The Ivies have many more sports teams than other D1 schools. Most outside the Ivies don’t have fencing and squash and sailing. Even after the cuts/adds, Brown will have 29 varsity teams. That’s still more than most D1 programs.
The Ivy conference sets how many ‘recruited’ athletes slots or nods or whatever term is used the schools can have and while there is a difference based on the size of the school, they try to keep the numbers close. Yale takes fewer than the conference allows, but that’s their choice. Most of the sports cut probably only had 1-3 recruiting spots every year, so it will be easy to give them to other sports.
It sounds like the school did some research on what sports benefit the school and it also seems like weather played a part in the decision. It’s pretty hard to play golf in New England in late fall, winter, or spring.
A lot of the teams that Brown is getting rid of did not recruit, and so did not influence admissions.
They said a couple of things I found interesting:
they did this so they could allocate the athletic budget among fewer teams, thus increasing spending on the teams they kept
-they will start recruiting more athletes
-they want a deeper bench for those teams that they retained
-they did this to improve the quality of the teams they retained
They also said the underlying decision has nothing to do with Covid and the athletic budget will stay the same. They did say, however, that they thought it was a good time to implement the decision since there is so much indecision surrounding sports next year anyway because of Covid.
Brown had zero student input in making this decision, not even its Student Athletic Council, and the students had no idea this was even under consideration.
Students who are on teams that were cut were told that if they are upset about this, Brown will work with them to help facilitate a transfer to another school that still has a team. I can’t imagine how a transfer could work for rising seniors or kids in certain majors.
There will be so many opportunities for students to relax on maintaining the social distancing and mask requirements. I see it now with people. Why would it be any different for college students?
Is it possible to predict case infection rate and case fatality case rates for these age groups, in a campus setting, based on data we already have from cruise ships, prisons, meat plants, churches, etc?
…if you have time to answer, and, if so, please don’t hesitate to correct my question in any way at all to make it more sensible
@bluebayou – Regarding Charlotte, counties can enact stricter policies than the state in NC. In Durham there is a a county order that you are required to wear a mask indoors in stores and other public spaces and outdoors if you can’t social distance. They are providing masks to many residents.
I’m surprised Mecklenburg (where Charlotte is located) hasn’t done the same, frankly, and are they are free to do so at any time. The state allows counties to enact more strict (but not less strict) public health measures than the state has put in place…
I imagine Charlotte will watch what happens with re-opening businesses (which mostly started last week) and consider requiring masks if cases and hospitalizations climb too much.
My county does not require masks but I went to the grocery last weekend and I’d say about 80% of customers were wearing one. I was very pleased to see that.
@MBNC1755 – which UNC campus said that masks would be recommended but not required?
The degree of observance of the social distancing and mask-wearing rules vary significantly by region. It is often affected by one’s beliefs (political, religious, philosophical, etc.) and the behavior of those around him/her. On college campuses, if the college is in an area with less than strict adherence to these rules and it doesn’t enforce the rules strictly, it’s likely the number of students not following the rules will grow over time.
After the discussion about masks in NC yesterday, I looked at UNC Chapel Hill website, (flagship?) which says masks required in public spaces, including classrooms and dining halls except when eating. Not required in dorm rooms.
“The degree of observance of the social distancing and mask-wearing rules vary significantly by region”. I totally agree! We live in a state that hasn’t moved into the next phase yet (next week) but even here we don’t need to wear masks outside if we can socially distance. Inside is a different matter and most stores will hand you a disposable mask at the entrance and won’t let you in without it. People here seems to be very compliant.
D’s place of business has all kinds of restrictions so I think she’ll have plenty of practice with mask wearing, social distancing, and hand washing before she hits campus.
That said, there are the occasional large groups of high school and college age students congregating but the police are patrolling constantly and break them up quickly.
