Amherst sent out a pretty extensive email last night talking about their planning process. Here were some important pieces:
"Fall Semester
We continue to hope that you will be on campus in the fall and are working hard to understand and create the conditions that would make that possible. However, there is still too much uncertainty for us to make a decision at this point. We know you want a full academic and residential learning experience. We want that for you, too. One way or the other, we take seriously our responsibility to provide the education you need for the next phases of your lives in the safest possible conditions.
There is no zero-risk scenario for residential education, given the absence into the fall semester of a vaccine against COVID-19. We will need to decide how much risk is too much for on-campus learning. Right now we are working to identify the keys to bringing you to campus, while also waiting for the guidance we expect from the state and from the CDC.
Based on what we know now, we would need the availability of reliable, easily administered, and widespread testing for the virus, with a short turnaround time for results. The availability of such testing is increasing by the day. Second, we would need a robust capacity for contact tracing. My conversation last week with Paul Farmer, founder of Partners in Health, gives me some confidence that an effective system could be in place in Massachusetts by fall. Third, we would need to observe some form of social distancing. Ideally, we will have more effective therapeutics even before a vaccine is available, but these alone will not necessarily obviate the need for social distancing precautions. Fourth, the College would need to identify and set aside spaces that would allow us to isolate and care for any student infected with the virus and to quarantine those who have been in contact with the infected person. We are hard at work on arrangements for such spaces.
Alongside the logistics is the “people” piece of the puzzle. There are a number of things we would need to ask of you, based on what we know now. You might need to wear masks everywhere you go and, for your own safety, wear gloves in many contexts. We are acquiring the necessary supplies of these and other items. We may need to require that you limit your movement to on-campus locations only; that you are willing to be tested; that you monitor your temperature; and that you make use of oximeters to track oxygen levels. The most difficult, but equally necessary, responsibility would be your compliance with social distancing guidelines, which will very likely prohibit large gatherings and may significantly limit the number of people with whom you can be in close proximity. We would need to know that you are willing to take these measures in order to protect yourselves, other students, and our faculty and staff. Of course, some of you with health risks and those of you who cannot get to Amherst for other reasons may need to do your work remotely. Even those on campus may still be doing some portion of some courses from locations outside of a traditional classroom, because faculty with underlying health conditions or who are at risk for other reasons may choose to opt out of being in classrooms. We would make accommodations for these and other needs.
We have been discussing a range of possible models for creating meaningful and safer ways of bringing students to campus. Some of you have written to me about the so-called “Beloit model,” which would have you enroll in two courses in each of four seven-week mini-semesters on campus, reducing the disruption to your studies of shifting from one mode of delivery to another. There are other ways to maximize on-campus time by imagining a variety of adjustments to the academic calendar and the traditional cadence of a normal year.
We are keenly aware of the socioeconomic and racial inequities that have been highlighted and heightened by this pandemic. We know we will need to take disparities into account under any circumstances. Some possible scenarios would involve higher costs for travel, for example, and could therefore have the potential to limit options for some of you. In all of our planning, we will take this into account and we will set aside funds to help address these challenges.
What happens if we conclude that it is not safe enough to have students on campus at the beginning of the semester or for the entire fall? To prepare for this possibility, faculty will be working over the summer to develop courses and pedagogies that will greatly enhance what we can offer online. As you know, our faculty had only one week to prepare for the conversion of their in-person instruction to online teaching in March, just as you had only a week to travel and ready yourselves for online learning. In the first survey you filled out, many of you expressed gratitude to your faculty for their extraordinary efforts and their success in making the change and engaging you in your studies. Many of you also lamented the difference between residential learning and learning at a distance. You have made a strong case for the value of residential liberal arts education in your commentary. Should remote learning prove necessary, we will ensure that it does far more than replicate what was possible this spring.
Amherst faculty members are embracing the need for flexibility in course development so they can provide you with an excellent educational experience, regardless of the mode in which it is offered. Disciplines that involve hands-on experiences are harder to reproduce in full online. Some colleges and universities are contemplating credit for science courses in which much of the material is covered remotely, with labs occurring when students are able to be back on campus. In addition to enhancing the classes you might be taking in the fall, if at a distance, we are also organizing out-of-classroom support and community-building opportunities so you can experience as much of the richness of an Amherst education as can be provided remotely.
What about tuition if we are forced to rely on remote learning for the entire semester? I don’t yet have an answer for you on that front, but we are aware of your concerns and are thinking hard about this question."
Translation: ‘We hope to bring you back but are not willing to make a commitment yet. If we return to campus, we may require you to stay on-campus at all times, wear a mask, We are making improvements to the infrastructure to improve education if we have to remain online. I don’t want to tell you that we intend to charge you full tuition for an online fall semester unless we are forced to remain online in fall.’