U.S. colleges stick with reopening plans despite outbreak fears
"Students want to be at Tulane. They want the experience of being at Tulane."
Michael Fitts is the president at Tulane University in New Orleans and he’s got an ambitious plan: To bring all 14,000 students back to campus with some adjustments.
“The interest in sort of a classic undergraduate, on-ground experience has never been stronger… Obviously, that experience is going to be a little bit different than in the past."
Wearing masks and social distancing are a must. Temporary classrooms and marked seating are being added to spread out students. Tulane is also planning widespread testing.
(Tulane President Michael Fitts): “We're testing everybody before they come back, before they enter and then surveillance testing constantly to make sure that we pick up anything that might be a problem.”
While some colleges are backtracking, cancelling reopening plans and going fully online, others like Tulane are pushing ahead, bringing students back to campus with a mix of in-person and remote learning, despite objections from some community members and employees.
College leaders say public health is their top concern, but industry observers see a financial motivation to bringing students back.
(Higher education investor Ryan Craig): “Colleges and universities have an impossible choice to make.”
Ryan Craig, a higher education investor in New York, says that financial burden makes the decision very difficult for colleges.
He’s a skeptic, predicting that universities that reopen now will close again later in the Fall once there are outbreaks.
“Unfortunately, too many are not being honest with students or are engaging in what I call magical thinking, hoping that it's going to it's going to work out with proper planning. But unfortunately, you can't plan, you can't plan around the behavior of college students. And we know that 100% are not going to be compliant with social distancing and masking."
But despite the new rules, students like Lauren Biegel at Rice University are ready to be at school.
“I mean, I'm excited just to,like, get to be at the starting line. We've been preparing to be at the starting line for months now. Pretty much all we've thought about since March. So definitely excited to get here."
It’s perhaps the biggest experiment ever for higher education, and challenges abound.
The University of California at Berkeley, for example, backtracked on resuming in-person after reporting 47 new COVID-19 cases in a single week, resulting primarily from a series of parties in July at fraternities and sororities.
In late May, about 66 percent of U.S. colleges and universities were planning for some in-person instruction, but that number has slowly declined to about 50 percent as of late July.
相關影片推薦
- 0:43店員「頭洗一半」幫結帳? 民眾傻:頭有泡沫、飲料被甩桌上東森新聞影音13,384 次觀看・1 天前
- 0:34勞動部「輪椅運遺體、沒蓋白布」 邱泰源說話了民視影音323,509 次觀看・2 天前
- 1:43獨!謝宜容全家福曝光 先生掌樹林2精密工業公司華視影音32,652 次觀看・20 小時前
- 1:338投手鎖死美國隊 王建民賽後比讚喊很棒|#鏡新聞鏡新聞46,046 次觀看・21 小時前
- 0:53不滿準備右轉汽車先駛入機車道 騎士擋道3分鐘東森新聞影音77,158 次觀看・2 天前
- 1:21新北板橋女子約詐騙集團面交 警拿「警棍、花盆」破窗逮2名車手民視影音66,682 次觀看・1 天前
- 2:13不忍了!中國學生公開活動怒嗆校方 網路瘋傳狂讚「勇者」民視影音117,120 次觀看・3 天前
- 20:21【影后】今年最強台劇登場😍 麗芬母女道歉戲寓意?連遊覽車、跑步機都有戲? 12個你一定要看懂的細節🔥Ki笑人生44,245 次觀看・4 天前
- 1:51在地人才知道! 東港深夜食堂"生魚片平均一片8元"民視影音28,555 次觀看・1 週前
- 1:57進出管制彷彿國安等級規格 薄瓜瓜婚宴地拉高戒備|#鏡新聞鏡新聞21,096 次觀看・20 小時前
熱門必看
- 2:25金馬61男配入圍每位都超意外 「演戲天才」春風驚呼:以為出事了娛樂星聞3,101 次觀看・5 小時前
- 6:31林政勳被說不夠高 帥勸退當演員 入圍金馬媽媽卻希望他不要得獎【2024金馬專訪】Yahoo奇摩娛樂 電影影音36,131 次觀看・1 天前
- 6:19彭紫惠、王品文拍《春行》吵到被報警 被楊貴媚說不是地球人【2024金馬專訪】Yahoo奇摩娛樂 電影影音17,319 次觀看・1 天前
- 2:21金馬影帝之爭!喜翔首度入圍 張震有望2次封帝|#鏡新聞鏡新聞13,032 次觀看・1 天前
- 2:05先奪金雞再攻金馬!《我談的那場戀愛》香港票房8000萬 吳君如扮多金醫生還出借「這個」四季線上影視14,040 次觀看・1 天前