Making the Grade Culture, communication common among colleges that successfully reopened - Franklin Pierce University
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96 USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION
EDUCATION
JARED LAZARUS/DUKE UNIVERSITY
A member of Duke University’s Compliance Team distributes COVID-19 information to students.
By Adam Stone
Making the Grade S
ENIOR YEAR HAS BEEN anything
but typical for Benjy Renton. His
study-abroad program in China was
cut short in January 2020 by the
coronavirus. Back at Middlebury
College in Vermont, the student journalist joined
Culture, communication common among a national team of researchers in development
of a dashboard to contact-trace Donald Trump,
colleges that successfully reopened documenting the impact of the former president’s
CONTINUED
98 USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION
EDUCATION
Benjy Renton
KATHERINE KOEHLER
“I was pleasantly
surprised at how
much it did feel like
being at school. And
it’s certainly much
better to be on
campus than in your
parents’ basement.”
— BENJY RENTON,
Duke University Middlebury College student
testing site
JULIE SCHOONMAKER/DUKE UNIVERSITY
COVID-19 infection. the fall, even in the face of pandemic successful — even if some had to be puses reopening did go well, however, a
When Middlebury officials initially concerns. By looking at what went right, graded on a curve. “The vast majority set of common characteristics emerged,
announced plans to reopen campus in experts say, it may be possible to chart a of institutions that started in-person Marsicano says.
the fall, Renton had his doubts. “I was smoother, successful path forward. or hybrid (classes) stayed in-person or “First is controlling the mobility of stu-
skeptical about the plans based on what hybrid,” Marsicano says. dents, not letting students leave campus,”
was happening nationally in July, when STAYING IN-PERSON Not everyone got passing marks, of he says. “Second is (coronavirus) testing.
there was no testing and the cases were From the start of the pandemic, the course. A number of campuses opened in Colleges that tested every student (upon
spiking. I thought, ‘This is going to be College Crisis Initiative at Davidson the fall, only to scale back their in-person arrival) kept their cases down, because
terrible,’” he says. College in North Carolina tracked some learning as COVID-19 spread through the they could catch outbreaks before they
But the semester exceeded Renton’s 1,900 four-year institutions and 1,000 student population. The University of happened.”
expectations. “I was pleasantly surprised two-year schools. About 55 percent of Notre Dame in Indiana switched to online And those schools that succeeded with
at how much it did feel like being at them opened for on-campus learning in learning for two weeks in response to a in-person learning focused on creating
school,” he says. “And it’s certainly much the fall, according to founding director spike in coronavirus cases; Oklahoma a campuswide culture in support of safe
better to be on campus than in your Chris Marsicano, an assistant professor State University quarantined an entire practices. “Those colleges that did well
parents’ basement.” of the practice of higher education at sorority, while Colorado College had to were able to convince everybody to wear
Around the nation, many colleges were Davidson. quarantine a dormitory.
able to open for on-campus learning in Overall, most schools’ efforts were In the majority of cases where cam- CONTINUED
100 USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION
EDUCATION
Information desk, Rice University student center
JEFF FITLOW/RICE UNIVERSITY
masks all the time,” Marsicano says. arrival,” says Michael Schoenfeld, Duke’s and quarantine. That absolutely had a a number of common facilities — the
“They were able push students to be vice president for public affairs and significant impact on reducing the overall libraries, the art museum.”
accountable to each other. The schools government relations. number of infections.” At Franklin Pierce University in rural
that sent a message — we are all in this Widespread testing played a decisive Duke reduced the resident population Rindge, N.H., a collaborative approach
together — they did very well.” role in the campus’ fall success, Schoen- from 6,000 to about 3,200. “That allowed was key to driving student adherence to
feld says. every student to have a single room, and COVID-19 guidelines. The school formed
CULTURE OF SAFETY “If you have people living and it reduced the density in shared bath- working groups comprised of students,
Duke University leaned heavily into working together, testing and tracing rooms and dining facilities,” Schoenfeld faculty and staff to help guide the
testing, delivering close to 200,000 is an essential piece of managing the says. The school also curtailed events pandemic response and to garner broad
COVID-19 tests from August to Novem- health of that population,” he says. “If and activities. “We had mandatory buy-in among campus constituencies.
ber. “Over those four months we had a somebody tested positive, they were masking requirements from day one “The working groups originally
total of 152 positive tests, and 26 of those immediately put in isolation. We had set on campus, with a stringent policy for
were students who tested positive on aside 300 beds on campus for isolation distancing,” Schoenfeld says. “We closed CONTINUED
102 USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION
EDUCATION
Adelphi University
ADELPHI UNIVERSITY
Physics class at
Rice University Duke University
JEFF FITLOW/RICE UNIVERSITY JULIE SCHOONMAKER/DUKE UNIVERSITY
convened over the summer and con- istration adopted a policy of “communi- some institutions smooth out the bumps people who live with you and socialize
tinued to meet throughout the fall cating transparently, consistently and and keep everyone aligned toward the with you and eat with you.”
semester to evaluate the effectiveness concisely,” says Kristen Capezza, vice greater community need.
of our implementation and to respond president of enrollment management At Rice University in Houston, for LOOKING AHEAD
to emerging challenges,” says university and university communications. instance, a student-led COVID-19 Com- Schools that struggled can draw
president Kim Mooney. “Those ongoing “Our students and families — and munity Court adjudicated infractions lessons from their more-successful
conversations have helped ensure that (the) internal community of staff and and meted out penalties that included counterparts. “It’s a matter of leader-
our approach during the pandemic was faculty — received regular guidance writing letters of apology, performing ship,” Marsicano says. “In the fall, we
based on real-life daily experiences of leading up to and throughout the community service projects and meeting saw that institutions whose leaders
the people who teach and work here and semester,” she says. The school’s with advisers. identified problems early, who made
by those who live and learn here.” website shared detailed information, “There is only so much the adminis- data-driven decisions and drew on
with supporting videos to communicate tration can do. As an administrator, I their institutional ethos, were able to
OPEN COMMUNICATION key content. don’t socialize with (students), I don’t succeed.”
At Adelphi University on New York’s “Our ‘Pledge to Protect’ was widely eat with them, but their peers do,” says Marsicano added that a funding boost
Long Island, frequent and open commu- publicized to generate our community’s Emily Garza, Rice’s director of student could also help. He notes that tests
nication proved key in helping to keep commitment to measures that intended judicial programs. can cost as much as $100 each, and a
all seven residence halls open through to protect everyone’s health, safety and “Students need to see that their peers vigorous program of frequent testing
the fall semester. well-being,” Capezza says. are also modeling this behavior and can represent a significant financial
In addition to limiting student gather- Of course, students aren’t going to get compelling them to comply,” Garza says. hurdle. “States need appropriate funds
ings and redesigning classroom spaces it right all the time. Having a student- With the student-led court, “the people in support of this,” Marsicano says.
to allow for social distancing, the admin- centric disciplinary response helped saying that this is important are the “That would make a big difference.”
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