Return to Campus

Harvard Business School is moving all first-year and some second-year MBA students to online learning amid a “steady rise” in breakthrough cases of the Chinese coronavirus, despite a high vaccination rate and frequent testing on campus, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Students at Chico State in California are demanding that the school either reopen its campus or lower their tuition, as many students have not been allowed to return to their regular, in-person classes.

A research study by a Massachusetts research hospital suggests that the spread of coronavirus can be lessened or prevented on college campuses. The study claims that social distancing, mask-wearing, isolation, and testing can prevent the majority of cases.

The University of Kentucky announced this week that it will increase on-campus housing costs for both undergraduate and graduate students in 2021.

Students at American University will only be permitted to live on campus in the spring for two months. The “mini-mester” program being offered by the university will cost students $5,205 just for living expenses.

George Washington University President Thomas LeBlanc told faculty members this week that it is “unlikely” that a full return to campus will occur in the fall of 2021. The university announced in October that it will keep its campus closed for the upcoming spring semester.

Dartmouth College announced this week that it is delaying its January campus reopening due to a recent spike in positive coronavirus tests on campus. Dartmouth is one of many colleges that has invited students back to campus for the spring semester.

A new squad of campus officers at the University of Washington will not be permitted to carry firearms due to efforts by campus officials to accommodate concerns voiced by black students and faculty. The university’s president acknowledged last week that the decision was made in response to recent police killings of black men and women.

The majority of professors at Northeastern University in Boston will be required to teach on campus for the spring semester. However, the university has yet to announce whether or not students will be asked to return to campus in the spring. For the fall semester, the majority of Northeastern courses are taking place online.

NYU announced this week that it will not comply with guidelines set by the state of New York that urge academic institutions to suspend in-person classes if 100 people test positive for coronavirus. Although New York University crossed the threshold at its Washington Square campus, NYU has decided to continue with in-person classes, justifying the move with its low overall positive test rate of 0.5 percent.

A recently published study revealed that only three college students have been hospitalized out of 70,000 positive coronavirus cases at 50 major universities. The New York Times, there have been approximately 130,000 positive coronavirus cases on American campuses since the pandemic began in March. Despite this, no students have yet to die directly as a result of their contraction of the virus.

Cal State Long Beach shut down its in-person classes this week after five students tested positive for coronavirus. The campus was operating in a reduced capacity prior to the shutdown as part of a broad mitigation effort by the California State University system. Only 1,000 students are living on campus this fall.

First-year counselors at Yale University, older students that advise freshmen on campus, claim that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has drastically altered their job responsibilities. Some even claim that the current situation on campus has made them feel unsafe.

Students at Gettysburg College are pushing back against a proposed plan to send some students home to mitigate the spread of coronavirus. Prior to the decision, the college had implemented some of the nation’s strictest mitigation protocols. Students were required to stay in their dorm room when they weren’t at the cafeteria or in the restroom.

West Virginia University President G. Gordon Gee — who has required students at his school to wear masks in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic — was photographed at a drugstore over the weekend failing to follow his own rule.

Facebook announced this week that is launching a social network for college students called “Campus.” Facebook launched in 2004 as an early social network that originally only permitted college students to join.

Medical experts around the nation are pushing back against college administrators that have blamed campus spikes in the number of positive coronavirus tests on students. Experts claim that administrators need to set reasonable expectations by adopting strategies that attempt to reduce the spread rather than eliminate it entirely. For example, some experts have encouraged colleges and universities to plan outdoor activities rather than banning gatherings altogether.

Students at the University of Kansas have scheduled a strike, demanding that administrators shut down the campus. The protest comes in response to a spike in positive coronavirus cases on campus. Over 500 students have tested positive for the virus since students arrived on campus a few weeks ago.

Dr. Anthony Fauci is urging colleges not to send students home that become infected with the Chinese coronavirus on campus.

Northeastern University announced this week that 11 students have been suspended for partying, and they will not receive a tuition refund. Although the students will not even be permitted to attend their classes remotely, the university has refused to offer them a refund for their tuition cost of $36,500.

Northwestern University President Morton Schapiro announced this week that freshmen and sophomore students would be asked to leave campus to mitigate the spread of coronavirus on campus. Many students affected by the decision arrived on campus just days before the announcement.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign disciplined over 100 students this week that were found to have violated protocols that were designed to mitigate the spread of the Chinese virus. Universities around the nation have recently introduced policies that impose sanctions on students that attend large social gatherings.

The University of Alabama reported more than 531 positive coronavirus tests one week after it reopened to students. Although the spike may indicate the virus’ tendency to spread in densely populated communities, experts claim that young people are unlikely to face serious health repercussions after contracting the virus.

The University of Pittsburgh has announced that it has suspended eight students over violations of its coronavirus mitigation policies. Although the students will be unable to access the campus, they will still be permitted to attend class remotely. The university announced that it has labeled the students “persona non grata.” The move comes just a week after the school placed nine fraternities and sororities on interim suspension for violating policies.

In a letter to the editor published in the University of Notre Dame student newspaper on Tuesday, several professors defended the value of the campus experience. The University of Notre Dame suspended in-person classes last week after a spike in positive coronavirus cases.

Northeastern University chastised students in an email last week for answering “yes” to a Facebook poll about attending parties on campus during the coronavirus pandemic. Parents of students that responded affirmatively to the poll were also contacted by university officials.

An official at Yale University told students in an email last week that they should prepare for their peers to die from Wuhan coronavirus and that their college life will look “like a hospital unit.” However, Yale researcher A. David Patiel pointed out that statistics indicate that young people are unlikely to die after contracting the virus.

Parents around the country are pushing back against rising tuition costs as universities and colleges shift their courses offerings online. Just this week, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Notre Dame were forced to suspend in-person classes after a spike in coronavirus cases.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill told students that they would be required to leave campus just a week after they arrived due to a spike in coronavirus cases on campus. According to the university’s press release, “most students who have tested positive have demonstrated mild symptoms.”

A new poll published this week reports that a majority of conservative college students will self-censor this fall to avoid upsetting their leftist peers. By contrast, only 15 percent of Democratic respondents claim that they will censor their own political beliefs due to social pressures.

Princeton University announced on Friday that all courses for undergraduate students will be offered online for the fall semester. The Ivy League institution joins Harvard University and the California State University system in their decisions to restrict access to campus this fall.

Residents of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, are anticipating the return of 29,000 students to the area next week. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, one of the oldest public universities, is preparing to welcome students back to campus for the fall semester.

Universities and colleges around the country are likely entitled to almost $30 billion in coronavirus relief aid under the HEALS Act, a $1 trillion relief bill. Many universities and colleges received millions in aid from a similar bill that was passed by Congress in March. The HEALS Act reportedly does not require universities to reopen their campuses to qualify for aid.

Professors from Harvard and Washington University in St. Louis published a column in the Atlantic last week in which they claimed that universities and colleges will blame college students for administrative failures to prevent the spread of the Chinese virus on campus this fall.

The University of Minnesota invited students back to campus last week for summer courses. The university is using its summer session to test its Chinese virus prevention protocols before all students return to campus in late August.

Students at Harvard University are questioning the university’s refusal to reduce tuition costs for the upcoming academic year, when classes will be held entirely online. The cost of tuition for a year at Harvard University is $49,653.