|
|
|
The views expressed on this page are
solely
those of the author and do not
necessarily represent the views of County
News Online
|
|
Dreamstime
Education Dive
Few colleges are setting clear benchmarks for closing campuses
Though many schools have publicly shared reopening plans, most don't
define guidelines for what would necessitate a campus shutdown.
Jeremy Bauer-Wolf
July 30, 2020
The trickle has become a flood. Many colleges that initially intended
to reopen their campuses have, in recent weeks, accepted the reality of
a largely virtual fall.
Some administrators are still holding out hope for a more traditional
academic year, crafting intricate strategies to halt the spread of the
coronavirus, even as verified case numbers soar nationwide, including
thousands linked to college campuses. Often absent from institutions’
plans, however, are the exact conditions under which campuses would
have to close like they did in the spring.
Experts who consult with colleges and study campus reopening proposals say officials face an unenviable balancing act.
Tracking the factors that will determine if a campus can operate, such
as testing for the virus, will prove complex. So colleges may try to
avoid boxing themselves in by creating hard benchmarks that dictate
when they must shut down. But they’re also answerable to families, who
want to know the circumstances under which schools will send students
away.
Few colleges have established these triggers. But more concrete campus
closure scenarios are likely coming in the next few weeks.
"Colleges and universities follow each other’s lead," said Sam Owusu, a
student and research analyst at Davidson College’s College Crisis
Initiative (C2i), which studies institutional responses to the
pandemic. "We’ll see more of this."
Few precise plans
The vast majority of colleges sticking with in-person or hybrid
instruction this fall have put forth relatively vague answers for when
they’ll shutter campuses. Duke University said recently it would
"continuously monitor a range of indicators" this fall including local
and national infection rates and hospital capacity. The university
wouldn’t immediately kick students off campus but rather move to
"shelter in place" first should conditions deteriorate. But those
conditions are undefined, at least publicly.
Owusu said the University of Texas at Austin was the first to catch
attention for publicly outlining the scenarios that could prompt a
closure. On the list: a student death. It does not mention faculty or
staff fatalities. Other considerations are far more obtuse, such as
"employee absenteeism" (leading to a question of how many instructors
would need to become ill) or a two-week rise in documented cases
(raising the question of when the university would start to measure
them).
At least two institutions have gone further than UT Austin, pinpointing
the exact number of confirmed cases that would force a shutdown.
Liberty University, the evangelical school in Virginia, laid out
possibilities in its reopening plan, which the state’s higher ed
governing body recently certified. If more than 5% of students and
employees present symptoms of the virus or test positive for it over a
two-week period, then the university would shift to remote work and
virtual instruction.
|
|
|
|
