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USA Today
'Leaving us behind': High-risk students ask, why can't all college courses be offered online?
Grace Hauck
College sophomore Cameron Lynch has lived the past five months in a
single square mile, only venturing outside her home a couple of times a
week for early-morning or late-night walks.
"It’s already a stressful time to be immunocompromised," said Lynch,
who has Type 1 diabetes, celiac disease and a form of muscular
dystrophy. "Now, a good portion of able-bodied people are going back to
the way life was, leaving us behind."
Several weeks ago, Lynch, who attends the College of William & Mary
in Williamsburg, Virginia, authored a letter expressing her
frustrations and posted it to social media. She never expected the
response she would get: Dozens of immunocompromised college students
from across the U.S. started reaching out to her, so they formed a
support group to share information on the policies their schools were
implementing.
Lynch is just one of the thousands of college students with weakened
immune systems who are stuck inside amid the the coronavirus pandemic
and navigating treacherous back-to-school dynamics. While many colleges
and universities offered all classes online last spring, many aren't
doing the same this fall, leaving immunocompromised students stressed
out, rearranging schedules and locked in lengthy exchanges with
accommodation offices.
People with weakened immune systems are at higher risk of getting
severely sick from COVID-19 and may be sick for a longer period of
time, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Those with conditions such as diabetes, sickle cell disease, chronic
kidney disease and asthma are at greater risk, the CDC says.
"These are very real concerns for our immunocompromised students," said
Dr. Khalilah Gates, a pulmonary and critical care specialist at
Northwestern Memorial Hospital. "Every immunocompromised state is not
the same, so it is – as everything in COVID-19 has been – a
risk-benefit discussion."
Khalilah said returning to campus – particularly living in dorms –
poses significant risks to immunocompromised students. People in that
age group are also more likely to participate in extracurricular
activities that may increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission and
exposure, she said.
"What COVID-19 has taught us is the need to be flexible and the need to
adapt," Khalilah said. "If that means the ability to participate in
online learning, then that needs to be something we consider for those
that would benefit."
Fall 2020 college reopening:COVID-19 hot spots such as frat parties, bars could ruin plans
Samantha Price, who has Type 1 diabetes, was one of the students who
saw Lynch's posts on social media. The two had met 10 years ago when
they were both living in Richmond, Virginia.They had been participating
in a theater program when Lynch saw Price whip out her insulin pump.
Now, Price is helping Lynch coordinate the online support group for
immunocompromised college students.
"We realized that we weren’t alone in the struggles," said Price, a
rising junior at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg,
Virginia, who is pursuing communications and digital studies. "Both of
us had been going back and forth with our universities, trying to get
answers about how they would be supporting us."
The group soon realized that while many universities were going fully
or primarily online – about a quarter of four-year schools in the U.S.
– or implementing a hybrid course model, not all were offering online
students the same options as in-person learners.
"Some of my classes aren’t offered online. The school is expecting me
to drop those classes and sign up for alternative classes," Price said
last week. "That’s a problem because I shouldn’t have to sacrifice my
classes of choice when an able-bodied student gets to go into class."
Diabetes highlights two Americas:One where COVID is easily beaten, the other where it's often devastating
Price and Lynch argue that such policies violate the Americans with
Disabilities Act – a 1990 law that guarantees equal protection for
people with a wide range of disabilities – because students with
disabilities do not have access to the same resources as everyone else.
That's why the two penned a letter to 12 public colleges and
universities in Virginia to demand the institutions ensure equitable
learning.
"Without remote learning options for all their classes, hundreds of
immunocompromised students are being forced to either risk their health
and attend in-person classes or make last-minute changes to their
carefully designed schedules to switch to a limited variety of online
courses," the students wrote.
"We should not have to alter our college plans or disrupt our
graduation timelines because of physical or cognitive conditions that
put us at a greater risk, while normal students continue a forward
path."
Students who have difficulty attending traditional college classes have
long been calling for greater access to online courses. The pandemic
has only "heightened" the issue, said Robin Jones, director of the
Great Lakes ADA Center in Chicago.
While the ADA requires institutions to explore what options are
available to students expressing concerns, it does not require an
institution to provide a program or service that they are not already
providing, Jones said.
