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US Department of Education
Education Dive
Trump administration amps up pressure to reopen colleges
Jeremy Bauer-Wolf
July 7, 2020
Dive Brief:
The Trump administration is ratcheting up pressure on college and state leaders to reopen campuses this fall.
Federal officials, speaking at a White House roundtable on the topic
Tuesday, said they expected K-12 schools and colleges to resume
operations in the fall. President Donald Trump said during the event
that he intended to pressure governors to do so.
Some colleges have said they would remain almost exclusively online in
the next academic year. The push by the White House throws their plans
into question.
Dive Insight:
Many colleges intend to hold in-person classes in the fall, even as
coronavirus cases spike across the country. As institutions have
announced their plans over the past couple of months, the U.S.
Department of Education has remained quiet about whether it would
expect colleges to reopen in the fall.
Then on Monday, Trump tweeted. His all-caps declaration that "schools
must open" was the first definitive White House statement of what
federal officials would demand of educators in the coming academic year.
That same day, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced a new
policy that international students won't be allowed to enter or stay in
the U.S. if their college opts to remain fully online for the fall
term. If the health crisis worsens and colleges revert to online
instruction during the academic year, those students would need to
leave the country, according to the rule.
Backlash was immediate, with critics arguing the move complicated
colleges' plans for reopening campuses. Some high-profile institutions
have decided to continue instruction mostly online in the fall,
including Harvard University and all of the California State University
System campuses.
Then, on Tuesday, the administration engaged in a full-court press on
reopening schools. The four-hour roundtable featured top officials
along with Trump, including Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Health
Secretary Alex Azar and Vice President Mike Pence, as well as a
contingent of health experts, instructors, students and college
administrators who supported reopening schools.
"Our expectation should be that students can be back together in the
fall, whether it's on K-12 campuses or higher ed environments as well,"
DeVos said, adding that "with everything in life, there is some level
of risk."
Trump took a sharper tone, accusing those who wanted to keep schools
shuttered of politicizing the issue. He called out Harvard, saying the
institution should be ashamed for continuing online learning. "It's an
easy way out," he said.
A significant number of colleges have sought to restart face-to-face
classes, in part because they are concerned that doing otherwise would
dent their enrollments, some experts say. Colleges are already bracing
for a downturn in revenue, and a decline in lucrative out-of-state and
international students would especially damage their finances.
International students make up about 6% of higher ed enrollment.
Institutions have touted a slew of safety measures designed to mitigate
the virus's spread. Those involve mandatory face coverings, widespread
testing for the coronavirus and robust contact tracing, as well as
changes to the physical environment, such as installing plexiglass
barriers in classrooms. But these protections could prove costly,
especially for colleges whose budgets are already precarious.
Some in the sector are calling for building up colleges' online
infrastructure in the likelihood the coronavirus continues to disrupt
campus operations.
At a virtual meeting of the House's higher education subcommittee
Tuesday, Shaun Harper, president of the American Educational Research
Association and founder and executive director of the University of
Southern California's Race and Equity Center, questioned why colleges
were hyper-focused on reopening campuses.
During the meeting, Harper said he was "annoyed" that colleges were
scrambling to ensure football — a major source of revenue for some
schools — could take place in the fall, when instead they could be
figuring out how students could learn effectively in a digital
environment. The latter, he said, is an inexpensive endeavor compared
with trying to resume normal operations.
Also during the hearing, California State Chancellor Tim White
repeatedly mentioned the need for new federal aid for the sector as
colleges craft their reopening strategies. The last relief bill, the
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, set aside
$14 billion for higher education, a far cry from what industry groups
say was needed. Cal State didn't plan for in-person courses in the
fall, in part because it estimated reopening fully would cost the
system millions every week to adequately test students, White said.
House Democrats' proposal, the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus
Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, gives $37 billion more to colleges,
but it has been skewered by Republican lawmakers, who say the
legislation goes too far and isn't focused on the financial fallout the
virus caused.
Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-Penn.) said during the hearing that the bill was
partisan and invited a "socalist takeover" of private loan companies.
He said the postsecondary system is bloated, joining other lawmakers
who questioned during the hearing what cuts colleges have made in light
of the pandemic.
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