Yes, but that is not about having students living on campus. They released general guidelines so faculty and staff could return to the actual campus and start resuming operations. In this current Phase 2, occupational schools were able to open for “limited purposes” only. For example, day camps can now open, but residential and overnight programs cannot open until Phase 3. The Phase 2 guidelines are limited.
So President Martin is correct that higher ed in Massachusetts can reopen in Phase 2, but it is a soft opening. The governor’s office plans to provide more detailed guidelines for both K-12 and higher education.
MIT, while still choosing between fully online and various reduced-population options and not expecting to make the final decision until July (they sent newly admitted students an opinion survey on those options a few days ago), just stated this in their message on digital learning platforms targeted at their faculty:
“Looking toward the fall, whatever option is implemented, you should expect that what can be taught remotely should be taught remotely. Also, consider that a significant portion of our students may not be on campus at any given time or, even if they are on campus, will be doing much of their learning online, not in traditional spaces.”
Elon’s plan looks extensive and relies heavily on students self reporting symptoms. If my DD attended and followed the rules she would miss a large amount of class because she often get headaches and if one in the last 24 hours meant she needed to be seen at health services and not attend classes she would miss often.
This is what’s so frustrating in this whole discussion. The exaggerated accusations and fears. No one thinks you’re evil or your desire to go back to school is evil. Many DO think your expectations for a college ‘experience’ you feel is worth Bowdoin’s tuition may be unreasonable given the health situation that is beyond anyone’s control: beyond Bowdoin’s, beyond yours, beyond your son’s. Sadly, it’s unlikely that you can have it “all” next fall. And it’s not anyone’s fault and these thousands of pages of discussions are meaningless and worthless because what we here want to happen is completely out of your, mine, anyone’s hands. And to a large extent it’s out of Bowdoin’s hands as well.
Unrealistic hypo. By law, the colleges must make reasonable accommodations for employees who are at high risk. (And that means offering a virtual course if SD can’t be maintained.)
Weird that the ongoing discussion is still focused on the governor/school admin allowing the students back and in what fashion in light of the fact that many of these same students have been in very close contact at protests in the last week. Doesn’t anyone think that’s a bit odd? People are starting to reengage socially across the USA in every city. I can’t think of one that is still “locked down”
Also, I keep seeing people posting about MA and Phases. The Governor makes SUGGESTIONS about what is safe and when to go back. With the exception of public schools, which will likely follow his advice to the letter, private colleges and private schools can do whatever they like. They did in the Spring. And they will in the Fall. In most cases, the dates were different by several weeks. Even from town to town at public schools, many closed at various times. Why wouldn’t that be the case for round 2?
We have many friends in Admin etc at various colleges and Universities. Two are Deans. They are making the decisions not the MA Governor. These are businesses and will be run based on the needs of their students, teachers and staff. They aren’t going to look to the Governor to tell them how to make it work. They have been planning since March. Even BU and others which said they wouldn’t open til 21, have done a 180 and have new plans for the Fall.
Not sure if this will change anything that colleges are planning for fall. Seems that asymptomatic cases aren’t big spreaders. That’s new. Maybe it will mean kids don’t have to be tested unless they show symptoms? Such new news so not sure. But new info coming all of the time now and schools will, I’m sure, have to roll with new data as it comes in .
I think this is aimed at my post about community spread being the factor instead of how many students die.
I live in a college town and no bars or bar areas, restaurants are so limited that only 20% have opened back up, museums are closed, youth sports are back but heavily restricted, etc. We’re not having any fun.
As for moving the fun off campus… The city has started issuing tickets for not socially distancing, they have closed areas that college age people are gathering, and apartment complexes have started banning guests.
Like I said in my original post, the disconnect on this thread by parents is large.
I listened to Dr. Kerkhove of the WHO about asymptomatic cases. She gave a short digression about how “asymptomatic” cases are sometimes not asymptomatic, but mild. I couldn’t tell whether, in her later remarks, she meant that those mild cases very rarely spread the disease, or if she was only talking about truly asymptomatic cases.
