Quote:
Originally Posted by revots33
Seems that, even with Cal State making the early call to conduct classes online in the fall, most colleges are making plans to reopen for the fall semester.
This seems like a purely economic decision. And a pretty terrible one. I was hoping colleges might follow Cal State's lead.
Reasons to wait until January:
-Legitimate chance of a vaccine by then.
-Most colleges are woefully unprepared to deal with any outbreaks on campus.
-We just conducted half a semester online, with zero preparation time or advance warning, and it for the most part went fine.
-Instead of contingency plans, colleges could focus on delivering the best possible online instruction.
-Parents and students would know in advance what to expect for the fall, instead of the current uncertainty of will they or won't they.
-Colleges will spend millions on social distancing measures that will potentially only be needed for 3 months.
-Faculty, staff, and even some students will likely die in the rush to get back one semester sooner.
Apparently my university will announce plans for the fall on June 8th. The latest proposal I am hearing is for in-person classes operating at 50% of less classroom capacity. I have no idea how they would accomplish this given that we already have a classroom shortage.
I am also hearing they want to move the whole semester slightly earlier so that it will end before Thanksgiving. Which is fine by me, but I’m really not sure what the point is with regard to the virus.
FWIW, our area has not been seriously directly affected by the virus; we have only one recorded covid death in our county.