Tales From America's Covid Campuses

[VioletsAreBlue]

I was in my schools discussions around reopening, and honestly, no matter which way you went, there are no winners. We announced intentions to remain virtual very early on, as soon as we got state approval, and then our tech team worked with each faculty member to develop their programs for online delivery (as opposed to zoom teaching that was the spring). We got a lot of appreciation from our student body for that "at least we know", and our tuition points and enrollment numbers remained really strong, but we took a major revenue hit - in the tune of multi-millions of dollars - in housing. We've had furloughs, massive budget cuts, and I expect that more is coming.
Truth be told, not every school can sustain that kind of loss.

Then you had the schools that were determined to open no matter what and then realized that they couldn't pull it off, pissing off parents and student who in some cases were literally en route to school, or in other cases, had the plug pulled the day or a few days after tuition, room and board were due in full (yes, that was calculated, don't be fooled).

Then you had the schools who opened no matter what, and their biggest fault was not being transparent ENOUGH. I GUARANTEE YOU, every single higher ed professional KNEW dorms are the problem. They knew that within in a matter of weeks, if not days, they were going to be at this point. They knew the measures that would be taken when an outbreak happened and while yes, those measures were communicated, it wasin a slew of welcome back messaging, that had people 1) excited about the return and 2) felt really positive about the safety measures on campus. It was always "if" there was an outbreak, not "when." It was "infected students will be isolated" not "entire dorms may be isolated" making it seems like case-by-case. It was "isolated students will be taken care of" not "isolated students will be cared for and should be prepared to see health staff in extensive PPE to mitigate spread," etc.

And then, I hate to say it, you have the ignorance of those who didn't think this would be an issue. We are in a global pandemic, how anybody couldn't see this coming on college campuses, I truly don't understand. I suppose I can be okay with the students not understanding. But I truly don't understand the older adults in this mess who are complaining about the student experience. To them, I say, what did you expect and how did you think it was going to happen that way? Because this was ALWAYS going to be it and everybody in higher ed knew it.

And the most frustrating thing about it? It didn't have to be this way.

[PersistentDST]

Originally Posted by VioletsAreBlue

I was in my schools discussions around reopening, and honestly, no matter which way you went, there are no winners. We announced intentions to remain virtual very early on, as soon as we got state approval, and then our tech team worked with each faculty member to develop their programs for online delivery (as opposed to zoom teaching that was the spring). We got a lot of appreciation from our student body for that "at least we know", and our tuition points and enrollment numbers remained really strong, but we took a major revenue hit - in the tune of multi-millions of dollars - in housing. We've had furloughs, massive budget cuts, and I expect that more is coming.
Truth be told, not every school can sustain that kind of loss.

Then you had the schools that were determined to open no matter what and then realized that they couldn't pull it off, pissing off parents and student who in some cases were literally en route to school, or in other cases, had the plug pulled the day or a few days after tuition, room and board were due in full (yes, that was calculated, don't be fooled).

Then you had the schools who opened no matter what, and their biggest fault was not being transparent ENOUGH. I GUARANTEE YOU, every single higher ed professional KNEW dorms are the problem. They knew that within in a matter of weeks, if not days, they were going to be at this point. They knew the measures that would be taken when an outbreak happened and while yes, those measures were communicated, it wasin a slew of welcome back messaging, that had people 1) excited about the return and 2) felt really positive about the safety measures on campus. It was always "if" there was an outbreak, not "when." It was "infected students will be isolated" not "entire dorms may be isolated" making it seems like case-by-case. It was "isolated students will be taken care of" not "isolated students will be cared for and should be prepared to see health staff in extensive PPE to mitigate spread," etc.

And then, I hate to say it, you have the ignorance of those who didn't think this would be an issue. We are in a global pandemic, how anybody couldn't see this coming on college campuses, I truly don't understand. I suppose I can be okay with the students not understanding. But I truly don't understand the older adults in this mess who are complaining about the student experience. To them, I say, what did you expect and how did you think it was going to happen that way? Because this was ALWAYS going to be it and everybody in higher ed knew it.

And the most frustrating thing about it? It didn't have to be this way.

This. All of this.

As of today, the campus is slightly less than 50% virtual. We don’t have the testing capacity that I’ve heard about at other schools, so they are only testing those with symptoms, which doesn’t necessarily help the cause. They are trying to be transparent with weekly videos and updates, but the news isn’t going to make everyone happy. Alas, week two is almost complete.

Meanwhile, there are videos on Snapchat from students at my alma mater who are advertising parties or who have videos of parties which are in real time. I have family and other loved ones who work there and I worry about their safety, as their numbers slowly creep up.

I miss interacting directly with my students, doing programming and having impromptu group conversations in the office. They bring me a lot of joy and it’s been a rough past two years. I asked to work from home because I can’t afford to be in a high traffic area and put my parents (the only other humans I’ve visited since March) at risk.

I feel bad for everyone in the equation, especially students. This isn’t the optimum experience, but honestly I don’t think there is one during a global pandemic. It’s well above my pay grade anyway. Colleges and universities have been exposed in many ways. But, if people want to get through this, precautions have to be followed. Parties have to be missed. Masks should cover mouths and noses. Interactions should be limited. It’s not fun. Everyone’s not happy. Inconveniences and disappointments are aplenty. This could’ve been avoided, but we are here and it has to be a commitment.