College COVID policies/plans Spring 2022

[Dmmetler]

Here's Agnes Scott's (virtual 2 weeks, testing required before return and on campus, boosters required by Jan 31, other policies continue once classes go back in person) 

 

https://www.agnesscott.edu/engaging-the-challenge-together/

Edited January 2, 2022 by Dmmetler
Because I messed up the year

[Kassia]

UT Dallas pushed back spring semester by one week for now - starting and ending a week later with spring break staying the same, but graduation is delayed by a week.  I expect more changes - (virtual or hybrid at first) - to be announced.  I'm skeptical of them starting with full dorms and classrooms but who knows.  

[Lanny]

DD made an appointment this morning with a lab that is on the list of labs approved by the Colombian government to give the Antigen and the PCR exams for Covid-19. She had a PCR there in mid-August, before she went to Germany for the Semester Abroad program.

If she was only entering the USA, the Antigen exam would be acceptable. But UNC is requiring a PCR for students who will be living in dorms, etc. so she is going to have both an Antigen exam and a PCR exam, to be sure she has everything covered. I think a PCR would do it, but she is also going to have an Antigen exam.

UNC says they will update this web page on or before 03 January 2022 if there are any changes because of COVID-19.

https://www.unc.edu/posts/2021/12/31/covid-19-update-plans-for-the-spring-2022-semester/

 

 

 

 

[kokotg]

Macalester hasn't announced any changes other than boosters required by Feb 1, but they're still a few weeks away from starting back up, so I think they're waiting a bit to see how things progress. My kid is supposed to be in Budapest this semester, leaving January 14, so we'll see what happens with that. His friend who was supposed to leave tomorrow for a different study abroad program just tested positive 😞 These poor kids. 

[Bootsie]

I am bracing myself for a rough start of the semester.  The university where I teach has not made any announcement of any changes.  The campus opens back up on Wednesday, and classes are scheduled to begin on January 10.   I haven't done the syllabi for my classes yet as I think everything is going to change in the next week.  What I will need to do the first few weeks will be different if we are online than if we are in the classroom--or if we are in person but I have a lot of students absent.  Another major issue that is looming is the possibility of vaccination mandates for employees.  The university sent out an email right as the holiday was beginning saying that they are watching things but don't know what they will be required to do.  Will all employees be required to be vaccinated because of an OSHA mandate?  And, we are considered a government contractor, so will we fall under a federal government contractor mandate?  So, it is possible we start the semester with employment issues, also.

DD is home for the holidays from her graduate program in Austria.  She is scheduled to return next Friday.  Their classes had been online for the past month, but are scheduled to resume in person on Jan 10.  Their fall semester goes until February--so this will be the end of their semester rather than a new one beginning in January.

 

[Mom_to3]

The uni DH and I work at is still planning on in person as announced proudly last week, with boosters required. I am not teaching, thankfully, but I can't imagine this will go well. We've had more people test positive in surveillance testing this week (with very few people testing of course) than ever. Anybody entering a classroom will enter knowing that they will infect themselves and their loved ones. Our state's hospitals are no longer functioning. Is the university's health services program prepared to deal with thousands of sick students within a month? Would they just hope for the best to not be overrun with phone calls and visits for covid/flu et al? Are they confident in their ability to provide dining services (and maintenance and ...) once staff fall sick? If I were a university, I would delay the start of in-person until mid to late February to let this current wave subside just a bit. When Omicron first hit, there were frequent meetings and announcements - but since this past summer, faculty and staff (and presumably students) have been left pretty much in the dark about plans.

[Kassia]

5 minutes ago, Mom_to3 said:

 If I were a university, I would delay the start of in-person until mid to late February to let this current wave subside just a bit. When Omicron first hit, there were frequent meetings and announcements - but since this past summer, faculty and staff (and presumably students) have been left pretty much in the dark about plans.

