US colleges struggle to salvage semester
Tensions rising as coronavirus cases spike
MADISON, Wis. – Colleges across the country are struggling to salvage the fall semester amid skyrocketing coronavirus cases, entire dormitory complexes and fraternity houses under quarantine, and flaring tensions with local community leaders over the spread of the disease.
Institutions across the nation saw spikes of thousands of cases days after opening their doors in the last month, driven by students socializing with little or no social distancing. School and community leaders have tried to rein in the virus by closing bars, suspending students, adding mask requirements and toggling between in-person and online instruction as case numbers rise and fall.
Tension over the outbreaks is starting to boil over in college towns.
Faculty members from at least two universities have held no-confidence votes in recent weeks against their top leaders, in part over reopening decisions. Government leaders want the University of Wisconsin-Madison to send its students home. Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, alarmed by what he sees as draconian rules on college campuses, said he is drawing up a “bill of rights” for college students.
In Rhode Island, Gov. Gina Raimondo, a Democrat, last week blamed outbreaks at two colleges for a surge of virus cases that boosted the state’s infection rate high enough to put it on the list of places whose residents are required to quarantine when traveling to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison had seen more than 2,800 confirmed cases in students as of Friday. The school shut down in-person instruction for two weeks, locked down two of its largest dorms and imposed quarantines on more than a dozen sorority and fraternity houses.
Dane County Executive Joe Parisi has demanded the university send all its students home for the rest of the academic year.
“(The virus) was under control until the university came back,” Parisi said.
Chancellor Rebecca Blank has fired back, saying tens of thousands of students with off-campus housing would still come to the city. She accused Parisi of failing to enforce capacity restrictions in bars and off-campus parties.
At Kansas State University, more than 2,200 students were placed in quarantine or isolation since classes began. Student Emily Howard was isolated in what students have dubbed “COVID
jail” after she and her dorm roommate tested positive for the virus on Sept. 4, three weeks after arriving on campus.
Bryan Fisher, a UW-Madison freshman quarantined in the dorms, said students were allowed to leave only to get food from the dining hall, and they were given only 30 minutes to make each trip. He said he spent his time studying and watching movies.
“We were pretty much stuck in here,” Fisher said.
Despite the attempts at mitigation, student cases have sent local county infection numbers soaring. Schools’ decisions to push on with the semester have frustrated some faculty and local community leaders.
“Colleges and universities are … under immense pressure to remain open,” said Chris Mariscano, director of the College Crisis Initiative, a research project at Davidson College tracking the effects of the virus on higher education.
University officials across the country say they hope to bolster testing and contact tracing as the semester continues. But Mariscano said universities should expect college students to act like college students.