On whether kids will wear masks when not being observed - I asked my S why his mask is not disgusting as he had been wearing it to work for days and working long shifts. The reason is simple. He’s not wearing it. He works the night shift at an essential retailer. He and others on his shift wear their masks into work. But as soon as all the customers and day management are gone, they all take their masks off. These are not kids. He says his manager and most of the other workers are in their 30’s There is one other college age kid and another guy who is almost 70 (according to my son). So yeah, once no one is watching, the masks come off. I can’t see college kids keeping them on at school when no one in authority is around.
Oh and I did get him to take switch his mask out for a clean one even though he said it wasn’t necessary.
I totally agree with this. Also if everyone around you is wearing a mask then you will also. Will some stray.? . Of course. Is it a learning process? Of course. That is why it’s so important for the students to be doing it now. Let them become used to it so it’s their new normal
Around my neighborhood, the kids and students of this age all are wearing masks. Even when riding their bikes together or walking together etc. It’s their parents I worry about… Lol…
But what if everyone is not wearing a mask? Then the social pressure will be to not wear one.
Where do you live that kids are wearing masks outside? It sounds like mask wearing has caught on much better where you live than where I live. I have never seen a kid wearing a mask outside here in central MA. Around here the general behavior is masks on inside places like stores but if you are outside you don’t need one.
Like a prior poster, I wear masks inside just for the signal of social solidarity it sends, since frankly they seem to be of little effective value medically. The studies I have seen indicate cloth masks at best may be 3% effective. Is anyone aware of reliable studies showing a higher degree of efficacy, or is this mostly just about social signalling? There should be plenty of scientific data out there by now, but I haven’t seen anything to scientifically support the zealous faith some have in mask wearing. It likely does no harm,at least.
Chicago by Wrigley area. You don’t “have” to wear one outside either but always inside. When I see groups of more then 2 they seem to all be wearing masks. Many runners, bike riders etc are wearing masks. The kids tend to have them around their necks and whenever they get close to someone or go into a place then they put their masks on. Do I wear one to walk my dog. No. But if on that walk I go into someplace to get coffee then I put on my masks since they won’t allow you in without it.
My whole area is on the younger side. Many families and many college age students and young professionals with families. People wearing masks is just not an issue. As @momofsenior1 stated, our state is just starting to go into stage 3 /5. They kinda drill this into our heads hard and gotta give them credit for taking a slower approach to this.
There is a commercial on TV now with Dr. Fauci, Dr. Birx, and Dr. Jerome Adams (surgeon general) stating that wearing masks is recommended and can help contain the virus. I just saw this commercial for the first time last night.
I live in the tri-state area. I was out for a drive and saw plenty of kids outside wearing masks. I also saw 2 older teens/young adults walk into a coffee shop without a mask. Literally 3 seconds later they walked out, went to their car, put on their mask, and walked back inside. I was happy to see this.
I do follow the rules. I even take off my shoes at the TSA checkpoint, even though by now pretty much everyone acknowledges that it is just for show. Our doctors do not see any need for masks outside unless you are in very, very close contact with someone for an extended period of time. I think it is reasonable to ask for a scientific basis for this practice, and it has been many months now, so it should be easy to access if it exists.
@twogirls It doesn’t make sense to close schools once cases start to rise; temporarily stop in-person classes and shut down campus events, maybe, but send students home? Bad idea. Sending tons of sick students to their homes, where social distancing is impossible, would put many families in danger; as opposed to a college, where students are much less vulnerable, and it is possible for faculty and staff to socially distance from students.
I don’t want to get into a partisan discussion here, but the arguments about masks surprise me. I live in Japan, and it is clear that masks are the No. 1 reason we have been able to escape serious consequences so far notwithstanding we are in one of the most populous cities on earth. People should really just do it, it’s not a big deal. People here mostly wear disposable surgical masks and I don’t think people are very obsessed with how they put them on and take them off, etc. Something is better than nothing. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-27/masks-hand-washing-helped-japan-skirt-virus-deaths-panel-says