Related to previous discussions of what quarantine looks like on college campuses - a Facebook friend has a daughter who is an athlete and already on campus at her school, and is currently in quarantine according to the post. The post said they met for lunch and had a picture of her daughter on a campus walkway with no mask. Obviously quarantine on this campus (no I’m not telling where) is significantly different than the quarantine that many of you seem to be picturing.
Interesting. I just don’t think the schools can keep the kids quarantined. Even if they deliver meals, they aren’t going to post a guard at the door of the dorms to keep kids inside. They are relying on the kids to just do what is being asked.
^^As in quarantine in name only. I wouldn’t be surprised to find thats the case in the fall. Especially with schools with a large off campus housing population.
Recent e-mail from Tulane. I expect there will be emails like this from every school going forward with having kids on campus.
Dear Student,
Over the weekend, in spite of our pleas to the contrary, many of our students living in New Orleans chose to have parties and large gatherings where social distancing wasn’t being practiced and face masks weren’t being worn. They then saw fit to post this all-over social media. This comes on the heels of national news attention about super spreader events. These events were disruptive to our neighbors and drew a lot of very negative attention to Tulane. The behaviors of the student hosts and those who chose to attend these parties was disrespectful, selfish and dangerous and not in line with Tulane values. This type of behavior is indefensible and truly shameful.
For those of you who are returning students, as you know, we are incredibly lucky that Tulane is in a city that is unlike any in the country, a city where culture and community matter and one that honors difference. After an initial surge of infections, the citizens of New Orleans came together to flatten the curve of this pandemic and reduce infections to a rate that allowed for our city to begin reopening. The actions of the individuals over the weekend were very publicly disrespectful to the Tulane University community and to the people of New Orleans, and have the potential to undermine our significant progress against this deadly disease.
The calculation is simple - If you want to have a residential experience at Tulane in the fall, you have to behave differently. This means, no large gatherings (+15 people), and at all times wearing masks in public spaces, practicing social distancing and washing your hands. We are finishing our complete enforcement plan for the fall, but it is clear that this message had to be delivered immediately. DO NOT HOST PARTIES OR GATHERINGS WITH MORE THAN 15 PEOPLE, INCLUDING THE HOST. IF YOU DO, YOU WILL FACE SUSPENSION OR EXPULSION FROM THE UNIVERSITY. All gatherings, of any size, must observe appropriate social distancing and attendees should wear masks. There is no room for error here. People’s lives depend on your adherence to these rules. They aren’t just nameless, faceless people – they are our people.
So please, make decisions with this in mind. We understand that it requires a different way of thinking about and approaching life – but we believe our students are conscientious enough and mature enough to adhere to the public health expectations of Tulane and the City of New Orleans. If we didn’t, we would not be reopening. We need everyone’s help to have a safe fall. Hold your friends and peers accountable and reach out when you need help with that. You can report problematic behavior by using our online report system. These reports are received in real time. You can also call the Tulane University Police at 504-865-5381.
Do you really want to be the reason that Tulane and New Orleans have to shut down again?
Erica Woodley
Dean of Students”
West Virginia University in Morgantown is the reason Monongalia County has had a surge in cases. The college aged kids are ignoring the social distancing rules.
If colleges do re-open for in class teaching, the bars and campus town hang outs should stay closed. I like the Tulane expulsion rule. Does it apply to just hosting or attending big gatherings also?
Wow. Good for Tulane. I think they’d better start planning for all classes to be remote. Not sure what they can do about off campus students but I’ll be curious to see if anyone (at any school) gets expelled for breaking the rules.
So, what you going to do about that Tulane?
Watching schools deal with fall is going to be interesting. Might have D21 hold off on writing that Why Tulane essay!
Here is a response to the article by marketing professor, Scott Galloway.
Seems like there are major issues with his understanding of data, and accurate representation of that data.
Thanks for posting, that is a glaring error. Not to mention a significant proportion of profs are not tenured, nor on the tenure track.
My son is at Kalamazoo College, also on the Struggle list. I’m crossing my fingers that they can find a way to survive. On the plus side they have a lot of local students, a solid local reputation, and lower tuition. On the minus side, they have international students and not the world’s biggest endowment.
I don’t know if a mistake in faculty’s salary changes anything about the final category. I think the categories are only based on a few factors like endowment and percent of international students. The other columns are just more info to flush out the description of the schools, no?
Maybe the faculty salary is an issue if the average is high and that means the cost to the university or college makes it more likely to fail? I would think those colleges with high salaries are also the ones with big endowments and that would keep them safe. I haven’t had time to dig deeply into the spreadsheet though.
@beebee3
Good catch on the salary reporting, but if you look at the same chart many categories of professor across all institutions types receive 6 digit compensation as opposed to salary and that’s still money the schools have to budget for. So I’d say both of those authors are cherry picking to make their respective points.
The bottom line is salaries and compensation make up a large percentage of school costs so they’re going to be on the cutting block when finances become critical.
There are other problems with Galloway’s data. He uses sticker price tuition levels to help determine value, but at some colleges almost no one pays the sticker price (for example at Kalamazoo College 98% of students receive some form of merit or financial aid). He also uses average google search volume to determine the value of a credential, but this clearly favors large colleges with many students and alumni over small colleges.
@Corinthian wrote:
IIRC, Howard has the distinction of being the only federally chartered college or university in the United States that isn’t a service academy. It’s not going anywhere.
The Galloway “score” seems like a way to attract publicity through the appearance of rigorous data. But the author’s elementary error about faculty salaries suggests that the author is at least careless. For me, at first glance, anything which uses Niche scores and google searches as part of the formula is not compelling.
College presidents have been talking for a while about contraction in the number of schools that can survive through the decline in the college age student population. While the uncertainty created through covid could certainly accelerate that contraction, I’m skeptical that Galloway’s formula has significant predictive capabilities (Kenyon, perishing, really?).
But didn’t the Williams reporting show that there were more financial aid kids taking gap/leaves then full pay students? And they had concerns that the economic/diversity balance would be off?
@wisteria100 6 percent of aided students took a gap. 16.2 percent of unaided students took a gap.
Maybe i am thinking too simply but for most colleges i dont see the relationship between this year deferrals and the harm to next year’s acceptances. For ex if a college ordinarily has a class of 550. Let’s say 50 defer. For the most part, what’s the big deal for the college to aim for a class of 600 next year? The real problem i see is in a few years when the class of 500 graduate and leave, and the college is top heavy with seniors.
Anyone read through the NYS ED 150+page guidelines for public schools?
Care to discuss? I was concerned about sending my high schooler back to school. I was even thinking of homeschooling since my Superintendent had been to date telling me they would not provide a remote option.
The way i read the new document, all public schools are obligated to provide a remote option for kids for any reason at all. One doesnt even have to fall into the vulnerable category. I am very relieved if that is the case. Anyone else read it that way?