Similar to brownisundae’s post, I have a rising 2nd son looking for off-campus options, including roommates. Please PM me if you know of any 2nd or 3rd year men who may be interested in living off-campus in the fall and are looking for housemates.
I have become increasingly alarmed at the plans for the fall quarter for my incoming first-year student and other students in her class. I am completely sympathetic to the notion that the fall quarter will be a different experience than in the past. However, the plans outlined do not seem to take into account the social and emotional needs of incoming students. They seem to expect isolation of first year students - no eating together, rooming together, orienting together and quarantine upon arrival. These are young adults who are coming alone to the University, many without friends or relatives nearby. My son, who also plans on attending in the fall, has the option to have roommates and eat meals with friends in a quarantine bubble off-campus. Yet, he already has established friendships and knows the routines of the University. I am extremely worried that the University is not taking seriously the detrimental effects of social isolation on young people, for whom suicide is already the second leading cause of death. Peers are who students turn to when they first encounter the stress of a harder than usual class, and realize they are not alone.
I agree with @jorakid and I do worry for the mental health of these young people.
If my understanding is correct, there will be almost no opportunity for social interaction within the dorms, and all social spaces within the dorms, will be closed.
Yale has just announced sophomores will not live on-campus in the fall and Freshmen live off-campus in the spring; I wonder how they will manage that scenario? Regardless of where they live, all students will be required to submit to weekly testing.
^ ^^ This is a good concern to bring up at that Student/Parent townhall meeting (date and time TBD). There are remedies that the house leaders can implement to keep an energized spirit and sense of community going despite lack of O-Week, forced quarantine, less community eating, etc. Singles are nice in that you can all keep your doors open in order to socialize even if from the doorway. Movie Night in the house lounge might become Netflix Party Night instead. It’ll be different for sure. But hopefully it doesn’t have to be isolating. Physical proximity will help and my guess is that students will much prefer to be social distancing with their new classmates than stuck at home for three more months with their parents.
First years who would prefer easing into the quarter system might consider taking three rather than four courses to help keep stress at a manageable level and compensate for lack of study groups. Also, make sure to attend every problem session and tutorial you can, as well as office hours. With some of the mental health resources converting to remote, they should be able to see more students and offer more flexible scheduling than they used to. This is actually something that students have been requesting for awhile now!
- Maybe they'll switch with one another!!!
- I'd add the question about testing frequency to the list of questions for those town halls.
Testing is key. By testing the community (faculty, students, and staff) frequently, the University can ensure early detection of covid cases while providing some level of “peace of mind”. It also opens up more options for UChicago in terms of providing an environment conducive to social and academic interactions.
I feel that the steps UChicago proposed emphasize the negative aspects of mitigation but do not offer protection against inevitable slips and noncompliant behavior.
Actually just remembered this from the housing and dining section of the website:
“COVID-19 testing of everyone living in University residence halls, which will take place upon your arrival and routinely throughout the year.”
- Not sure how frequent "routinely" is but it suggests they are planning to do regular testing of some sort. UC Medicine has basically been providing Covid testing to anyone who requests it for awhile now.
Parents, look at the latest map: Campus North and South, BJ, Snell and I-House are ready. Max P is actually open.
https://uchicago.app.box.com/s/b2bla6dftdghhgey2q0b84luo6ut4150
Holy smoke, Residence Life is bringing back Breckinridge!!!
Still remember this classic video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcNT2pMyFn4
At the 2:20 mark the girl told the guy that she lived in Breck and he said, “You’re like a f%$6#ng unicorn.” Breck had been closed for 5 years.
UChicago College
@UChicagoCollege
Undergraduate students and their families are encouraged to join leaders from #UChicago for a webinar to hear more information on the College’s plans for Autumn Quarter 2020 on Tuesday, July 7, 2020, 5:15 – 6:30 p.m. CDT.
Register: http://ms.spr.ly/6017TlIlt
Parents, tell your kids to be careful if they want to take a swim at the Point.
The Point is a great place to be at almost year around (okay, not during polar vortex 
). Right now there are a lot of people on the lake front enjoying the outdoor. Indeed the view of the downtown skyline from the Point is incredible on a clear fall day. The celebrated local photographer Barry Butler has made quite a few jaw dropping prints from the Point:
http://www.barrybutlerphotography.com/shop/autumnaerial
http://www.barrybutlerphotography.com/shop/chicagorocks
But it can be treacherous swimming if you jump into water. So please warn your kids.
We knew someone who got in trouble right off the Point - he would have drowned had not others risked their lives to swim out and rescue him. My advice was posted on CC a few years ago: avoid swimming at the Point. It’s not a designated swimming area anyway. 57th Street Beach, among other places, is much safer.
Parents, if you want to check whether UChicago may have to switch back to complete online instruction because Chicago is going back to Phase 3, check out this website by Illinois Department of Public Health.
http://www.dph.illinois.gov/regionmetrics
Click Region 11 for Chicago.
With weak, scared Democrats in control, people will be hiding in their bunkers for three years because of COVID-19. We accept risk in all other areas of life but the pandemic has taken on a hysteria of its own.
The University’s response to the 1918 Spanish Flu was quite a bit different. People wore masks and avoided large groups, but classes continued in person as normal.
