It’s the elite LAC athlete version of a 10-year old saying “If I can’t get my way, I’m taking my ball and going home.”
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So is the town preventing random people from random places spending time for the day? I don’t think so. Still have the mitigation techniques of masking, distancing, crowd control. Restaurants still keep to their capacity requirements and protocols. Who cares who the patrons are? The science is about distancing, masking, outdoors, being tested and quarantining positive cases / contact tracing. All those things are being done. Require all guests to show proof of negative test before and after travel with a short (3 day quarantine) in between. We had to do that to move our D into school in NY. You’ll have a group of covid negative tested people sitting outside, distanced and masked (probably don’t even need the masks at that point but require them for extra protection.
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How are students getting to these outdoor events at other colleges? The CDC recommends that athletes “limit travel required outside of the local community.” Unless the other schools are within walking distance some sort of vehicle is involved. It doesn’t sound like that guideline is easily fulfilled at all.
The overwhelming majority of cases in athletes occur in post- play social gatherings. That’s the science we are talking about.
“Post- play social gatherings”? You mean parties? Why are the athletes having parties? Are the music and science kids allowed to have parties? It’s not considered safe for non-athletes to take a van anywhere. Why should the college relax that rule* for athletes?
*.To minimize the potential for vectoring and to support the health of the Haverford community and of those with whom our community members interact, all College-related or -supporting travel, regardless of funding source, will be strictly limited and will be permitted only as authorized prior to such travel. Personal travel should be strictly limited to essential trips only. Refer to the Travel Policy (PDF).
Please note that the Travel Policy was revised on February 2, 2021 to reflect current Pennsylvania requirements.
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Luckily,modern science comes to our aid again with the miracle of rapid testing, in use by many schools interested in maintaining student life, and its applications expand beyond athletics to other aspects of campus life requiring close contact, like musical pursuits.
But I guess the NESCAC presidents have heard of it already…
And it isn’t the athletes having parties, because they want to play. In fact, the only student who had a positive test for covid last semester reportedly acquired it from an off campus romantic encounter. No athlete at Haverford was partying. You are willfully misunderstanding my statement to throw more negativity at the Haverford athletes.
NESCAC is a very different animal than the Centennial Conference; all twelve of its members share substantial overlaps in history, admissions, and missions. Something like NESCAC has been in existence for well over a hundred years. And, I don’t read the NESCAC announcement as a full-throated endorsement of round-robin play. It sounds more like, “If you can find a half-dozen member schools close by, you can try to cobble together a season.” In Haverford’s case, its two closest rivals had already decided not to hold spring season games and President Raymond had to weigh the cost/benefit of traveling clear across two states in order to participate in round-robin play with schools it had almost no overlap with.
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Agree with all the athlete parents here re these decisions hurting recruiting and relationships with current student athletes. I have one athlete at a NESCAC and one who is HS class of 2022 who has a number of choices (some high academic D1 and some NESCAC or similar D3) – and how schools have handled Covid and the situation for athletics definitely is influencing her choice. This weekend, we are going to watch a game (fall sport is having a limited spring season) and visit the campus of one school – whereas other schools won’t allow any non-student to even walk onto campus (nor those students to walk off campus). Even though the education is most important for her, all all of these are great schools, so it is coming down to these types of factors. Schools that are so restrictive aren’t looking as appealing to her. It is hard to get a feel for a school and get to know the school vibe and team culture online. Who knows what the next years will bring - so how the schools handle the current pandemic definitely influences the choice of these recruits.
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I don’t have a dog in this fight. But, when our family went through recruiting, our philosophy was pick a college you’ll love even if you can’t play your sport. Of course, we were thinking more along the lines of a season ending injury and not a global pandemic. I sympathize with the athletes who don’t get to play and predict there will be a reckoning in all divisions with respect to recruiting. It may have already begun in the Ivy League: “It seems like the Ivy League is not prioritizing its sports.”
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It didn’t begin with the pandemic. Ivy League has its origin in sports but it didn’t build its reputation on sports. Students who value academics above all else may not care much about athletics and they will choose their colleges accordingly. Likewise, students who value athletics above all else can also choose their colleges accordingly.
Ironic, since the “Ivy League” is technically just the name of the athletic conference these schools happen to be in.
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And many others find the balance at schools like Stanford, Duke, UCLA, so they aren’t giving up anything in the academics and still get to play on top teams (depending on the sport).
For my daughter, that balance also had to include finances. I really felt she found a school that balanced academics, sports, and finances. She could have gone to a school without her sport or one where the sport wasn’t important to the school (or team or coach) but she didn’t want that.
I’m sure many athletes at Haverford thought they’d found that sport/academic balance, and it is disappointing to find that their sport (or any sport) didn’t have the support they thought it did. If schools want to be 100% safe, they wouldn’t hold in person classes at all. Most athletes are used to and willing to take some risks and would be willing to do so with playing through covid. There are no studies to show that playing with 20 people on a field is more likely to spread covid than sitting with 20 people in a classroom.