I agree yet I see parents and students screaming about paying tuition for remote classes being a waste of their money and they will withdraw.  At least at the uni my dd attends.  They don't think there is any problem with having full dorms, dining hall, classrooms, student union, etc. because they want the full college experience.  I would greatly prefer remote classes - or at least the option of remote for those students who want/need it.  

Tough times for administration trying to balance safety with finances and student/parent demands.  There's no way to please everyone.  But you have a good point about if the colleges can even handle the cases of infections, quarantines, isolations, etc. if they don't make changes for omicron.  

[MamaSprout]

My campus is pretending Covid is done. The only required testing is for athletes, and only because NCAA requires it.

[Selkie]

1 minute ago, MamaSprout said:

My campus is pretending Covid is done. The only required testing is for athletes, and only because NCAA requires it.

Same at the university that two of my kids attend. No masks required, either.

My third kid's school has been taking it more seriously. Anyone not vaxxed has to get tested regularly and masks are required in classrooms and common areas. They don't start back until late January, so no word yet on whether classes will be remote.

[madteaparty]

Bard is requiring testing before, testing after arrival (this they arrange themselves—they were doing random testing on vaccinated students all semester long), and boosters by end of January for those over 18.masks have always been required except for about 5 minutes in September

Edited December 31, 2021 by madteaparty

[regentrude]

You mean spring 2022 🙂

My uni hasn't announced anything yet, but we're not scheduled to go back until January 18.
Thanks to our governor-appointed board of curators, we have neither a mask mandate nor a vaccination requirement nor are permitted to switch to online instruction. It's going to be an incredible shit show if they don't change their policies.

Edited December 31, 2021 by regentrude

[easypeasy]

DDs college has made no statements. I imagine she'll start in-person classes on the 10th as currently scheduled. I'd be shocked at anything different.

Her school has been pretty good with Covid. Last semester, if you weren't vaccinated, you had to get semi-regular testing done. But a large majority of the students and faculty are vaccinated. With Omicron, it doesn't seem to matter all that much whether you're vaccinated or not as far as if you catch it (it does seem to matter quite a bit with how bad it turns out to be).

"Luckily" (?) DD caught Covid while home for Christmas break, so she should be good to go for a little while at least.

Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. So over it all. DD is SO ready to be able to make plans more than five minutes ahead of time. Stupid Covid.

[MEmama]

There haven’t been any changes to existing protocol at DS's university yet. Masking is already required indoors, larger lectures had already made changes for fewer students to be in attendance, and most of his classes are accessible both in person and online (he is a CS major, so that might not be true across the board, idk). Vaccination rates are near 100% (no mandate), boosters are available at the clinic on campus, testing is high and cases have been very, very low. 
 

New policies seem to come pretty last minute, so he'll be keeping an eye out closer to returning for spring semester. I imagine they will start on time, but it’s possible all classes will go online for a few weeks until omicron settles down. 

Edited January 1, 2022 by MEmama

[freesia]

My dd’s university seems to change every day. I think the latest is that dorms are open, but classes ( except labs and performance type) are virtual until the 23rd. They already have to be vaxxed. They have to wear masks and there are no gatherings like chapel or clubs. There are more things listed, but that’s the gyst. 

[Bootsie]

22 hours ago, Mom_to3 said:

 If I were a university, I would delay the start of in-person until mid to late February to let this current wave subside just a bit. When Omicron first hit, there were frequent meetings and announcements - but since this past summer, faculty and staff (and presumably students) have been left pretty much in the dark about plans.

I am glad I am not the one having to make decisions--because all of the choices are problematic.  Delaying the start sounds reasonable, until you start looking at some of the ramifications, which can be so different for different parts of the university campus.  If you simply delay the start and move everything a month later, you end up impacting graduation dates, summer internship possibilities, and the use of campus facilities for other summer activities (which can have significant budgeting implications).  Some majors have students that need to prepare for professional exams that are given on particular dates outside of the control of the university.  Education majors have observation and student teaching requirements that need to coincide with local school districts for scheduling.  Teaching schedules for professors become complicated when they are also teaching in professional masters programs that do not meet at traditional semester times, but that have been scheduled to mesh with the traditional semester.  

