For those of you whose schools have announced their plans and expectations for students, do students have to agree to abide by the rules of mask wearing and social distancing when they are off campus?
It will be what the “states” rules are. So off campus my son will follow the State of Michigan’s rules but those seem to be the same as University of Michigan’s at this point. So like entering a building he will need a mask to go grocery shopping as an example. Use one if he’s 6 feet from someone etc. Walking outside to go from class back to apartment. No.
You keep bringing up the faculty, but wouldn’t this also be true of students who live off campus as well as other campus staff? Not sure why we need to connect what the faculty can or cannot do with what the dorm residents can or cannot do. The arguments for allowing X, Y, or Z in the dorms should stand on their own, not be hinged entirely on “Well THOSE people get to do it!”
@circuitrider and @alh do you live alone? If so, my hat is off to you for making it through three months.
My favorite parts of the pandemic:
Sewing masks, doing yoga, family game nights, cooking something new, editing papers, playing with the dogs, watching Dr. Who.
All of this I did with my family members without distance or masks. What I’m saying is that if college kids are doing fairly extreme social distancing without a family to go home to, that is going to be very difficult and lonely.
Thanks, @homerdog for understanding that this level of isolation and surveillance is a big deal.
Do we all forget what it was like to be 18 19 20 21?
Realtionships develop. Hormones activate. A few beers are shared. Friendship and social interaction is as much a part of their education as classes. An honor code to keep students away from each other is good idea, but written by someone looking at things from a completely different perspective.
I think they should be planning for covid to appear on campus. Have plans to deal with it effectively. Have safeguards in place around masks, social distancing and testing. Ultimately how to handle when someone rests positive and quarantines for those exposed. Academic plans with hybrid and online versions for all. Protect all at risk professors and professors who don’t feel comfortable. Staff and support personnel as well.
If you are outside of 6 feet and wearing a mask at all times outside of your dorm the risk of transfer to others is minimal.
Plan for the inevitable, not draconian measures that won’t work and make people freak out at the first report of a case.
There is a way to handle this imho. If you do not want to take any risk that your student may become infected it makes sense to have them use distance learning for the next year or so. For others that are ok with prudent measures, I want to know the plan when cases arise and what is required and planned for everyone while in public spaces.
My son’s school announced this week that they were shifting class times to accommodate two distinct “disinfecting” hours, essentially splitting the school day into thirds.
His reaction? “It takes the fire department 30 minutes to disinfect our ambulance after a high risk transport. How can they possibly disinfect the whole school in an hour?”
@privatebanker wrote:
I kinda do. My Mom spent all summer sewing laundry tags to my undershirts; made sure I packed an alarm clock and the next time she set foot on campus was the day I graduated. True.
Which is my way of saying, your kids will be all right.
I completely get it, @homerdog , I think it’s overregulation too. I feel a similar way about Grinnell’s plan with regard to it just “set[ting] me off”.
@circuitrider didn’t you go to Wesleyan? I figured a school that good had laundry service while you where there- probably a good idea to have the name in your clothes. Mom was smart!
Lol. Just kidding you.
So this app from Google will help keeping your 6 foot boundary https://sodar.withgoogle.com/
I attempted using it for the fun of it. It’s kinda silly but if some are really worried then have at it.
Just say some college kids, 6 of them walking outside by my house. Some wearing masks and some not in this group. Very obvious who the couples VS friends were. Some right next to each other.
On campus how will this be different? Probably not much. Kids can sit near each other. Just not on top of each other. If someone is sick like a cold, maybe reinforce with your kids to wear a mask in that scenario. Common courtesy.
It’s not like they will be hundred of feet away shouting… Just move a bit back and they should be OK. Or use the App… Lol.
Dorms are going to be challenging. No doubt. I guarantee that the schools will start with one plan and change it to something else once they have time to reevaluate what is working and what is not…
My kids had friend groups that were like their “family”. They kinda stuck to that for the rest of the semester.
It’s going to be challenging for freshman. We always told our kids to take the initiative and when you sit down at class or for a meal to say hi and start a conversation to meet people. That can still happen, just a little further apart.
