Two private California colleges announced yesterday evening they will be fully online in the fall--and both are placing the blame on state officials. (1/)

Claremont McKenna blames the lack of state authorization to reopen for their decision. https://cmc-returns.cmc.edu/presidents-message/ (2/)

Fresno Pacific University also blames the governor's slow move to reopen the state for their decision. It seems like they spent a lot more money preparing for in-person classes than they will online. https://www.fresno.edu/coronavirus-covid-19-news-and-information (3/)

Quite a few colleges are secretly hoping that governors provide explicit guidance blocking them from opening so they can blame someone else. But most governors also would prefer not to take the blame. (4/)

There are two general rules to keep in mind right now:

(1) Few people want to take the blame for colleges shifting online.
(2) Nobody wants to eat the losses that higher education is currently facing.

So there are lots of effort to shift costs and blame others. (5/)

My hat is off to leaders of HBCUs and community colleges in particular, as they have made the tough decisions more quickly. They figured out which classes and people need to be in person and then moved everything else online quickly. (6/6)