Can/should any college resume in-person classes this fall?

Best scenario I can see:

small rural college

real estate cheap, so solo dorm rooms feasible

quarantine upon arrival followed by testing

use all campus facilities to allow six-foot distancing in classrooms

1/N

In this scenario there are still no college-sponsored group events, sports, parties

Is this bare-bones version of residential-college life worth the risks? Worth the cost of room and board?

I just don't get how so many presidents are confident about re-opening in person

2/N

See this thread about experience of a class of new Army recruits

Universal testing upon arrival

*22% infected within a few weeks*

And this is the ARMY FFS

Typical college environment is a tad less disciplined than Fort Benning

3/N

https://twitter.com/ct_bergstrom/status/1272310662773915648?s=21 https://twitter.com/ct_bergstrom/status/1272310662773915648

Worst-case scenario, IMO:

Colleges bring students back to campus

Infections spike

In-person classes cancelled

Students living on/near campus continue contact (parties, dorms, apartments), spread virus

--> all the costs of proximity w/no learning benefits

4/N

My suspicion:

Colleges are holding out hope of in-person classes in order to keep up enrollments

If they tell the difficult truth now, many students will decide to take a year off

This will send college finances into a tailspin

5/N

It is irresponsible to bring students to campus if they will

1) Get little *educational* benefit from being on campus

2) Increase their risk of becoming infected by being on campus

3) Spread infections when they return home

What am I missing?

6/N

Note that many *commuter* colleges have already decided to go online

Community colleges were early announcers of classes moving online

It's the "traditional" residential colleges (which educate a minority of students) that are playing this out

7/N

Hoping to wake in the morning to lots of informative replies showing why my pessimism is unwarranted

Please enlighten me!

8/N

I did not wake to reassuring information

Best I’m hearing is temporary pavilions for outdoor teaching

https://twitter.com/yaelhochberg/status/1272533302969335808?s=21

9/N https://twitter.com/yaelhochberg/status/1272533302969335808

Colleges bring together lots of young people, who spread the virus asymptomatically or experience mild cases

They will then carry the virus to populations that are far more vulnerable:

college staff

residents of college towns

their own families & towns when school ends

10/N

Evidence from Japan that college-age people are major source of virus spread

11/N

https://twitter.com/nataliexdean/status/1271973142462939136?s=21 https://twitter.com/nataliexdean/status/1271973142462939136

The president of Brown, Christina Paxson, wrote this a century ago (in Covid years)

Have these prerequisites for a safe opening been met?

12/N

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/26/opinion/coronavirus-colleges-universities.html

Well this is certainly on point

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/15/opinion/coronavirus-college-safe.html

13/N