Allow me to introduce myself. I am a middle-aged history professor at a small college (fewer than 1500 students) in Pennsylvania. Small town, rural location. My college is determined to reopen – students have been returning this weekend, and classes will start on Aug. 17. My college has already furloughed staff and contract instructors. The leadership is saying that we can survive a 4 or even 8-week shutdown without furloughs of tenured faculty, but more than that – and we are talking a multi-million dollar hole in the budget, and then furloughs of tenured faculty – damage to college’s reputation, declining enrollment, further faculty reductions (possible death spiral). Our endowment is somewhere south of 200 million. Our advantage is testing – we have a lab on campus doing PCR testing, and every student will be tested upon return. Random testing after that. I have learned a lot from reading these posts – and am similarly pessimistic that we will remain open for long. It also seems that the financial considerations/the institution’s long-term viability, is outweighing the risks of illness and even deaths that comes with reopening. This bothers me a lot. All that said, I will teach on-line only – for which I had to request an accommodation. I am fortunate – the institution is about to embark on a high-stakes experiment. If we had deeper pockets, perhaps we would be doing what other colleges (Dickinson, Lafayette, for example) have done – going on-line entirely rather than calling everyone back to campus – next week.
Holy Cross in MA just shifted to fully remote for the fall semester, and will only allow very few students with very special circumstances to live on campus.
Our public schools here in MA are going to be opening late in mid September. They will split the classes in half with everyone having two in person days. Masks are required for everyone pre-k to 12th grade. Medical exemptions for masks will be given with a note from a doctor but they go on to say that very few conditions qualify for an exemption. I’m not sure what they will do when someone comes in with a note for something that they don’t consider a valid reason.
Well, things falling in place just as @stiffler117 has outlined. Got a call with a firm job offer for an adjunct in person teaching position at a small private LAC. They HAVE to open or risk tremendous financial harm. Their direct surveys are showing that parents aren’t going to pay for an online experience from them, but the idea of shipping their kids off to a bucolic campus is appealing and they’ll pay the $75k to do. so. But faculty and staff, are balking at showing up in person. Those with the option not to do so, are taking that option. Ergo, adjunct opportunities
I turned down the offer flat because it’d not what I want to do right now. I’d turned one down last year at a public college as well to pursue other opportunities. But, I referred, DH, who is highly qualified, and would be a “catch” for the LAC and they are discussing terms right now on real time.
I’m familiar with school and facilities. Outdoor classes will be allowed as weather permits. The classroom would hsve 3ft social distancing, realistically, the Administrator was blunt about that. All students required to be masked inside. Instructor would be a good 6-12 ft away from the classroom. Ventilation systems have been checked and set to keep air flow optimal for the situation. DH and I feel that the scenario is not risky for us. He will likely take the position. He’s been mulling over seeking such work for a few years.
OT here: I believe adjunct positions are often highly sought after and valuable. They don’t pay well because so many people want them. In NYC area, competition for such jobs is fierce, with “name” prospects in line for them, as well as highly qualified academians who want part time work such as parents of young children. The problem is that too many people try to make it a full time job. I want to make my feelings about adjunct positions clear-certainly not disposables. Heck, if I had not taken a different direction a couple of years ago, that’s what Id be doing.
So, while the Harvards, and Amhersts( both the UMass and LAC) have the demand for their degrees high enough that they can do pretty much as they decide in this pandemic environment, the majority of schools do not have that luxury and are really being hit hard. If this scenario continues, there may be forced closures.
Well on an adjunct… Big Ten and possibly Pac 12 will announce tomorrow cancelation to fall football. They are shooting for spring football instead.
I just got an email from my department chair that my institution will be going entirely to online instruction for the fall. Everyone who signed up to teach in-person or hybrid has to now choose whether to teach online synchronous or asynchronous classes. This decision is because the state is going to stay in Stage 2 for a while.
@mamom2018 Wow. And only 8 days prior to the start of move-in. I believe that is a record (UMass cancelled 9 days prior to the start of move-in).
In the communication, it cites a recent indication from the testing company that there would be delays as well as very restrictive local laws, in addition to the nation’s worsening situation with coronavirus.
I saw that re: HC. How disheartening for parents with only 8 days prior to move in. The cost of the testing with the Broad Institute must have been too much.
