@GKUnion - Ha! And I find this equally true if I post b4 my first cup of coffee! 
Campbell University in NC is giving all students single rooms at no extra charge.
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/05/18/campbell-u-provide-single-dorm-rooms
Haven’t most colleges already had an outbreak on campus among the students who stayed behind in dorms? The colleges I follow have. It has been dealt with and life goes on.
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My son lived in an NYU dorm last summer…Large buildings in lower Manhattan, many kids on 8 plus floors in this particular building. A very similar feel to other college campuses except they are in a dense city. NYU announces they are opening which I assume kids back in the dorms in August…
These colleges (businesses) are on a collision course with state governments that are pushing lockdown for safety and health reasons.
The dorms aren’t as big of a deal. They would love 1 person per room, but if they have to go with doubles it’s fine. The people in the doubles end up being “quarantined” together as one unit, and can interact with out masks or social distancing.
Since the students won’t have as many activities, will be wearing masks everywhere except their dorm room, and meals might be only with room mates limiting singles and having more doubles would help with mental health issues.
Right now I think the biggest hurdle to getting campus back open in a way that the students will be happy is dining. Dining has to be indoors at most schools and has to be done without a mask, and that means 6+ feet of distance between diners.
For schools that left dining open for students who couldn’t go home, we heard that they closed all the self serve stations and removed tables/chairs so there was social distancing. Students had the option of moving through the food areas and being served by masked/gloved staff, or grabbing to go boxes and returning to their rooms. For schools with mild weather (or those that have some at least for part of the year), schools could also move tables outdoors. The other thing they did was close the dining hall for longer between meals to allow for deeper cleaning between shifts.
I’m also hearing about plans for staggered use of the dining halls. Things like if you live in dorm A, your lunch hours are between X:00 - Y:00, and only at specific dining halls.
I can also see an increase use in delivery robots. Purdue has a fleet of them and they were all over campus last year. They’ll need to institute a cleaning protocol between orders but that seems pretty doable.
This is the same things I’m hearing. They can only seat about 25% of the max if each student has to sit by themselves 6 feet apart, so they can’t feed everyone in the tight windows students normally eat. I think it will be a combo of assigned dining and take out boxes.
Dining is a big part of the social aspect of college, and I’m not sure people will pay for that type of dining.
In this last semester they had box meals that the students went to their local community center for this part of campus and picked up their boxes. But this was with very few students on campus. I think staggered class’s with staggered meal times makes sense
One of the problems which is perhaps not likely to be addressed, is that some percentage of the population is not going to comply with whatever “restrictions” are placed on them for various and sundry reasons.
If schools are not defacto enforcing compliance (eg by not having tables in the dining hall), then there are students who will not comply. Will they take that into account in their planning? To some extent it will be impossible to do so.
This is true at the K-12 level as well, as some parents have already signaled their intent not to comply with social distancing/masks. So what the children do or don’t do will be compounded by what their parents are dictating from the sidelines.
Just got an email about leave of absences. Bowdoin is not limiting them at all. Students have two weeks to decide after the College announces its fall plans and all requests are binding. The only difference for these Covid leave of absences is that they cannot promise students they can return during the semester they request to return. See below:
“In order to remain committed to our enrollment model, it may become necessary to restrict the timing of readmissions. This will be determined by the number of students who elect to take a personal leave, which is currently unknown. For example, if a student requests a one year of absence to return in Fall 2021, that student may not be able to return until Spring 2022 or later depending on a variety of factors that may be unknown at the time the student elects to take a leave. Our hope is, of course, to accommodate every student’s preferred timing for readmission, but at this time, Bowdoin cannot guarantee that a student on personal leave will be readmitted to the College for the semester they request.”
Imagine the complaining because the more limited lunch hour happens to be when the student has class, or the specific dining halls are far away from the student’s classes.
If D19 gets to go back to school this Fall, I doubt she (or her friends) would be complaining about something like this. I expect most schools will be able to figure out a workable plan, of course, there will always be some malcontents.
@sylvan8798 - re bottom of post #4291: That’s scary.
So, you can take a leave of absence but you can’t change your mind and your return date is not guaranteed. Wow, they are making a decision pretty simple huh?
I would say the Bowdoin is forbidding leaves of absences-by not guaranteeing prompt reenrollment, few will be willing to risk being out 2 or more years.
My rising senior is in her off-campus house and will stay there until graduation. She has no interest in being at home with her siblings and parents. If it’s online, she will still stay there and do online school with her friends.
It’s funny on interpretation but I have no skin in the game with Bowdoin. I read that as being very up front and honest.
^ Both are true.
Im scratching my head with that bowdoin policy. One is in a bind if one cant reenter. Does one send new applicions out?