[Kassia]

22 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

If you simply delay the start and move everything a month later, you end up impacting graduation dates, summer internship possibilities, and the use of campus facilities for other summer activities (which can have significant budgeting implications).  

My daughter's university pushed the semester back one week and it has caused huge problems for us and others just with one week!  For us it has to do with her internship.  For others, it's graduation issues.  And I know some families who already booked family vacations based on the original academic calendar.  It's a mess.  I am very stressed about how we're going to handle the internship issues.  Gosh, it's always something.  And I feel terrible for you instructors who have to be ready to change modalities at the drop of a hat and be expected to do it well.  What a nightmare.

[JennyD]

4 hours ago, Bootsie said:

I am glad I am not the one having to make decisions-

Boy, isn't that the truth.  

The private university where DH and I teach has pushed back the start of classes one week.  They are keeping spring break and not moving commencement, so I guess we are going to have get grades done very quickly.   Since the start of the school year the state has prohibited vaccine mandates by both public and private businesses, so the university isn't requiring boosters, technically, just making it a giant PITA not to be boosted, with non-boosted students having to get tested far more often than the boosted.  

Pushing back the start of classes seems pretty reasonable to me-- even if the students (who were required to be vaccinated before the school year began) are by and large not in danger of getting particularly sick, if everyone gets sick at once the school is not going to be be able to function.  

I *really* do not want to teach online so I am hoping that we are past of the worst of this by the time classes begin, but I am not holding my breath

There is also a baffling requirement that all faculty have to get tested sometime between now and Jan 14.  Not to come back on campus, mind you, and you can get tested anytime in the next two weeks.   I guess the idea is to catch people who caught it while traveling over break, but given how contagious omicron is I really don't see how this is going to help much.  But whatever, fine.  Again, just happy I'm not the one who has to figure out all of this stuff.  

[Bootsie]

11 minutes ago, JennyD said:

Boy, isn't that the truth.  

The private university where DH and I teach has pushed back the start of classes one week.  They are keeping spring break and not moving commencement, so I guess we are going to have get grades done very quickly.   Since the start of the school year the state has prohibited vaccine mandates by both public and private businesses, so the university isn't requiring boosters, technically, just making it a giant PITA not to be boosted, with non-boosted students having to get tested far more often than the boosted.  

Pushing back the start of classes seems pretty reasonable to me-- even if the students (who were required to be vaccinated before the school year began) are by and large not in danger of getting particularly sick, if everyone gets sick at once the school is not going to be be able to function.  

I *really* do not want to teach online so I am hoping that we are past of the worst of this by the time classes begin, but I am not holding my breath

There is also a baffling requirement that all faculty have to get tested sometime between now and Jan 14.  Not to come back on campus, mind you, and you can get tested anytime in the next two weeks.   I guess the idea is to catch people who caught it while traveling over break, but given how contagious omicron is I really don't see how this is going to help much.  But whatever, fine.  Again, just happy I'm not the one who has to figure out all of this stuff.  

Is the end of the semester being pushed back a week, also so that everything is a week later?  Is spring break also pushed back a week?

One university locally has announced that everyone is required to be tested by Feb 5 over three weeks after in-person classses start.  That really makes no sense.

 

 

[Kassia]

1 minute ago, Bootsie said:

Is the end of the semester being pushed back a week, also so that everything is a week later?  Is spring break also pushed back a week?

 

 

At dd's, everything is pushed back by one week except for spring break - that stays the same.

[JennyD]

31 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

Is the end of the semester being pushed back a week, also so that everything is a week later?  Is spring break also pushed back a week?

 

 

Spring break and commencement are staying the same.  The end of classes, reading period, and exam week have all been pushed back a week.  

[BusyMom5]

Have heard a thing yet.  My DD wants full in person classes and will mask in class, but not in the dorm or dining hall. She's vaxed, but I'm planning to restock her medicine and just assume she's going to get it.  I hope it isn't so bad that it affects her grades.

