. This projection is one we will continue to evaluate carefully as we move into late spring and summer, given uncertainties with regard to vaccine availability and the impact of COVID-19 variants.
With this outlook and our understanding of the significant impact of modified instruction on student success, instructor workload, and community well-being, our intent is to take another step toward full restoration of our residential instruction model for fall 2021, starting with our fall calendar. Our current plan is to follow our traditional fall calendar, with normal start and end dates and our typical breaks. If conditions change and we need to pivot to a different calendar, we will.
With the current assumptions, we expect classroom density will be increased, including larger lectures, permitting more face-to-face instruction in the fall. We expect masks to still be required as well as additional PPE where necessary. To this point, we have no evidence of classroom transmission ā mask wearing is the primary reason for this. (Note: None of our Big Ten peers have reported any classroom transmission either.) We also expect more relaxed restrictions on student activities, consistent with local public health and CDC guidance. We will continue to take every step we can to protect those who are vulnerable in whatever way is appropriate at a given time.
Our Medical Advisory Team is currently bullish on our ability to move closer to a typical residential instruction experience by late August while they study the state of the pandemic and learn more about vaccine deployment, variants, levels of herd immunity, any new science on mitigation practices, etc. We look forward to working together to plan our fall semester using this set of planning assumptions. Should we need to pivot away from any of these plans or decisions, we will let you know as soon as possible.
Our thanks for all each of you continue to do to help us successfully navigate this challenging time.
Sincerely,
Mitch Daniels
President
Jay T. Akridge
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Diversity
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Hm still masks though? I really thought if all are vaccinated that would go away. I guess time will tell.
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I would be happy to wear a mask for a year after this all settles down if it would get our kids back to their lives.
@momofboiler1 Thank you for posting this. It definitely brings hope!
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Yeah but still thinking about college freshmen in fall. Hard to meet new people if they canāt socialize etc. Maybe that part will be better and they will be able to gather but wear masks. Still not great. Time will tell. Still, it does seem like things are moving in the right direction!
1 Like
Exactly. I donāt want him in a dorm even online if he canāt socialize a fair amount. And that seems to still be questionable when looking at schools. Yes, itās only Feb. and a LONG time until Septā¦but I worry.
Iād rather him take a year off than be online for another year. (Heās been online since March with the exception of a first period class that meets daily.)
PS Iām also reading so many posts from college students on Reddit who are so miserable online and are trying to find ways to socialize but not having much success. They want to go home where at least they have some socialization.
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I am picturing masks in the fall might be used in very formal situations such as classes, but not outside of class. I doubt the majority of kids will be wearing them when socializing, or at outdoor football games, etc. Unless the variants make our vaccines totally useless, in which case, I simply canāt bear to think about it.
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I like this. I donāt mind mask in classrooms . It is what is happening at our high school and it really has not caused an explosion of cases.
This is extremely concerning!
Denison is now two weeks into the semester, with everyone back on campus and a mix of face-to-face, remote and hybrid classes. So far, the increased testing seems to be working, and there are only twelve active cases among the students, faculty and staff. There are still quite tight restrictions on in-dorm socializing, but the rules are going to be loosened at the end of this week. In the meantime, the school has been doing some fun and innovative things. There are foodtrucks on the weekend, firepits around the campus, and theyāve constructed an ice-skating rink outside the student union. There are a lot of very creative snow sculptures as well. Thereās no way to romanticize the situation, but some of this has a kind of old-fashioned vibe. S19 runs track and there will be a series of dual indoor meets with individual schools beginning this weekend. Team members have all been issued N95 masks, and the rules for these meets are very strict, but S19 is just happy he can get on the bus and go run for the first time in a year. The school president has committed to spending an hour each day walking around campus and talking with people, and they are also doing periodic students surveys to solicit ideas and trying to be responsive. Student buy-in seems pretty good. Denison has some natural advantages in that it is fully-residential and the campus is fairly isolated, but weāre very happy with the way theyāve handled things.
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Iād do anything if it could mean the kids could go back to normal lives. Iād wear a mask even if it had to be the kind that the dancers at the Super Bowl half time show wore which looked like they were wearing their underwear on their heads 
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One of D19ās friends went back to GW this semester but only lasted a couple weeks and is now home again. She was living in a single, and she just felt so isolated. She said DC seems totally different now then when she started as a freshman, and it was just too lonely and monotonous. I really feel for her, and itās sad because she was loving GW pre-Covid. Sheās working on finding a long-term Airbnb somewhere in the south with a group of friends from GW and living/studying together in March/April.
I feel very lucky that D19 is having a good experience back at school (she stayed home in the fall). In the fall, she decided to do virtual rush, which turned out to be great because she had so much time to get to know women one on one or in small groups. In-person rush tends to be much more crowded and pressurized. She is now living in her sorority house. With a roommate and 14 other women in the house, thereās always someone who wants to do something together, or just chat. They do wear masks unless they are in their rooms, but D19 is fine with that.
Sheās been to the rec center, library and to several events outdoors. Fingers crossed that they donāt have to institute any more restrictions.
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My D just graduated in Dec from GW, but spent the fall here (but in her own apartment). She had the option to be in DC and most of her Senior friends did, but she felt like DC right now, and GW right now is not the same. If GW had stuck with their original plan to bring kids back and have hybrid classes , it would have been different. The rules on the kids who decided to come back are way to strict for online classes. They āallowedā 1500 to come back on campus and did not get that much. Many kids , even freshman are now living off campus this year sharing apartments, or hotels with kitchens. My D, who a year ago pictured herself living in DC, wants nothing to do with it, and wants to now stay here (metro Atlanta).
My Sophomore S is at RIT, and they have hybrid classes and everyone who wanted to be on campus is there. He has one totally in person class. But he still feels the social isolation , as clubs dont meet in person, and outdoors in subzero tempsā¦ wellā¦ he says that in the fall if there are not more in person social activities he will take time off then.
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