At the same time, the pandemic has demonstrated that schools were able
to offer online classes in the spring, even if they hadn't in the past,
Jones said.
"So the argument that a college or university cannot offer a course
remotely is somewhat negated because they already demonstrated that
they are able to do so for everyone," Jones said.
In March, the U.S. Department of Education released a brief "fact
sheet" providing guidance to schools on how to address the risk of
COVID-19 while protecting the civil rights of students. The guidance
reminded schools that they must continue to comply with their
non-discrimination obligations under federal civil rights laws,
including the ADA.
Offering online options as "individually-oriented accommodations" runs
the risk of excluding people with disabilities from university
activities, the Accessible Campus Action Alliance, a group of faculty
with disabilities and their allies, said in a June statement. The group
called for "safe, equitable, and inclusive online-centric teaching"
during the pandemic.
"Making online teaching the default, rather than the exception, would
protect equity, health, and safety, while reducing the uncertainties
regarding hybrid and in-person teaching in the fall," the group wrote.
While the University of Mary Washington – where Price attends –
initially planned for about half of all courses to be in-person or a
mix of in-person and online, the university adjusted its plans last
week, according to university spokesperson Lisa Chinn Marvashti. All
courses will be online for the first three weeks, and courses "could be
converted" to online settings as in-person classes resume, Marvashti
said.
A spokesperson for the College of William and Mary – where Lynch
attends – said that while not all courses will be offered remotely,
students can adjust their schedules to include only courses that are
being offered online.
"We certainly understand that there are members of our community who
want or need to take all remote classes during this period. There are
options that allow them to do this," spokesperson Suzanne Clavet said.
"For others, there is desire to have classes taught in other modes. Our
fall 2020 schedule is designed to meet as many of these needs as
possible and provide as much flexibility as possible while still
prioritizing the health and safety of our faculty, staff, students and
greater community."
Tiffany Alsbury, a master's student at Louisiana State University
living with lupus, has been taking classes online since July from her
Gulfport, Mississippi, home. In March, Alsbury underwent a treatment
that severely compromised her immune system, so she's been taking
precautions to avoid contracting COVID-19.
Her classes are offered in-person, but she opted to take them online
because it's "safer." Sitting at home has been "a battle," she said.
"It’s just not the same as it being in person. It’s been a lot of extra
hours of trying to communicate with professors. Sometimes, I’m not
getting the same amount of education out of it," Alsbury said. "I do
think they’re trying their hardest to be accepting of all of us, but it
is uncharted territory."
Some schools are being proactive about accommodating their
immunocompromised students. The University of Virginia is offering some
in-person instruction but is making all courses available online, for
example. Cameron Lynch's sister, Kylie, who has severe asthma and a
stomach condition and has been quarantining in her New York City
apartment, said that her college, the New School, opted to go
online-only, in part out of consideration for its immunocompromised
students.
At the end of June, the New School notified its students in an email
that all fall semester courses would be online, to "ensure that all
students have continued access to classes" and to "address the specific
safety concerns of students, faculty, and staff in high risk groups,
including those who are immunocompromised," according to the email
obtained by USA TODAY.
Kylie Lynch said the school's explicit recognition of students like her made her "feel understood."
"People underestimate that the decision of whether or not to go back to
school is literally life or death for some people," she said. "Luckily,
I didn’t have to make that choice. My school made it for me."
'The virus beat us':Colleges are increasingly going online for fall 2020 semester as COVID-19 cases rise
Price and Lynch said they have heard back from five of the Virginia
schools they contacted about offering more online courses but that
"none of them have been willing to talk further about it."
"They just restated everything we already knew," Price said.
Several of the universities thanked Lynch and Price for sharing their
concerns and said they would "work to accommodate students who wish to
be fully online." One university added that some courses "truly cannot"
be offered online.
Price said she's had to "fight and persist" to get her university to
let her take her courses online this fall so that she doesn't fall off
track to graduate. Lynch said she had to drop half of her classes and
rework her schedule, and she plans to take on a virtual internship in
her free time.
"It’s been a hard summer, and I expect that the school year is going to
be even harder," Price said. "People think young people are out
partying and doing whatever we want, but there’s a group of us who are
having to sit inside and watch the rest of the world move on."
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