[MEmama]

11 hours ago, Kassia said:

At dd's, everything is pushed back by one week except for spring break - that stays the same.

The Irish Leaving Cert exams (end of senior year exams that determine which universities Irish students get admitted to) were held a few weeks late this year due to covid, which out of necessity pushed the start date of all the universities 2 weeks later than usual for first year students (I think med started on time, somehow). The semester was condensed and finished on time—actually early, many classes held their exams in late November. I was concerned that squeezing 2 weeks of work into an abbreviated schedule would make for a tough start, but it ended up fine. 
 

I don’t envy the administrators. The decisions they have to make are the result of more moving parts than most of us can imagine, I suspect. 

[Kassia]

12 minutes ago, MEmama said:

 

I don’t envy the administrators. The decisions they have to make are the result of more moving parts than most of us can imagine, I suspect. 

I agree.  And there's no way to please everyone.  

My friend is a dean and has only been working in this position for a few years.  Covid started very soon after she started her position and she said it's definitely been the most stressful period of her professional life.  She does a great job but I just can't imagine the constant stress.  

[lewelma]

DS is flying back tomorrow! His uni has a one month January term and then spring semester starts in beginning of Feb.

The must return a negative covid test before arriving (they sent all the students PCR tests to do before travel), self isolate for 3 days (food brought to him) in his room, and then another negative test before he can leave his room. 

Then two negative PCR tests each week and a daily attestations of health. For the January term: boosters required, all classes remote, only half of the students were invited back, all food closed for eat in (all eating happens outside or in your room), N95 masks required in all indoor locations except your dorm room, and quarantine in a different dorm if positive.

Even with these measures, they have stated that they don't think they can contain omicron from spreading in the dorm. 😞

 

Edited January 3, 2022 by lewelma

[fourisenough]

4 hours ago, lewelma said:

DS is flying back tomorrow! His uni has a one month January term and then spring semester starts in beginning of Feb.

The must return a negative covid test before arriving (they sent all the students PCR tests to do before travel), self isolate for 3 days (food brought to him) in his room, and then another negative test before he can leave his room. 

Then two negative PCR tests each week and a daily attestations of health. For the January term: all classes remote, only half of the students were invited back, all food closed for eat in (all eating happens outside or in your room), N95 masks required in all indoor locations except your dorm room, and quarantine in a different dorm if positive.

Even with these measures, they have stated that they don't think they can contain omicron from spreading in the dorm. 😞

 

That sounds like a much more robust plan than any other I’ve heard of. 

[UmmIbrahim]

DS has a flight back tomorrow. Classes start on January 5th virtually and will remain virtual for the first half-week as well as the second full-week. They hope to resume in-person instruction on the third week.

Boosters are required for everyone. Students are supposed to try their best to get PCR testing prior to returning to campus. However, they are aware that tests are unavailable in many areas, so students who can't find one will just have to undergo an extra round of testing on-campus. In my area, there is no testing to be found anywhere before DS leaves (the holiday didn't help with this!), so he'll be doing it all on campus. Students quarantine in their dorms until all rounds of entry testing are complete. Because of the initial 1.5 weeks virtual, students will not all be arriving at the same time. They are trickling in during the virtual period and will be completing entry testing on a rolling schedule. 

All students are to wear KN95 masks or better, and all food is to be eaten inside individual dorm rooms or outdoors. I'm assuming that they will be resuming the initial fall testing schedule which I think was that all students were being tested every 4 days or so. More frequently than weekly, if I recall correctly.

DS is excited to get back to campus. He's pretty sure he wouldn't be able to focus on classwork from home with all of the distractions, and his roommate is arriving back to campus a bit later, so he'll have the room to himself for attending class. We'll see how things go!

 

[JennyD]

11 hours ago, lewelma said:

only half of the students were invited back. . . and quarantine in a different dorm if positive.