They are making accommodations for siblings with different last names. And since I only have a 16 year old at home, yes, I am worried about him for a variety of reasons that I think are valid, but I’m wrapping my mind around how to manage it, because what choice do I have? Were in a pandemic. None of the options is awesome, but this is a forum for expressing one’s opinion, no? My concerns or opinions around my personal circumstances don’t mean that a) I can’t also see how this would be worrisome for parents of younger children, and b) I can’t see that there are issues and inconveniences for parents (including those of my own students) with any form of hybrid model. Your tone is a little aggro, but maybe I’m misreading.
Bait and Switch.
@homerdog - My Notre Dame student started classes today. We will see how it goes. I was very concerned with the report of a positive case last week. I am encouraged that it appears to be isolated at this point. I am praying that Norte Dame can set the example of how it can be done safely. I grant you that they are not a huge school, but big enough. They are also going with standard occupancy in the dorms.
@RosePetal35 wrote: "Wow. And only 8 days prior to the start of move-in. I believe that is a record (UMass cancelled 9 days prior to the start of move-in).
In the communication, it cites a recent indication from the testing company that there would be delays as well as very restrictive local laws, in addition to the nation’s worsening situation with coronavirus."
Wow - what a crock (from Holy Cross, not RosePetal35). Based on the NY Times tracker, all the counties in MA are at a case rate of around 3 per 100,000. Suffolk county (Boston) has a, wait for it, 8 per 100,000 case rate. That’s too high to reopen? I can understand the testing delay being a problem, but the remaining statement is pure drivel.
I agree. I’m not understanding why the “national” level of the virus affects a school that has kids testing before coming, testing on arrival, testing more than once a week and all of the other covid protocols. Add on that some of these schools are in areas where there is almost no community spread and it makes no sense at all. Now, if testing is a problem then that makes more sense. But WHY is testing a problem. I am so over testing problems.
Also, HC mentions a rule change last week - rollback from the governor. The only change that affects them is “outdoor gatherings reduced from 100 to 50”. So for that, they are cancelling return to campus? the 25 in person limit stayed as it was.
HC was supposed to use Broad. We will soon see if other colleges are going to cancel in person because of potential delays from Broad… HC wrote “Recently, we were notified that we should expect delays in testing results, especially during the critically important initial weeks of the semester.”. We will see shortly.
My guess is that they didn’t have enough students returning to campus to make it worth it and now the students have no options to transfer. Also, HC has a large elderly tenured faculty. As at Mount Holyoke, non-faculty will be quickly laid off to save money (since they are not needed) and I’m sure adjunct faculty will get their slips when enrollment goes down.
This is exactly how it worked for my student, who was also tested through Vault. We sent the overnight packet back via UPS on the same day we received it (8/4), the lab received it on 8/5, and we got the result by email from Vault on 8/7. It was followed by an email from Hope College confirming the negative result and cautioning about continuing to be careful, that the test might not catch an infection if it’s in a very early stage, etc, and to be watchful for symptoms.
I don’t think the issue was not having enough students interested in coming to campus as HC had secured additional off campus housing to help de-densify dorms. There has been an uptick in cases in Worcester county and perfect they were also getting guidance from HC alum, Dr Fauci which made them more cautious.
LOL. I posted an article of someone that was actually at the airport and her school canceling… Forgot the school though
The outbreak in Worcester is small. There will be outbreaks, everyone knew that. But now the goal posts have been moved.
It wasn’t a week ago that Fauci said this:
On college campuses, Fauci said testing will be the key to reopening. Plans should include testing people before they arrive on campus, when they arrive and quarantining them for 14 days. Colleges should still proceed with caution, though.
“If done properly, it would not be a risk, but then again, you’ve got to be careful when you get people coming in from outside,” he said. “But I think if they maintain the guidelines that are put together for people coming back, that they should be fine.”
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/03/health/us-coronavirus-monday/index.html
^^^I agree with him. So we’ll wait and see if something systemic is going on with testing from Broad.
I think NJ is so traumatized by being unprepared in March in April that we are taking every precaution so it doesn’t ahppen agin.
Very true…this is the case for most colleges in the USA. The ones we mostly hear about here are wealthy and probably won’t close or even have much of a decreased enrollment.