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Every student has her/his priorities and s/he can look for schools that have similar priorities. But no one can expect all schools to prioritize in a way that’s similar to hers/his. I don’t know enough about the Haverford situation to comment on it specifically and I only commented on the implication that somehow the Ivy League had prioritized or should prioritize sports, and that any student has chosen it for its sports.
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As having had an athlete in the Centennial Conference, I’m not understanding “President Raymond had to weigh the cost/benefit of traveling clear across two states…”
All of the (full membership) Centennial schools are in PA or MD. It looks like the longest drive is Dickinson College (or maybe Gettysburg) to Washington College, roughly 3 hours.
Haverford to Dickinson/Gettysburg is roughly 2 hours. The drive to Chestertown (Washington College ) is less.
“Clear across two states” in this region is something like a Sunday drive. What am I missing? Maybe it’s the last line about overlap?
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This CC membership map offers geographical perspective:
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So most of the schedules for the “season” are posted on Centennial website.
For most sports it looks like 7 Weeks - 8 Teams - Baseball plays a doubleheader every Saturday. Lacrosse is a game/week and each team has a bye week. 6 total games.
So let’s do a bit of math. Men’s Lacrosse teams in the Centennial will play 6 games this year. It would have been 7 with Haverford. Last year Haverford had 15 on the schedule. Baseball teams will play 14 games (16 if Haverford would have played). Last year Haverford had a minimum of 39 games.
Haverford is missing out on about 40%-45% of a season.
Do I think they should play…yeah, I would probably decide to play if it were up to me based on what I assume I know. There could be other factors, but since the school hasn’t said anything too detailed about it…I’d play. Of course, students and parents should be upset. Do I think parents should take to the internet and trash the school for making this decision, over this amount of playing time…that feels like a bit of an overreaction.
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That’s because you still don’t understand what it means to the majority of the athletes and their mental health. President Raymond should yield to the science and allow them to play. She shows a total lack of leadership and understanding. Ask any serious athlete if they would recommend other recruits with good options choose Haverford and you would get a resounding “No!”
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You win. All serious athletes should go to a non-Tri-Co school.
There are thousands of students and their parents who thank you for A) changing the culture at Haverford to be less “serious” about athletics, and B) making it easier for them to attend the school while you’re enrolled elsewhere.
Your statements of control and impact reinforce some of the cultural issues at Haverford around athletes. Is it possible that your leading others like you away from the school is an outcome President Raymond might embrace? Maybe she wants to reduce the impact that athletics has on the admissions process? Somehow, all of the focus on “serious” athletes to date hasn’t resulted in on-field performance?
How exactly does warning others who won’t be impacted by this cancellation improving mental health? In case of pandemic…avoid Haverford?
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Why do you keep turning up the “nasty”?
My child is very serious and multitalented and high-achieving student who has always thrived on a busy schedule. I really resent the implication that athletes and athletics “take away” from academics. I can quote the Haverford Statement of Purpose where it makes numerous comments about the “Scholar-Athlete” and their place in the Haverford community.
But what’s really shocking here is your lack of compassion for young adults who have worked so hard and lost so much.
President Raymond could still show leadership here. She isn’t acknowledging the situation in any way. There is no alternative plan. The teams still aren’t even allowed to practice together. It’s radio silence on the websites. There is no “trust, respect and concern”.
Why bully others on line for wanting the College to trust and respect the science, which shows it is safe to let the Fords join the Conference for the even safer, modified season? #lettheFordsplay !
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Might I remind members of the forum rules: “Our forum is expected to be a friendly and welcoming place, and one in which members can post without their motives, intelligence, or other personal characteristics being questioned by others."
The conversation is getting a bit salty; please be mindful. Additionally,
“College Confidential forums exist to discuss college admission and other topics of interest. It is not a place for contentious debate. If you find yourself repeating talking points, it might be time to step away and do something else. Some topics, such as politics, religion and moderation on the forums, lend themselves to debate. If a thread starts to get heated, it might be closed or heavily moderated.”
My compassion is for the entire community who have lost so much. Athletes are no more or less important, and in the interest of the community as a whole, the leader has decided against relaxing restrictions for 15% of the school. Nobody is supposed to leave campus unless it is to get food/necessities.
The first thing a parent expects when sending a child to school is safety. I said above I would play, but the decision of the school is no. Accepting that you don’t know the details and that the 15% of the campus that plays a spring sport has to skip another season is an outcome of a broader risk management decision.
I’m assuming Pres. Raymond is considering all mental health…not just athletes. She is showing leadership, by making a difficult and unpopular decision.
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Wouldn’t it be great it all the kids on campus could just get the vaccine?
Athletes are not unique in their suffering. Everyone – from young children to octogenarians - has experienced loss. I think, @OldbatesieDoc , that might be what’s at the heart of this. I feel for your kid and I feel your anguish for your kid.
I don’t recall what year your kid is. I watched last year’s seniors find out during a game that it would be their last. One of my kid’s senior “highlights” was to be attending a conference to present a thesis paper. He was really thrilled to have been selected… It was canceled. This year is tough. Next year should be better.
A lot of this is about geography. I would say that if the team could come up with a plan for play that could protect the community (so being isolated), they should talk to the administration about it. It might at least uncover the issues.
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