Even with these measures, they have stated that they don't think they can contain omicron from spreading in the dorm. 😞

 

Which half of the students were invited back?  

Quarantine space seems to be a major sticking point for reopening, at least for schools that have students in dorms.  

[lewelma]

39 minutes ago, JennyD said:

Which half of the students were invited back?  

Quarantine space seems to be a major sticking point for reopening, at least for schools that have students in dorms.  

This is only for January term (they have not announced spring term yet). January term is called independent activities period where they offer all these really cool and unusual half classes and seminars. They give you credit but not towards your major. They also have some classes offer for a major but not many.

So given that background, they cancelled all the fun classes, and they invited back kids taking classes for credit towards their major (but they will be online), kids doing research, athletes, and students with no where else to live. 

MIT is basically lucky that they have the January term because it allows them to figure out best practice before the real term starts in early Feb. Losing January term is sad but won't impact progression towards your degree.

My son is on the plane now. He is doing research so was allowed back.

Edited January 3, 2022 by lewelma

[Bootsie]

My university sent out a message today saying that they continue to monitor things and that the campus will open this Wednesday and classes will begin as scheduled, in person, on Jan 10.  We have a mask mandate and class numbers are set so that social distancing is possible, if desired.  (I just went and looked at my classroom and it may be possible for a FEW students in the class to socially distance if they desire, but not for everyone to be socially distanced).  

Between people being sick and people unable to travel because of flight cancelations, I am bracing myself for high rates of absences which is not a good precedent for starting a semester.

 

[elegantlion]

We also have not announced yet. I'm hoping we'll be able to have our class online for a few weeks at least. Last year the class I TA for had the first five weeks online completely. I'm not sure if the university will allow that this year. 

Edited January 4, 2022 by elegantlion

[skimomma]

Dd's university, where I also work, is going back full in person on Monday.  There has never been a vaccine mandate and there still isn't.  No surveillance testing or testing requirement to return.  Testing in our local area is very scarce anyway.  The university has its own very limited testing capabilities for symptomatic students and staff only.  The only thing that will look different from 2019 is the university will continue its waste water monitoring and masking will remain required indoors, even in the dorms, unless actively eating a meal or inside their rooms with the door closed.  The students have been very good about this so far but many are using ineffective masks or wearing them incorrectly.  Dd reports that everyone she knows is vaccinated and most got boosted over break.  But she also reports that some of her friends still got Covid over break so I suspect there will be a lot of active cases coming to campus.  

The majority of the local population comprises of Covid deniers.  All schools are already back in session with no masking or other measures in place.  It is very rare to see anyone masked in stores or other indoor spaces other than the university.  Because there is almost no testing available our local cases are "going down! yay us!"  However, suspiciously, the hospital is well past capacity and has been since delta hit.  Th vaccination rate of adults is less than 40% and very few children have been vaccinated.  I think coming back to school is far more of a risk to the students than anyone else.

[catz]

My son's university has not announced any changes but they don't start back up until the end of the month.  Because it's a public university, the state's legislature is making it tough to put a vaccine order in place.  But the school did an awesome job making life miserable for the non-vaccinated (testing required) so are at above 95% vaccination.  They had also identified like 150 omicron cases on campus before break because they do testing and sequencing on campus.  They have a really great base of data.  Last spring everyone on campus was testing twice a week and it went pretty ok, so I do wonder if they might have some testing requirements in place at least the first weeks of the semester.  They tie the testing info into their student ID cards for building access if they need to.  I'm sure they will be doing a big booster push.  My college student just got his booster last week, he wasn't fully vaxxed until the end of June.  But nice timing for him.  

Fall semester actually went great, my kid did tons of performance based stuff in person.  I'm sure there will be a bump when they first start back up (there always is) but I'm hoping it is on the tail of the omicron wave.

The hospitals there are very overwhelmed right now.  The county that college in still has a mask mandate in affect and has done a great job and has amazing stats.  But lots of outstate transfer patients coming in.  

