4,000 Cornell Students Live in States Affected by New York Travel Advisory, Required 14-Day Quarantine
As thousands of Cornellians prepare to return to campus, students from 31 states will have to come back to Ithaca two weeks before classes begin in order to comply with New York’s COVID-19 travel advisory. If the same states are restricted in August, about 4,000 undergrads will be impacted. With classes set to begin Sept. 2, students from restricted states should plan to arrive in Ithaca by Aug. 17, according to Cornell’s move-in information website. The University said it will provide students planning to live on campus with a quarantine location and meals. Students in off-campus housing will need to stay put at their residences.
The Ethics of Reopening
The Reverend Dennis H. Holtschneider explores the numerous thorny issues that leaders and members of college communities will confront.
By Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider
July 21, 2020
Pandemics rightly invite the language of science and best practice when it comes to the choices we make. If you listen, however, there’s another conversation of right and wrong and assignments of “Who is responsible?” It’s the language of ethics and morality, and, in that vein, I’ve been ruminating on the ethics of colleges and universities reopening for the fall term. Here’s a baker’s dozen.
For college students, taking a gap year might be the best way to outwit coronavirus
Janak Bhakta, a soft-spoken 17-year-old from Tustin, had big plans for 2020. He wanted to spend time away from academics to learn, grow and mature by traveling the world. Then the coronavirus pandemic struck and turned those plans to dust. “The ideal plan was to travel internationally, but obviously that’s not going to happen,” Bhakta says about his planned gap year. He filled out applications for Outward Bound Costa Rica and NOLS Baja, two leading outdoor and leadership organizations, but both programs were canceled due to travel restrictions and health concerns.
This VC firm will invest up to $100K in students who want to take a gap year to build a company
The coronavirus pandemic has made returning to the classroom less appealing to many students. Contrary Capital founder Eric Tarczynski sees that as an opportunity. “Perhaps obviously, paying $50,000 to take classes online is just not appealing to anyone,” Tarczynski said. Students headed to elite schools such as Harvard seem particularly troubled by the situation. Instead, Tarczynski’s venture firm is making a different offer: It will invest up to $100,000 in exchange for a small slice of ownership in startups created by five different students (or student teams) who are willing to take a gap year to build a company.
This May Be the Worst Season of Summer Melt in Memory. Here’s How Some Colleges Are Fighting It.
The pandemic risks derailing students of color, especially, hurting their prospects and colleges’ bottom lines
Isaiah Delgado worked hard in high school, determined to prove that he could keep pace with his more privileged peers. This spring, he graduated summa cum laude from the International Baccalaureate program, with plans to study journalism at the University of Central Florida, one of the nation’s largest colleges. His dream is to work for ESPN — he loves sports and admires the athletes who “use the platform for social change.”
First, Consider the Deal Breakers
By mid-June, the overwhelming majority of colleges and universities in the United States had announced that they planned to have their students return to campus for the fall semester. But college presidents, boards of trustees and legal teams continue to analyze, measure and wrestle with the dozens of variables that could impact or impede an on-campus term.
1.8 million students are being ignored during this pandemic over fee refunds. They shouldn’t be
It is a truism that this ‘unprecedented’ global pandemic has so dramatically altered the ways of life we all took for granted. For some, the economic effects of lockdown or the physical impacts of the disease itself have been felt harder than others. But for the UK student population, the situation has raised some important concerns about the future.
Ep. 14: Planning, Adjusting and Communicating for the Fall
The University of Kentucky this spring brought together more than 500 people to create its 187-page “Playbook for Reinvented Operations.” The flagship public university also has been particularly open about how it’s dealing with the pandemic. We spoke with Eli Capilouto, UK’s president and an expert on public health policy, about how the university developed the playbook, and how it’s continuing to prepare for the looming fall term.
Stay Apart or Stay Home
Colleges are implementing social contracts or making addenda to code of conduct policies requiring students to abide by social distancing guidelines this fall. Some institutions have said they will remove students from campus for noncompliance.
By Greta Anderson
July 15, 2020
As college leaders move ahead on plans to reopen their campuses this fall, it is becoming more clear that they lack confidence in their ability to control student behavior that can spread the coronavirus. In addition to plans to regularly test students for COVID-19, college administrators are putting faith in conduct codes and written pledges that mandate students refrain from large gatherings, follow social distance guidelines and wear face masks. The administrators are setting up clear expectations for how students must conduct themselves and getting the message out through campus health campaigns and online training modules. What is less clear is how far colleges can go beyond their gates to enforce healthy behavior, which some students have already proven they are not willing to engage in.
Government Rescinds International Student Policy
The decision to abandon a directive that would have prevented international students from taking all their coursework online came in response to a lawsuit from Harvard and MIT.
By Elizabeth Redden
July 15, 2020
The Department of Homeland Security rescinded a July 6 policy directive that would have required international students to take at least some in-person coursework in order to remain in the U.S. The government agreed to rescind the guidance in response to a lawsuit filed by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The rescission of the July 6 directive, and an associated FAQ released July 7, means that the government reverts to guidance issued in March that allows international students to remain in the U.S. while taking a fully online course load.