In this week’s Wednesday roundup:
Plans and commitments for reopening, faculty and staff pushback, concerns over financial stability and reactions to the murder of George Floyd and the resulting protests.
Stay tuned each Wednesday for our roundup on trends we’re seeing across institutions, how individual schools are responding and what national policy changes are affecting higher ed in the times of COVID-19.
In addition to this week’s coronavirus news, we’re following how higher ed is responding to the murder of George Floyd that has sparked mass public outrage, protests and riots worldwide.
Many colleges and universities are declaring their solidarity, acknowledging historic roles, speaking out against racism, calling for action and supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
Week of May 27-June 3
- More colleges and universities are considering changes to the admissions process due to access to fewer standardized tests in the wake of the pandemic. Qualitative considerations like new duties taken on to care for younger siblings or sick relatives and “holistic” measures such as achievement and promise will need to be evaluated more broadly when evaluating applicants.
- As institutions continue to release their plans to reopen in the fall, faculty and staff have started expressing some blistering opinions regarding what reopening plans mean for them.
- The presidents of Purdue University and the University of Notre Dame have each published op-eds op-eds committing to in-person instruction on their campuses this fall.
- Purdue’s president, Mitch Daniels, along with Brown University’s president, Christina Paxson, and Lane College’s president, Logan Hampton, will testify before the U.S. Senate's health and education committee hearing on reopening campuses on Thursday. Liability issues of reopening campuses amid the pandemic are expected to be discussed.
- The NCAA, in consultation with the NCAA COVID-19 Advisory Panel, released a set of guidelines for student athletes returning to campus and beginning their voluntary workouts.
- As institutions face revenue shortfalls, many could be forced to shutter some academic programs. Some institutions have begun suspending or limiting social science and humanities departments while others point to the vital nature of these programs in relation to pandemic response.
- President Trump vetoed a resolution passed by Congress that would have undone the controversial borrower defense rule posed by Betsy DeVos.