[Bootsie]

DD is scheduled to fly back to Austria on Friday and has an all-day class of presentations on Monday.  She just got notice that all courses will be online through the end of January.  The semester there ends after the first week in February; this will means that the final week of the semester is scheduled to be in-person.  Now the debate begins of whether to fly back as scheduled on Friday or stay in the US a bit longer (and do online classes at 3:00am).  Of course, a big question is whether the last week will really be in person or if it will really be March before she is back in person.  And then there is the question of whether her flight Friday will be cancelled given all of the flight disruptions.

[Dmmetler]

For those who need to test, check for travel clinics. I had two people suggest ones that I had not found by searching that offer 1 hour PCR test turnaround for a (fairly hefty) fee for those who need it for travel, etc. Especially given everything else we're dealing with right now, it seems worth paying for. 

 

 

[Kassia]

Dd's university just announced online classes for the first two weeks of classes.  They already pushed the semester back by a week.  I wish they had just started on time and decided on three weeks of online instead since pushing back the end of the semester is causing huge problems for us and other families as well.  

[regentrude]

Our curators had a special meeting about Covid policies for the semester. The result is: Nothing.
We are "asked" to mask and be vaccinated. No mandates for anything. They're throwing us to the wolves.

Thanks governor appointees. This will be a shitshow.

[Kassia]

56 minutes ago, regentrude said:

Our curators had a special meeting about Covid policies for the semester. The result is: Nothing.
We are "asked" to mask and be vaccinated. No mandates for anything. They're throwing us to the wolves.

Thanks governor appointees. This will be a shitshow.

I'm sorry.  Such a mess.  That's the way it is for dd's university in TX since mandates aren't allowed by the governor.  But at least they are starting the first two weeks online. 

[Bootsie]

We started classes on Monday.  We have no vaccine mandate.  We do have a mask mandate but adherence and enforcement varies across campus.  We were notified on the Thursday before classes started, at about 5:15pm, we could move our class online for the FIRST WEEK ONLY, if we choose, but we need to follow the "student equity" policy which meant I was supposed to verify that all of my (about 200) students had appropriate technology to be online; we were told that because of the chip shortage that the university has had difficulting getting laptops to provide loaners for students.  

It was also recommended that we double mask or wear KN-95 masks while teaching.   The email said "information about univ providing these masks for employees is forthcoming."  Well I have spent 15 hours in the past for days in classrooms and haven't seen any of that information.

We are told that our classrooms allow for approximately 3 feet of social distancing between students.  I do not see how that can be achieved in my class.  Perhaps there is enough square footage if students were in the corners and completly against the wall and positioned exactly right--but I really don't know if there is enough square footage even with that.  There definitely is not with the furniture arrangement in the room.  I have 55 students in a room with 30 tables and 2 chairs per table.  You would have to have students sitting where they have 2 inches of a table in front of them, or be between two tables in order to provide 3 feet between the students.  

I really don't know what I would do if I were in charge.  But, I resent reading a long email about how the administration is reassured about its ability to handle all of this, when what they say the steps are and the reality for those of us in the classroom are different.  And--if faculty members test postiive--the protocol is for them to move their class online and teach from home while sick

[regentrude]

10 hours ago, Bootsie said:

But, I resent reading a long email about how the administration is reassured about its ability to handle all of this, when what they say the steps are and the reality for those of us in the classroom are different.

Yes. The extremely long and completely tone-deaf emails from our administration do nothing to improve morale. They have not, with any single word, ever expressed understanding that faculty are concerned. They may not have many options, but a sentence along the lines "we understand that some of you are concerned" would go a long way. Nada.

So, we have absolutely nothing in terms of protection, but our chancellor sent out statements like these:
"because we are a residential campus that emphasizes the on-campus experience, having our faculty and staff be physically present on campus to provide in-person services and consultation is imperative. This is especially important during the first few weeks of the semester "

in the meantime, other schools go completely online....
Our confirmed and reported cases in the county doubled from last week to this, and we all know they're vastly undercounted. But hey, we must be in person even for non-essential crap. I wonder what they're going to do when half the students are out.... Probably send even longer emails blabbering about how much the school cares about the students. Let's be honest: they care about the students' dollars. They don't give a crap about their faculty.

