@momofsenior1 I still don’t think that’s clear on what’s expected in the residence halls. They say -
“This guidance will evolve as the public health crisis evolves and may include, but is not limited to, social distancing, limitations on mass gatherings, wearing a face covering, COVID-19 diagnostic and surveillance testing (including before or upon arrival to campus), contact tracing, disinfection protocols, limitations on guests in residence halls and quarantine / isolation requirements (including before or upon arrival to campus). Adherence to health and safety requirements applies to all residents, staff and visitors and extends to all aspects of residential life, including bedrooms, bathrooms, community kitchens, lounges, computer rooms, courtyards and other common spaces.”
Adherence to what health and safety requirements? Whose requirements? There are rules in one’s apartment or home and those aren’t the same as when someone is in public. Is each student their own bubble, not to be near any other student without a mask? Are all spaces everywhere including bedrooms public in this case? This is what I’m afraid of. Nebulous language. The students don’t know what they are getting themselves into
@homerdog It’s not that we won’t get an answer, it’s just that the decision won’t be finalized; technically, Bates, Colby, Hamilton, and Conn College haven’t finalized their plans, but they have pretty much said they will be coming back. They have said they heavily plan on coming back. I expect we will receive a similar update in the next few days.
EDIT: Oh, it looks like I misread it; it seems from the context that they are saying they will send out information about reregistration in the fall around July 1, not plans for reopening.
The rules that "may include, but [are] not limited to, social distancing, limitations on mass gatherings, wearing a face covering, COVID-19 diagnostic and surveillance testing (including before or upon arrival to campus), contact tracing, disinfection protocols, limitations on guests in residence halls and quarantine / isolation requirements (including before or upon arrival to campus). "
Bottom line, if the student isn’t willing to abide by the social distancing, mask wearing, limitations on parties, limitations on who can be in their room, and quarantine/isolation if that is required, then they should find a different way to spend their fall.
The rules, I am certain, will relax or get more stringent, depending on the situation of the virus in the community. The student has to be prepared for strict rules, because they might happen. The student has to be prepared to be isolated or quarantined alone in their room or in another room provided by the university, because that might happen.
Also, add Trinity and Wesleyan to the list of NESCAC schools that are fully planning to bring their students back.
So, that brings the total of NESCAC schools who have confirmed their intentions to bring students back up to 6 out of 11: Colby, Bates, Wesleyan, Trinity, Conn College, Hamilton.
The other five have not announced: Amherst, Williams, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Tufts
@“Cardinal Fang” there will be exact rules at the start. The students will be given way more detail than that when they move into their rooms. It would be great to know what those are. Seems likely maybe Purdue isn’t sure yet and I’m wondering if we will get similar verbiage from other schools.
Purdue has been communicating every single week with students and families since March. I expect more details as they see what’s trending in terms of case numbers in IN and across the country as the summer progresses.
No one can know exactly how things are going to look in August. They are just wanting students to understand it will not be business as usual.
@momofsenior1 i get it. But when students might be deciding on whether to go back to school or take a gap year, it would be good to know a little more about the reality of campus life. I wonder when Purdue will require gap year requests by. I’m not picking on Purdue. I do think this is the kind of language we are going to see from all schools until closer to move in date. I just hope students will know more before they have to decide.
There are challenges for everyone. I have a rising senior and an incoming freshman. I think that my senior is better off than my freshman because she has nice off-campus housing, a solid friend group, and has 3 years of independent living experience. My younger daughter will start making friends in a restricted atmosphere, have to fill her time when there will be less to do, and take more classes online or on Saturdays.
Things are changing daily and weekly. We have to be flexible and wait - so they can make the best decisions based on CURRENT information. Americans are so obsessed with all this advanced planning…in Europe most seniors don’t even know where they are going to college until late July / early August before college starts. Sometimes they are moving far from home… they all manage. We can manage too.
@suzyQ7 yeah I know we need to wait. And that things will likely change during the fall semester. But college in Europe is way different than here…and way less expensive. It’s likely easier for Europeans to be more laid back about it all.
Regarding office buildings, many employers of office workers around here started telling employees to work from home if they can before there were government health orders on the subject. Even when the government health orders are lifted, it is likely that many of these employers will keep telling employees to come to the office only if their work that day requires it.
If an effective COVID-19 vaccine becomes readily available, it would not be surprising if some of these employers hired visiting nurses with truckloads of vaccine doses to set up tents outside the offices to give newly returning-to-the-office employees the vaccine as they arrive at the offices.
If there were a cheap reasonably accurate breath test that could be done daily to check for contagiousness (not the same as infection), that would be a better way to determine whether those who may have COVID-19 has it and is contagious enough that they should isolate that day.
Maybe I read it too fast, but i didn’t see anything in Purdue’s plans that addressed off campus students. All the quarantine and isolation discussion pertained to the dorms. I think the simple answer is that if you don’t like all these strict rules, move off campus.
The more I think about it, the more I think that they can’t force someone who doesn’t live on campus to quarantine/isolate just because they had contact with an infected person. They can tell you to stay off campus for 14 days, but beyond that it’s the local public authorities that will call the shots.
I also find it interesting that Amherst is using the term hyflex to describe teaching in the fall. That is exactly the same term my son’s school is using. It must be something that is being widely discussed iamong schools.
The colleges that rely on off-campus housing in the coming year are taking significant risks. There’re a whole host of issues created by off-campus living in a pandemic. The inability to quarantine or isolate infected and potentially infected is just one of them. The few colleges that can afford opted to allow only a portion of their students to return to campus, partly to avoid the issues associated with off-campus living.
Purdue told students in off campus houses that they are expected to follow the same rules but I agree it will be harder to enforce.
Students have until July 1st to decide if they are returning to campus or doing online from home.
Gap requests are going to be reviewed individually. I get the sense that there needs to be a major reason why you can’t do online before the university says yes.
We will see. I think the reality is we need to make decisions with incomplete information. D is going back no matter what. She will know in mid to late July if her housing or schedule gets changed but she’s prepared to just roll with whatever.
This virus will be with us for quite some time…we have to learn to adhere to the behaviors that are known to reduce cases. I am not living in a fantasy world, as I know many students will not follow the rules when they gather in the dorms. However…as I mentioned…when you choose the behavior, you also choose the consequences.
Schools make the best plans that they can, but the most well thought out plans can change at a moments notice. Nobody really knows how this will look in September and beyond. How could we?
As parents, I think the best thing we can do is sit down with our kids, lay out the facts as they present to us right now (or in the coming weeks) and let them decide whether they want to take a gap year (if permitted). This decision will be different for every family.
We need our young adults to be realistic about what college and the workforce might look like. We need them to be flexible and resilient. These qualities can only help them in life (not judging anybody)…and they should be modeled by us.
I am frustrated with the increases throughout the country and feel that these increases could be prevented.
IMO the plans that colleges are putting out now have to be very fluid considering that the COVID numbers are spiking across the country.
I was optimistic a few short weeks ago - not so much now. I would like to see the colleges give students extended time to decide if they will return to campus or not. A decision that seems wise on 7/1 could look very foolish a month later.