I guess it’s nice that the administration is honest.
In a July 1 email to Silliman College residents when Yale first announced its plan to reopen on-campus housing, Head of College and psychology professor Laurie Santos warned Yale’s “community compact” was not to be taken lightly [and] explained that some staff members are from sectors of society that are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, and that they do not have the choice of whether to come to campus. …
“We all should be emotionally prepared for widespread infections — and possibly deaths — in our community,” Santos’s email reads. “You should emotionally prepare for the fact that your residential college life will look more like a hospital unit than a residential college.”
Welcome to college! Prepare for a year of suffering and death!
I’s have thought Yale of all places would welcome a lock down!!
The faculty and staff could have a little ceremony before classes begin.
“We who are about to die salute you!”
that statement sounds like an honest appraisal of the situation and is fine advice to be prepared for the results. But it sounds like the speech the general gives the troops before an impending battle with an overwhelming force and little chance for easy victory. a bridge too far, battle of the bulge
Is education a kin to war? If not why are they doing it like it is?
uncle frogy
Sounds like how you’d prepare for enrolling in Miskatonic U.
I know “never attribute to malice what can be better explained by stupidity” but at what point does the sheer stupidity of the people in charge become malicious? Reopening in-person instruction in the middle of a pandemic that we don’t have even the faintest handle on and against the advice of medical authority has got to cross over into some sort of criminal negligence. In a prior post I asked if students who attend these universities have any legal grounds to sue the university or administration for knowingly and unnecessarily putting the students’ lives at risk. I didn’t get a response, so I’ll ask it again here in case anyone with any knowledge of the law can respond.
If the kids get sick and Yale is forced to close are they going to get a big fat bailout to keep their precious Ivy League asses afloat?
@5
I’m sure everyone has already thought about this.
It’s undoubtedly one of their top questions right now.
It’s for sure that any organization will have to deal with the lawsuits question one way or another.
IANAL, but I posted something similar yesterday.
They are already way ahead on that.
Schools, universities, nursing homes, assisted living homes, day cares, beauty salons, bars, churches, corporations, food processing plants, and any place that you actually do catch the Covid-19 virus are seeking to have legal immunities written into law.
Follow the money.
Those who have the power and money have a huge influence on the laws that get made and enforced.
I’m sure there will be legal immunities by law, it just remains to see how much of their activities it will cover.
@#5, kome
At what point does one cease attributing sheer stupidity or malice to leaders and start looking at the people who supported them in reaching their positions? You don’t become the head of a prestigious college because somebody threw a dart at a dartboard — and you don’t acquire a say in the choice of who becomes the head of a college that way, either.
I’m mildly surprised. I thought all the Ivies except Cornell had opted to go virtual. Certainly, Princeton has: https://paw.princeton.edu/article/fall-return-campus-canceled-coronavirus-pandemic-continues
I feel sorry for any Elis who can’t take the year off.
I am, for once in my life, speechless…
Well, that certainly is worth $60,000/year. For that low, low price, your kid gets to attend a college/hospital/morgue.
@6, Yale is certainly going to try to get a nice bailout. However, there’s no way that they should be allowed to. They have what is politely called an “endowment”, aka The Yale Corporation, investements that were worth $4 billion thirty years ago. Since the stock market’s been high almost ever since, and their rich alumni keep donating, the fun is probably in the double-digit billions by now, even with the recent drop.
So, they can take a year without on-campus tuition, they won’t even notice the hit. But, they’ll scream and cry about how they need the bailout! And will risk people’s lives by forcing them to be there, because they so need the tuition.
Another approach:
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/arkham-board-of-health-feedback-on-miskatonic-universitys-draft-plan-for-a-safe-campus-reopening
Chancellor Farquad:
“Some of you will die, but that is a price I am willing to pay.”
#5: I call that the “crook-or-fool dilemma”. Are the ones in charge crooks or fools?
I submit that the two are one. Everyone lies to a crook, so they become fools; and fools lie to themselves, so they become crooks; so crooks and fools converge to the middle.