Problems With Closing Colleges For Coronavirus

[Hikergirl]

I thought they were shutting all the sunys?

Me too but Cuomo did say exceptions could be made for students who need to take classes on campus, which is probably a majority of them at this particular SUNY

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

I'm sure for Buffalo, Albany, and Brockport. I'm not positive for Binghamton. I know they sent the students home on break so that fewer would be in town for the St. Patrick's Day parade. They may have a second break in April.

Edit: Just checked Binghamton's calendar. I was wrong. It wasn't their spring break. It was just a couple of days to get them out of town for parade weekend.

Yeah this is a 4 day one they try to keep from ruining towns parades
Come to think of it they might force dorms to leave because when they gave them off it just made things worse as no one went home. My daughter is in apartment so she would not be forced home but was when sophmore

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

Still shipping bunch of possible carriers all over the place seems like a bad idea to me. They should have kept them in the schools.

 

[pryncess527]

Have these colleges actually spoken with health experts and the CDC on this??

Yes, yes they have. These major decisions were not made in a vacuum without consulting public health officials

 

[Lisa Warner]

Mizzou has another week and a half of class before spring break. No word from them yet on any changes. I'm thinking they hope to get to spring break, then maybe add time if needed.

They're monitoring closely though and posting updates on their site daily.

So far one case in KC metro and one case in St. Louis. And none at Mizzou. But that could change quickly.

Mizzou just announced a decision. Online classes starting at 5pm today and will continue til spring break. In person classes are to resume after break. Apparently a group attended a conference in New Orleans and they were potentially exposed.
No one showing symptoms. They are self quarantined.

 

[LilyWDW]

IU, Perdue, IUPUI, and Notre Dame have all announced going to online and closing campuses.

 

[mom2rtk]

Mizzou just announced a decision. Online classes starting at 5pm today and will continue til spring break. In person classes are to resume after break. Apparently a group attended a conference in New Orleans and they were potentially exposed.
No one showing symptoms. They are self quarantined.

Yeah, just got off the phone with my daughter. Classes are suspended the next 2 days, with online learning next week. DD is kind of annoyed because she's scheduled for a Calc 2 exam tomorrow and she'd just as soon get it over with. Waiting 2 weeks for in person classes again seems like a bad idea.

Lots of kids heading home, but she works the front desk and just got word they are keeping to the regular work schedule. That complicates things for her. She'll probably have to stay and work at least through this weekend. The desk job is a great gig until a pandemic hits.

 

[1GoldenSun]

Just got notice that my university (University of South Florida) is going to remote learning following spring break (which is next week) until at least April 4.

Dorms and Student Health Services will remain open.

 

[mom2rtk]

UGH. DD just called. Roommate has been diagnosed with flu and pneumonia. And she's not going home. So my DD gets to remain cooped up with her. She's furiously trying to get shifts covered. I told her I'd come get her tonight but she has a 10-1 AM shift.

Who the hell gets diagnosed with the flu and stays in their dorm room over a 2 week break?

 

[pryncess527]

UGH. DD just called. Roommate has been diagnosed with flu and pneumonia. And she's not going home. So my DD gets to remain cooped up with her. She's furiously trying to get shifts covered. I told her I'd come get her tonight but she has a 10-1 AM shift.

Who the hell gets diagnosed with the flu and stays in their dorm room over a 2 week break?

Is it a work study job? Surely under the circumstances missing desk coverage overnight isn’t the biggest concern and they’ll let her come home. I can’t imagine keeping my work study student on campus

 

[TheIncredibles!]

Who the hell gets diagnosed with the flu and stays in their dorm room over a 2 week break?

Somebody that is sick and smart enough to just stay put.

 

[mom2rtk]

Somebody that is sick and smart enough to just stay put.

That’s all well and good if you’re not sharing a room with somebody else.

 

[mom2rtk]

Is it a work study job? Surely under the circumstances missing desk coverage overnight isn’t the biggest concern and they’ll let her come home. I can’t imagine keeping my work study student on campus

No it’s not actually a work-study job. She got tonight shift covered so I’m picking her up. If she can get her Friday night shift covered she is good for the two weeks. It’s been quite a scramble.

 

[NYCgrrl]

That’s all well and good if you’re not sharing a room with somebody else.

Since her roommate is sick and you are concerned (rightly) perhaps your DD can switch to a different room temproraily. Inconvenient but better than the alternative.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

The problem with moving to all online classes is for those pursing music or theater arts degrees. While lessons could be given over Facetime/Skype, ensembles cannot rehearse, nor can they prepare for shows or musicals.

If the school is closed the remainder of the semester, would there be any shows or musicals?