Edited January 14, 2022 by regentrude

[skimomma]

I feel for you all.  I also work at a university but am now staff after 13 years of teaching.  So, I am shielded from much of the exposure.  However, my dd is a student here and we also have no vaccine mandate and are full on in-person.  We do have mask mandates and the students have been very good about it.  Testing is very limited and what little is being done shows that infections are rampant.  Dd has so many known exposures, she is just assuming she will get it.  Faculty are allowed to go remote at their discretion.  Some have.  Dd has two classes that went remote right away but at least one plans to go in person again once Omicron settles.  Most classes also allow students to go remote as needed as well.   

[Bootsie]

1 hour ago, regentrude said:

Yes. The extremely long and completely tone-deaf emails from our administration do nothing to improve morale. They have not, with any single word, ever expressed understanding that faculty are concerned. They may not have many options, but a sentence along the lines "we understand that some of you are concerned" would go a long way. Nada.

So, we have absolutely nothing in terms of protection, but our chancellor sent out statements like these:
"because we are a residential campus that emphasizes the on-campus experience, having our faculty and staff be physically present on campus to provide in-person services and consultation is imperative. This is especially important during the first few weeks of the semester "

in the meantime, other schools go completely online....
Our confirmed and reported cases in the county doubled from last week to this, and we all know they're vastly undercounted. But hey, we must be in person even for non-essential crap. I wonder what they're going to do when half the students are out.... Probably send even longer emails blabbering about how much the school cares about the students. Let's be honest: they care about the students' dollars. They don't give a crap about their faculty.

I wonder if this are form emails that administrations are sharing with each other because it sounds just like the emails we are getting.  We get emails about our duty to the students, the importance of the students' mental health, how we need to be more compassionate than ever, how we need to respond to students more quickly, how we need to be concerned about whether they have a computer and a whole lot more.  We have had benefits cut and no pay raises.  I am at a private school and early on in the pandemic there was concern if enrollments, and tuition revenue, would drop tremendously.  So, faculty were encouraged to go the extra mile to cater to students.  Ironically, our enrollments have exploded and my department has had the largest increase in enrollments on campus.  We have also had two faculty members retire during COVID, but we have had a hiring freeze and can't replace them.  So, we are teaching more students with fewer faculty, are having to deal with helping students make up work when the are quarantined or sick, having students miss class on Fridays because out of abundance of caution they think they might be sick and need to test and wait for results, etc.  And, the faculty can't figure out why if enrollment has skyrocketed, our benefits that were reduced temporarily because of fear of falling enrollments, have not been reinstated; instead the board has made those reductions permanent.  

At the same time we get an email about how supervisors should work with their staff to let them work from home or stagger their hours to decrease density on campus.  Those who work in areas like study abroad and campus events have been kept on the payroll with huge reductions in workload.  They spend their work hours in ZOOM coffee chats and other leisure activities designed to boost connectivity and morale.  I know some people in housing and other offices have faced what faculty have faced of more work, more stress, less resources.  The impact has been very uneven across campus.  And the administration has no concept of how this is impacting a faculty member who teaches multiple classes with hundreds of students compared to a professor with a couple of sections of 10 students.  

We have had 381 cases confirmed on campus so far in January--and we have only had four days of classes.  Our record was 243 in September 2021 when we had a bad outbreak.  The administration's response is "we expect a big wave when we return to campus as we have at the beginning of each semester; but we are confident that we can handle it as we have proven.  Be assured that there is no evidence of any classroom transmission ever occuring."

 

[regentrude]

@Bootsie and may the odds be ever in your favor

[Bootsie]

5 minutes ago, regentrude said:

@Bootsie and may the odds be ever in your favor

Ironically, we just got an email from the Provost that begins: "I hope you had a successful first week of the Spring 2022 semester. As expected, the COVID-19 counts will rise, and then fall. I appreciate you working cohesively throughout the interruptions." 