The November 1918 UChicago Magazine noted, “Influenza hit the campus, as it did everywhere, but serious results were low. Stillman Jamison, '21, died from the disease; outside of that casualty, no others have been reported so far. Health bulletins and the elimination of unnecessary gatherings (classes excluded) seemed successful preventatives. But campus activities were dulled considerably.”
^ It’s more than weak scared Democrats. Remember a certain recent political rally that had maybe 25% of expected attendance? With that level of reduced capacity, one would think Dr. Landon had been advising that campaign!
Let’s cross our fingers for a physical re-opening at UC in the fall. They are one of the more sane institutions of higher learning out there when it comes to Covid (compare them to HYP, for instance). Governors are political beings; they respond, and are ultimately accountable, to their constituency.
Meanwhile, I continue to watch progressive and socially democratic Sweden with its falling case rates and plans to re-open school to over 16’s (including universities). I wonder if that country has achieved herd immunity already. Their messaging about the disease has been very common sensical from the start, IMO, and a friend who lives in red-state Utah with a child currently working and living in Sweden informed me that both locales had exactly the same Covid policies throughout the spring.
By the time the students return to the campus, they will see a sign like this everywhere:
SHARED OUTDOOR SPACES
Wear a face mask all the time
Do not gather in groups
Keep at least 6 feet away from one another
Do not place your phone or other personal items on surfaces/tables
Sanitize your hands after using shared outdoor space
There is a similar sign for outdoor dinning areas. It is largely the same but the differences are:
When eating in the presence of others, keep at least 8 feet away from one another
Do not share dishes or utensils
The biggest difficulty is of course enforcement. Even on a quiet summer day like today, there were some students sitting around on the Main Quad less than six feet away from one another and they were not wearing masks. U of C is one of the few elite city schools that bring all the students back. I would like the U of C hybrid model to succeed. But I don’t know whether the students, especially undergrads, will have the self restraint to make it work. .
Social demonstrations and gatherings are a part of UChicago life. Young people have already gotten the general message that some social distancing violations are “ok” if done for a particular social justice goal. So autumn quarter will be interesting because the university needs buy-in from everyone in the student community in order to make it work. The health pact will likely make deliberate violations a suspendable offense so I hope that the university doesn’t become “selective” in how that’s enforced. Covid doesn’t discriminate between a frat party and a #CareNotCops rally.
By the way, I noticed the following FAQ regarding the res hall “quarantine”:
"What are the requirements of the University’s 10-day quarantine, including when it begins, ends, and the related policies for going outside, meals, etc.?
The University’s minimum 10-day quarantine begins after completion of move-in and will end once all residents have completed their quarantine. The quarantine period will resemble “stay-at-home” orders issued for many communities in recent months. In this instance, “home” is a student’s assigned residence hall. Students can come and go from their residence hall to get meals, exercise outdoors, visit Student Wellness or otherwise seek medical care, go to the pharmacy, or pick up essential items from a store. While doing any of these activities, the requirement under the UChicago Health Pact is that students must continue to wear the appropriate face covering, maintain physical distance from others, and avoid large, densely packed crowds.
Because the quarantine/stay-at-home period will coincide with the first week of classes, students will have plenty to do to keep themselves occupied. There also will be robust remote programming for them in the days prior to classes beginning, providing opportunities to engage with their immediate residential community."
- This doesn't seem like such a big deal.
It doesn’t seem like a big deal, because that policy is not consistent with the definition of a quarantine.
Aside from seeking medical care, everything else can be delivered, including ‘essential items’.
I wonder if Lori Lighfoot and Gov Pritzker have bought off on that policy?
This is the guideline for Northwestern undergrad residence. On surface it is no different from U of C. Both U of C and NU are converting their dorms to single rooms only. My guess is that both NU and U of C clear their dorm arrangement with Mayor Lightfoot’s office first.
https://sites.northwestern.edu/covid19housing/undergraduate-policies/
Some clarification is in order: UChicago’s “quarantine” for the dorms was announced prior to the city of Chicago’s own 14-day mandatory quarantine that applies to those coming from high-incidence states, and it applies to everyone living in the dorm irrespective of your point of origin. UChicago hasn’t announced any update to this policy, but my guess is that as we get closer to move-in, any need to further quarantine students arriving from highly impacted areas of the country will be announced ahead of time. Right now, schools that are opening in September - particularly those in the NY or similar area - are very busy figuring all this out so that their policies can be approved by state officials. However, UChicago has not altered its academic calendar and will still be opening at the very end of Sept. as planned. Furthermore, the entire first week of class will be remote for everyone. So any adjustments to the current plan - say, for having essential items delivered - will be minimal. If my kid were impacted, I’d want to better understand what “leaving the premises” means for UChicago students; in other words, can they go to the dining hall for their food or would they need that delivered? But those are easily-answered questions for when and if the time comes.
@CrescatScientia Let’s try not to get all political on this thread. Most of the people who comment on UChicago threads avoid calling out Demo vs Repubs vs Libs. It makes for a more enjoyable experience. The UChicago site is more about educating and not calling names. You should take this sort of behavior up on a forum outside of UChicago.