If someone infected with covid has a little headache or a not very terrible cough, can that person spread covid?
I’m disappointed with WHO’s poor communication here. They should be more clear.
I think the discussion has some how veered off the rails which seems to pit families against professors which I feel if unfortunate and unfounded.
The way I look at it is that the state, county and cities will dictate what colleges can and can’t do about opening up the college to on-campus activities. Colleges, in general, are going to be very cautious in “opening” the campus and how they create and enforce policies for students, staff, faculty, administrators, workers, and visitors. In fact they already have some of those mentioned above on campus and have very strict guidelines as we speak.
Any of the above who feel they cannot perform their job will have accommodations for them. There are a lot of laws that protect workers and the ones that need those protections should certainly use them to their advantage.
With that said, as essential businesses are going back to work all over the U.S., workers will be required to do their jobs in less than 100% protected environments. For example, I have to travel on airplanes for business, stay in hotel rooms, and interact with my clients and colleagues in office buildings. It’s not 100% safe but I will take the necessary precautions to limit exposure to CV-19 and protect myself. Probably starting in July, I will be “out on the road” again. It’s a big part of my job. I’m 52 next month, taking medication that lowers my white blood cell count for an autoimmune disease that attacks my body, I have seasonal asthma, and am pre-diabetic (but getting better with diet/exercise).
Could I plead with my employer not to have to travel the next 6+ months? Probably, but I would not be doing my job to the best of my abilities; the job I was hired to do and frankly the one I love. There will be some risk, but I believe it is very small at this time. If things get worse, I(we) can certainly take a more cautious approach to getting back to work in my humble opinion…
There’s a law for that? Is that the case for ‘essential’ employees too - the law says their employer needs to make reasonable accommodations if they are at risk? Had not heard of a law.
@ProfSD The government can’t really tell private colleges (or private boarding schools, for that matter) not to let students move back onto campus. They can prevent them from having massive gatherings and classes (if the class size is over the limit for gatherings), but they can’t prevent colleges from letting students live on-campus and getting food through dining halls. Most highly residential colleges this semester had a significant number of students that remained on-campus (for Amherst, 179 out of ~1850 students) because they had a good reason why they needed to stay.
People with symptoms are more likely to have higher viral load than asymptomatic people on average, but that doesn’t mean any particular asymptomatic patient can’t or won’t infect other people. S/he could even be a super spreader. The first British case got infected in Singapore in a conference, he later infected a dozen other people in France and England, while never showing any symptoms himself.
The local and state health departments control what can be open and what the rules are. The governor is involved in that and is generally the one to weigh in on the political/economic impacts of different rules.
A school could refuse to follow health department guidelines and have a shown down like Elon Musk did with his Tesla factory, but I doubt a school would want to risk the bad press.
Not just bad press. Greater legal liabilities too, if it can be shown later that if the school had followed the governmental guidelines it could have avoided some unfortunate events.
I assume the poster as talking about ADA accommodations which state that employers have to make “reasonable” accommodations for a disability. I think allowing a professor to teach remotely from home is reasonable. However, for some jobs, some accommodations may not be reasonable. For instance an ER nurse can probably not work remotely. Neither can a grocery store cashier. But there are accommodations their employers can make to make their jobs safer.
Unless, of course, the job is completely abolished, as will be the case for food service and maintenance workers if students are not on campus. Professors may be paid for teaching from home but the custodian won’t be.
@alwaysmoving, you are the only person I have ever heard of in a town with no bars. You expect you still won’t have any restaurants either in 3 months? Nor museums? At least that is not the norm for the rest of us.
Haverford and Bryn Mawr have announced they are returning in person for fall. Class start has been pushed back a week and (forthcoming) staggered assigned days will be given for move-in. They will cancel fall break and end face-to-face instruction at thanksgiving break, finishing the last week and finals online. Everyone will have to reregister for classes as schedules will be changing to include evenings and weekends to de-densify the buildings. Anyone who wishes can remain online for the fall but not all classes will be available online. Further info about the dorms, dining, reregistration, clubs, and athletics will be provided later.