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UMass Amherst reverses coronavirus course: Now says most students can't return to campus later this month
By adamg on Thu, 08/06/2020 - 8:34pm
UMass Amherst alerted students and parents today that due to "the worsening conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic nationally," the school will only let students return who have no choice but to take classes in laboratories and studios or who need to be in face-to-face interactions with professors.
The school had earlier said that all students could return to the campus even if all their classes would all be taken remotely. Today's announcement comes just one day after students selected their move-in dates for the fall semester, which begins Aug. 24.
In the announcement, college Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy added that students who had planned to live in off-campus housing should stay at home as well.
He added:
Quite simply, when we make a clear-eyed assessment of the public health data and comparable reopening attempts that are playing out across the country, we feel that we have no choice but to make the difficult decision to enact these changes to our fall plan. Our deliberations were also informed by the health and safety concerns expressed by our faculty and staff and by the citizens and leadership in our host community, Amherst. In addition, we determined that the risk of a mid-semester closing of the campus is real, and that making the decision not to bring students back to campus is preferable to sending everyone home in the event of an uncontrolled outbreak.
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Comments
Amherst College - Back, Hampshire College - Back
Umass? Not so much.
This is class warfare by the Town of Amherst on UMass.
The logic with it is ok for the other two schools to come back but not UMass is a caving of the gown to the town.
I guess upper income elites and people who major in frisbee must have some sort of biological shield that prevents them from spreading Covid-19 over some kid from Mashpee majoring in business.
The Town did a survey of the locals and said the ex Lord Jeffs and the people who live in the shadow of the Hungry Caterpillar museum were ok, just not the people who live in Southwest. I guess they must all socially distance themselves and not interact with each other, yup, because all good 18 to 23 year olds at schools go to chapel and study alone all the time, yup.
It is not a case of numbers, because if it was, why are 3,000+ students being brought back to Hampshire and Amherst, along with foreign students and those with labs and studio at UMass? That's a good 4,000 returning to campuses in the area. Also, some kids are still going to take apartments off campus even though they are remote, which means even more people in the mix.
Oh the irony of a town named for a guy who committed biological warfare somehow thinks it is going to be immune from a spreading event with others because they kept Michelle from a working class family in Merrimac away, but somehow a fifth generation Amherst lad named Chatsworth Von Lubenstein III is ok.
Did you look up Smith as well?
Not back.
I Know
I just want my kid and I'm sure your kid to have some semblance of college that isn't just sitting in the room you have lived in all your life and doing math on a computer.
We all know that the whole thing was going to collapse by Indigenous People's Day anyway, but at least they would have had 6 weeks.
Thanks all of you who could not practice a bit of social distancing and mask wearing. I hope you get gout.
Oh, it sucks
Kidlet was really looking forward to graduation in May. Obviously, it didn't happen (I mean, she got a diploma, but throwing her cap up in the air in front of our house just isn't the same).
Seems slighly unfair
1) I don't see anywhere in that PR that the town made the decision.
2) UMass is so much bigger than Amherst and Hampshire and so has exponentially more risk of being a super spreader location given the proportionately larger number of staff.
It sucks and I'm really sorry for your kid's lost semester(s). I don't think it's the wrong decision regardless of class optics.
Stupid.
You know the student population of UMass, undergrad and grad, is somewhere on the order of 40,000, right?
This is a case of numbers.
umass flip flops
in january my niece was looking forward to the prom, her class play, class night, and graduation (and please don’t forget all those wild parties we all remember forever) she got none of those. then she began looking forward to being a freshman at UMass Amherst. last week she was beaming because she was getting ready to move in and get some semblance of the freshman experience. nope, another disappointment. i know it’s been said a million times but all these kids really got screwed out on a great part of life they won’t ever get back. wear a mask.
Unfortunate choice of terms
Generally, "flip-flopping" means something other than responsibly changing tactics and policies as the facts on the ground change.
Yes, it's disappointing for the UMass kids, one of whom happens to be sitting across the room from me right now, but I don't think it's fair to accuse the administration of waffling or acting capriciously.
Partial agree
Agreed. It's not a given that wearing a mask would have made all your niece's fun activities possible, but not enough people wearing masks early enough has led to our current predicament. However:
1)Please spare a thought for President Trump, his Cabinet members and other prominent members of the Republican party who disparaged the idea of mask-wearing, insulted those who wore masks, characterized refusal to wear a mask as a laudable act, and intentionally played on the paranoia and irrational conspiracy mentality that the Republican Party has been incubating for a few decades now. This is why it is not possible to simply advocate for a commonsense course of action: because the Republican Party has deliberately eroded all sense of shared reality and a common basis of facts. If you have trained people to distrust science and deny facts, what do you expect to happen?
2)Every year, some people miss out on the prom, the class play, class night, high school graduation, "the freshman experience", and many other events that are important to them, through no fault of their own. What's unique about this year is that it's happening to everybody. It is happening to all high school seniors and to all college freshmen and it is also happening to every other person of every age. "those kids" are not the only ones who are living with disappointment this year. We are all experiencing it. We will all survive it. It's a matter of personal philosophy, but I believe that acknowledging and moving on is the best approach, rather than dwelling on it -- and also, looking around to realize that you are not uniquely miserable, but that others are feeling it too.
excruciating decisions
Watching schools, businesses, and everyone decide how to navigate this thing is not easy.
For all of those decision makers:
If you bring kids back (or open your office), there is a chance that students/employees, their families, parents, their grandma, your staff, townspeople, airport staff, bus& taxi drivers, get sick or worse. Even those who recover might have long term problems (see E-rod on Red Sox). Remember things spread fast once it starts.
If you stay closed or go remote, kids loose out on education, socialization, and who knows the downstream impacts. Schools and businesses go bankrupt (think of the poor liquor stores in Amherst!. The dining hall staff, .the coffee & pizza shops. Etc.
Bottom Line- this sucks for EVERYONE, and people are trying their best to make life altering, difficult decisions with little precedent to follow. I'm trying my best to give everyone a break.
Mt. Holyoke too
Mount Holyoke reverses course, plans remote education for the fall
All the colleges and universities in the area, such as
Northeastern University, Boston University, to mention a few, ought to do likewise.