People will still study at libraries to late at night. Might just want some disinfectant cloths. Pro hint :keep a few in a sandwich bag and they stay moist all day…
Kids will keep some hand sanitizer in the back packs.
If you have then take precautions now they will most likely continue. All my kids friends on campus did take this seriously and they still do. But not everyone will.
You’re not far from being right, @privatebanker: we didn’t have a laundry service, but, honest-to-god, we had maid service. I think until about sophomore year.
The reason for different social distancing rules at college is fairly simple. Colleges can set the rules for people who live in campus owned housing, but they can’t set the rules for people who don’t. That includes most faculty, staff, and commuters whose parents rent off campus apartments not owned by the university.
Families and students who don’t like the rules and aren’t willing to live with them have several options. They can ask for a leave of absence or deferment, look for off campus housing, or transfer to a college whose rules they like better. Faculty and staff have to return in some fashion (in person and/or online), but students don’t. If they’re unhappy, they can take a gap year and reapply anywhere they want.
So D’s in-state freshman friend is going to UC Berkeley in the fall and they told her that OOS and International students will get housing priority. She is really bummed because she had two other roommates lined up and the college won’t honor their housing request.
@austinmshauri Colleges have no obligation to grant a leave of absence or deferment. Many colleges have policies that prevent students from living off-campus certain years, and some colleges are so isolated that there isn’t any off-campus housing that can be obtained. For most colleges (especially the prestigious ones), transfer isn’t really an option, as the deadline was a while ago. Removing one’s self from school and applying to other places as a transfer without a guarantee is really risky.
Students have “options” for if they “don’t like the rules and aren’t willing to live with them” in the same way that high school graduates have the “option” of dropping out of college if they can’t handle the courseload.
In my opinion the health/safety of students and staff is most important, and schools have the daunting task of trying to do this…while at the same time maintaining as much normalcy as possible. It’s a balancing act, and one that I do not envy.
If my kids were still in college I could honestly say that I would not get hyper-involved in the process. I would wait for the school to develop a plan, and I would expect my kids to follow it. If they don’t like the plan …they could transfer.
Faculty may be subject to state or county rules about social distancing, etc… Even if there are no such applicable state or county rules, do you think that faculty (especially older and higher-medical-risk faculty) would be as cavalier about virus exposure that you and many others here expect students to be?
not sure if this is the appropriate venue to ask: but are anyone’s students considering taking a leave until things shake out a bit (or at least until the long term changes to colleges become more clear?)? With everything so up in the air I’m wondering if this is a valid option …
I suggested my son take a leave for fall quarter, because he only has one quarter to go and I thought he might as well do it in the spring. But he’s going back in the fall.
Grabbing a coffee or a meal to go, between classes, after class, in the library – basically anywhere but their dorm rooms! Don’t tell me that Bowdoin has no places except dorm rooms for kids to hang out in.
I see young people socializing all over the place. They wear masks (often even outside!) they keep some distance at least, they have picnics, they take walks… Don’t underestimate the flexibility most young people have – and their determination for the school to NOT shut down!
As I read the many concerns here about the students dealing with social distancing come fall (and yes, I share these concerns), I have to wonder: What are these kids doing now? What have they been doing since mid March? Mine have been social distancing, yes, only seeing friends outdoors and six feet apart. They sometimes take walks or bike rides or socialize apart in each others’ yards. They sometimes do games virtually. They are living that reality now, and have been for a while, it doesn’t seem like such a huge stretch to imagine them doing it when they are back in school (one off campus, one on, in a single).
I realize that a BIG difference (for the one that will be on campus in a single) is that they do have the family members in the house that they can be closer to, and socialize with, even if it is not who they would prefer. Of course another big difference is living that way for say 10+ months as opposed to 3, and the weather will prohibit the outdoor socializing eventually. But all of the concerns about how they will manage in college…or if it is possible…wouldn’t it be the same way they are managing it now? I ask this not to be snarky or to make a point, I really wonder. It’s also not about parental supervision or “enforcement” in our case either…as in they aren’t social distancing because I say so.