Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Campuses inch forward
College students head back at critical time in COVID-19 battle
The party may be over for Florida’s college students this year, as schools crack down on behavior that could lead to COVID-19 outbreaks.
Florida students are heading back to campus at a pivotal time. After a steady surge of the new coronavirus for much of the summer, cases in the state have declined the past two weeks. But the typical college experience — full of socializing, interaction and alcohol — is one that could lead to a surge in COVID-19 cases.
COVID-19 is spreading rapidly among college students around the country. The University of Alabama has seen an outbreak of more than 1,200 cases, leading to the closure of bars and warnings that students may not be able to finish the semester on campus. The University of Notre Dame has conducted classes online only for the past two weeks. The University of North Carolina canceled in-person classes for the semester while North Carolina State closed down its dormitories.
In Florida, 141 people, most of them students, tested positive during the first week of classes at the University of Miami. That represented 5% of the 2,627 people tested, about the same rate as Florida overall.
“It would have been unrealistic to as
sume that there would be no cases of COVID-19 this fall on our campus or anywhere else in the world,” President Julio Frenk said in a statement issued Monday. He said the results may reflect “early expressions of unacceptable behavior that some students engaged in.”
Infected students have been isolated, UM says. A few have been suspended and evicted from their dorms for partying. UM also is banning students from the first two football games.
Eleven students at Florida State University were recently arrested and suspended after participating in a giant party without face coverings. President John Thrasher has issued a stern warning to other students not to do the same.
“Let me be perfectly clear: We will not tolerate any behavior that puts the health and safety of the campus or the Tallahassee community at risk,” Thrasher wrote in an email to students. “Our goal is to remain open, and we have the opportunity to rise to the challenge. We are counting on you to take personal responsibility and make the right choices.”
Some have questioned whether it’s too risky for colleges to open campuses right now. Faculty union leaders at schools like the University of Florida and Florida Atlantic University have sent letters urging administrators to offer classes online only.
Paul Ortiz, president of United Faculty of Florida, issued a statement saying it was “unacceptable and dangerous’ to open in-person and recommended teaching fall classes online.
“Despite our own yearning for teaching and learning in a vibrant, in-person community of scholars, we strongly believe that it is illadvised and extremely risky to reopen as planned for a start of classes on August 31, and counsel in the strongest terms against doing so,“Ortiz, a history professor, wrote in a letter to administrators.
UF spokesman Steve Orlando said the university has worked with university health experts for five months to develop a plan that focuses on protecting the health of students and faculty.
“We are continuing to monitor events here as well as at other universities around the country and are prepared to adjust the plan if necessary, but we are confident that our plan provides the best path forward,” Orlando said.
It’s a lot easier to open colleges in places where the virus is now well-controlled, such as New York and Illinois, said Howard Forman, a professor of public health at Yale University who has studied COVID-19 trends on college campuses.
On Saturday, Florida reported that its daily positivity rate for new infections stood at 4.94%, down from 5.73%, the previous day. The World Health Organization has recommended that the positivity rate — the percentage of tests that come back positive — be below 5% to open schools. New York has stayed around 1% for the past month.
“Right now, Florida is heading in the right direction, but you still have a high prevalence in the community, which makes opening schools a little more challenging,” Forman said.
Many students, parents and political leaders in Florida have urged universities to open for face-to-face learning. Many students are reluctant to pay thousands of dollars for online classes, Forman said.
“There’s already so much online content available. What is the added value is the residential experience,” he said.
But that experience will be dramatically different this year.
At FAU, only 16% of classes are offered in person, spokesman Joshua Glanzer said. The Boca Raton campus looked like a ghost town Thursday afternoon.
A few students sat at outdoor tables with their laptops, attending their online classes.
The only students inside the Student Union were FAU employees who checked the temperature of visitors. The pingpong tables, video games, lounge seating and the food market were gone.
“Students are very disappointed. College is a time you make friends, not stay in your dorm room and do your classes on a computer,” said Zach Weinberg, 20, who is the editor-in-chief at the University Press newspaper at FAU. “When you go onto campus, it’s very somber, very dead.”
Nova Southeastern University in Davie decided to offer most of its classes in person — with a major change. Classes are half-full with instructors teaching to students both in their classrooms and to students watching from their home.
The atmosphere on campus has changed, but it’s tolerable, said Brandon Valerio, an NSU senior.
“I still get to see my friends, from a little bit of a distance,” Valerio said. “It’s not a typical college, feel but we have to do what we can to eliminate the virus. We’re still learning and adapting.”
Valero said he feels as though NSU has taken steps to keep students safe, including giving every student their own dorm room and enforcing mask and social distancing rules.
The new school year starts Monday at Keiser University, and Chancellor Arthur Keiser said he doesn’t know what to expect at his 17 Florida campuses. Most campuses cater to working adults, but the university also has a residential campus in West Palm Beach that serves traditional college students who Keiser fears may try to flout the rules.
“We’re doing everything we possibly can, but this is a situation we’ve never experienced before,” he said. “I hope we don’t have to close.”