{"id":2178,"date":"2020-10-27T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-27T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uniontrack.com\/blog\/?p=2178"},"modified":"2020-10-26T15:36:44","modified_gmt":"2020-10-26T15:36:44","slug":"reopening-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniontrack.com\/blog\/reopening-college","title":{"rendered":"Reopening College During a Pandemic: A Labor Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ken Green
CEO\/Founder
UnionTrack<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major disruptor for college campuses across the U.S. The health crisis has been particularly devastating to universities because everything about college is built around socializing. That puts college campuses among the most likely places to become COVID-19 hot spots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Any place where you have people living in congregate settings, using dining halls, eating in groups of large numbers of people, with lots of social activities, you’re going to have potential for outbreaks of infectious diseases,” explains Dr. Donald Milton<\/a> of the University of Maryland at College Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That vulnerability has forced university leaders to make tough decisions about how to provide students the education and experience they are paying for while still keeping everyone safe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making those plans without consistent, coordinated guidance has created what Irwin Redlener<\/a>, director of the Pandemic Resource and Response Initiative at Columbia University, describes as \u201cnational chaos\u201d because every school is doing it differently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there are some general areas of concern that leadership at each school has had to address. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

College Life Has Been Reimagined in Response to COVID-19<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Going to class. Living in dorms. Attending sporting and social events. Eating in the cafeteria. Making new friends. These are all aspects of college life that, under normal circumstances, comprise the college experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This semester, however, is anything but normal, and the majority of students are not living the traditional college life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Universities have had to make major changes to key aspects of the college experience in order to operate safely in the fall 2020 semester. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Instruction Models Adopted for the Fall 2020 Semester<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of the biggest debates has been whether students should physically return to campus. Only about 30 percent of colleges are conducting classes fully or primarily in-person, according to data from Davidson College\u2019s College Crisis Initiative<\/a>, which means students at about 70 percent of colleges have had to adapt to either fully online or hybrid learning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That has been one of the most sudden and impactful changes in university life. While virtual learning has been slowly gaining traction at the university level for a few years now, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated its adoption. Because of the health crisis, writes Paul LeBlanc<\/a>, president of Southern New Hampshire University, colleges have been \u201cthrust into an unplanned, unwanted, and fraught experiment in online learning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a big change that has had university leaders wading through the muddy waters of inexperience to prepare for such a large-scale adjustment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cColleges have spent significant time and money in recent months trying to bolster their ability to offer (more) effective virtual learning, recognizing that even if they brought some or many students back to campus, some learners (and some instructors) would need to participate remotely,\u201d says Doug Lederman<\/a>, editor of Inside Higher Ed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The integration of virtual learning has been one of the most difficult tasks for universities that wanted to bring students back in the fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changes Made in Fall Sports and Campus Events <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Social distancing requirements, and a lack of personal accountability on the part of students, have made it nearly impossible for schools to host fall sporting events and other traditional social activities, such as campus tours and student mixers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allowing these types of events to take place is a risk most universities have been unwilling to take. Those that did not initially put restrictions on gatherings have had to do so after students refused to maintain social distance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Paul Offit<\/a>, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, says it\u2019s human nature for students to want to gather, and universities that didn\u2019t set guidelines for gatherings were asking for trouble. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students are \u201cgoing to want to party, they’re going to want to drink, they’re going to want to hang out either in on-campus or off-campus dorms or in private residences,\u201d he explains. \u201cThey’re at an age where they consider themselves to be invulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creative Solutions Have Been Sought for On-campus Living<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Living on campus is one of the most integral parts of the college experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Whether or not students are actually learning in the classroom, it’s incredibly important for them to have an on-campus experience,” says Edward J. Maloney<\/a>, executive director of The Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s also one of the most vulnerable aspects of college life when it comes to communicable diseases. So to provide some sort of on-campus living experience, colleges have had to get creative about where they house students, if they brought them back at all. Some have resorted to using uninhabited offices, local hotel rooms or off-campus apartments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Empty<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Higher Ed\u2019s Financial Struggles Are Exacerbated by COVID-19<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

All of these accommodations and changes are wreaking havoc on colleges\u2019 financial stability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many institutions of higher learning were already struggling before the pandemic. The impact of the coronavirus crisis may push some schools to cut budgets and possibly close their doors permanently, Sarah Butrymowicz and Pete D’Amato<\/a> at The Hechinger Report say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are where most colleges are feeling the financial squeeze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enrollment Numbers Are Down<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In an April 2020 survey of university presidents conducted by Jonathan Turk, Maria Claudia Soler and Darsella Vigil<\/a> at the American Council on Education, almost 90 percent of respondents said enrollment was their top concern during the COVID-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a fear that has manifested for many universities that were already struggling to meet enrollment and revenue projections pre-COVID, says Jim Purcell<\/a>, executive director at the Alabama Commission on Higher Education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center<\/a> comparing 2020 summer school enrollments with 2019 shows that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n