DS is a musical theater major at a private university. He's on spring break this week, but did not come home. He was hired to perform in a show about 50 miles from his campus. We are traveling there tomorrow to spend a few days with him and see the show. This morning, his university announced that classes will resume on Monday. There will be some restrictions - No unnecessary gatherings of 50 people or more, no visitors or non-residents in the dorms or other university housing, no visitors in dining halls, student who traveled to certain countries over spring break must check-in with the university when they get back, sick students must stay out of classes, etc.

The school will be testing online classes this Friday (before the student return from spring break) in case it becomes necessary to go that route. DS is very worried about that happening. He has a guest acting professor who is only available to teach this semester. Getting direct classroom coaching will be hard to duplicate online. It will change the whole dynamic of the class since they won't have scene partners to rehearse and perform with. Voice lessons will have to be online, which isn't impossible but not as effective. I have no idea how dance classes will be conducted. DS has been making real progress in dance and he would hate to lose that.

In terms of shows, they would have to be cancelled. Each musical theater major gets cast in one show per semester. DS already performed in his (and gets an extra performance opportunity in the show he's doing now). Other students have been rehearsing a musical and a play that have yet to be performed. They would have to miss out on the experience of doing a show this semester.

I realize that the health and safety of the students and staff have to come first. It would just be a bummer to lose the quality of the program that DS loves so much.

 

[TheIncredibles!]

That’s all well and good if you’re not sharing a room with somebody else.

Well she is not feeling well and being responsible by exposing the least amount of people possible.

 

[leebee]

We were notified by the Chancellor this afternoon that UMaine will be going to 100% online classes starting on Monday, March 23, which is the day classes start after Spring Break. Students are being encouraged to take everything they need for the rest of the semester with them when they leave for break on Friday, but the dorms won't be officially closed until March 22. International students and students with "extenuating circumstances" can apply to live on campus but the dorms will be restricted and normal campus life and activities will be restricted. The University is not closed, but there will be no classes held there for the rest of the semester. Employees will still work, but grad students and non-essential personnel are encouraged to find a work-situation that won't require their presence on campus. Restrictions on University-related travel were implemented on Monday, and faculty/staff had been told to start considering how they'd teach their courses in a remote/online fashion but until this afternoon there was no official word about the University going over to online-only for the spring semester.

The University made this decision because they have no control over where students go for spring break or with whom they interact. It was felt to be in everyone's best interest not to have students who potentially may have been exposed to Covid-19 return to campus, live in close contact with others, and spend much of their time in large groups. Maine has had no confirmed cases of coronavirus; having students not return from Spring Break will hopefully prevent widespread viral infection, because it's naive to think that Maine will never have a case of the virus/

 

[indimom]

I definitely can see how Spring Break plays a big part in the decision of universities. DD's school eliminated face to face courses yesterday. She's a senior chemistry major. She lives in an apartment off campus. She's staying, but she will take most of her classes online. She has one lab course that she's uncertain about at this time, the professor has until next week to determine how the course will be handled. Our DD was lucky that the school is allowing time-sensitive research to continue. She and one other grad student are allowed to continue their projects, they just have to work around each other in the lab space. So, she'll still be able to publish her results this semester; and, she will complete her thesis defense by skype.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yeah, just got off the phone with my daughter. Classes are suspended the next 2 days, with online learning next week. DD is kind of annoyed because she's scheduled for a Calc 2 exam tomorrow and she'd just as soon get it over with. Waiting 2 weeks for in person classes again seems like a bad idea.

Lots of kids heading home, but she works the front desk and just got word they are keeping to the regular work schedule. That complicates things for her. She'll probably have to stay and work at least through this weekend. The desk job is a great gig until a pandemic hits.

KU just made the announcement today. I posted the info on another thread as well.

Spring Break is going on now (started the 9th) and will end the 15th. However, no in-person classes will begin once spring break officially ends. Instead from March 16th-22nd faculty will prepare for the switch to online learning and then on March 23rd school will start back up and will be online format until further notice. Each week however the need to be remote will be evaluated though they anticipate needing it for at least several weeks. Anyone taking online classes already will NOT be impacted by the delay.

I found this portion interesting in their public notice more importantly the bolded: "This approach limits in-person exposure after spring break to align with the estimated COVID-19 incubation period, and allows faculty members a modest amount of time to prepare and begin the transition to online instruction. It also keeps the university functioning and helps students continue toward their educational goals."

Campus, dorm rooms and dining halls will remain open.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Why wouldn’t they just leave their stuff in the dorms and pick it up later?

Our son's school closed while he was on spring break. They currently are planning to let everyone back in April. Meanwhile they are supposed to have classes remotely.


His only problem is if he had known he would have packed a little more clothes. He certainly doesn't need everything in his dorm...