Then it repeats the lengthy email from last week, still saying that information about the university providing the recommended masks is forthcoming.  

The administration does not seem concered that we have had over 1/3 of the cases that we had in ALL of 2021 just four days into classes (with many test results still outstanding)--after all we expected it. 

[regentrude]

5 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

Ironically, we just got an email from the Provost that begins: "I hope you had a successful first week of the Spring 2022 semester. As expected, the COVID-19 counts will rise, and then fall. I appreciate you working cohesively throughout the interruptions." 

Then it repeats the lengthy email from last week, still saying that information about the university providing the recommended masks is forthcoming.  

The administration does not seem concered that we have had over 1/3 of the cases that we had in ALL of 2021 just four days into classes (with many test results still outstanding)--after all we expected it. 

and we got an email that says "We also are continuing our preparations to keep our campus safe for our students, faculty and staff during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic."
What the hell are they talking about? We know there won't be any requirements of any kind. They are doing diddly squat to keep anyone safe. I am so done - and we haven't even started yet. 
My stated goal for the year (because we have to formulate plans): make it to the end without rage quitting. That is very ambitious.

 

[Kassia]

1 hour ago, regentrude said:

My stated goal for the year (because we have to formulate plans): make it to the end without rage quitting. That is very ambitious.

 

I'm so sorry.  I know you are a devoted and committed professor and it would be a loss if you quit.  
 

My friend is the dean of two regional campuses of a state university.  She said the president of the university keeps announcing mandates that she doesn't have the resources to implement or enforce.  It's really stressful and frustrating for everyone.  

[Bootsie]

21 minutes ago, Kassia said:

I'm so sorry.  I know you are a devoted and committed professor and it would be a loss if you quit.  
 

My friend is the dean of two regional campuses of a state university.  She said the president of the university keeps announcing mandates that she doesn't have the resources to implement or enforce.  It's really stressful and frustrating for everyone.  

My university has a mask mandate for indoor areas.  We can report a student to the Dean of Students if the student is in our instructional area (classroom or lab) and refuses (I don't know how effective that is).  Under FAQs on the website about face coverings in the buildings (which students can see), the first sentence is "No one is required to enforce the mask requirement."  So much for a mandate..

[JennyD]

2 hours ago, regentrude said:

and we got an email that says "We also are continuing our preparations to keep our campus safe for our students, faculty and staff during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic."

Hey, i got that email, too.  Actually, that seems like every email.

Our university is doing a lot to try and keep everyone safe (vax and mask mandates, testing, etc.) so I can't fault them for that, but some of the stuff that comes out of the central administration is just goofy. Today there was a notice that if a faculty member tests positive we must isolate and cannot come to campus, but we have to request special permission to teach class via an "alternate modality" (aka zoom) during our isolation period.  

I am not clear what the preferred alternative is supposed to be in this situation. Canceling class entirely, I guess?  The notice did not say anything about having to ask permission for that.  In the before times it was very occasionally possible to reschedule a missed class at the end of the semester, but now that we are starting a week late that is out of the question.   

 

[elegantlion]

McSweeney's is on point today. https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/how-we-will-separate-you-from-any-lingering-hope-and-other-important-topics-of-todays-faculty-meeting?fbclid=IwAR1VP_hgglkQ5KMrHP9WZv6iEAbSphw4LM9BudybzMEocly6ZdOpLO2ox-k

[JennyD]

Harvard is dialing way back on their protocols this semester.

 

[kokotg]

Macalester just extended online classes another week, to the 28th (my son's not there this semester; he's doing a semester in Budapest, where he's in a very small (35 people I think) program that's supposed to start in person classes next week after doing the first week online. Masks required, weekly testing). They say it's not because of worries about in class transmission but because they have a lot of international students who've had travel back to campus disrupted by covid and weather. Though they also mention having a lot of staff and student cases right now.