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Should colleges and universities open in person for the Fall 2020 semester? Should colleges and universities open in person for the Fall 2020 semester?
Yes – Students should be allowed back on campus for in-person classes Yes – Students should be allowed back on campus for in-person classes
No – Students should do the semester online and not come back to campus No – Students should do the semester online and not come back to campus
Depends - On outside data Depends - On outside data
Students learn better in person Students learn better in person
Colleges depend on the room and board charge Colleges depend on the room and board charge
Innovation and science depends on schools Innovation and science depends on schools
Local and national economies depend on schools Local and national economies depend on schools
Some students depend on campus housing and facilities Some students depend on campus housing and facilities
Some students depend on the structure of in-person classes Some students depend on the structure of in-person classes
It's impossible to plan ahead in such uncertain times It's impossible to plan ahead in such uncertain times
Reopening college campuses is too dangerous Reopening college campuses is too dangerous
On campus and in-person classes will only lead to outbreaks On campus and in-person classes will only lead to outbreaks
Students will congregate and spread disease Students will congregate and spread disease
Whether universities should open depends on community transmission Whether universities should open depends on community transmission
Whether universities should open depends on testing capacity Whether universities should open depends on testing capacity
Whether universities should open depends on student locations Whether universities should open depends on student locations
Whether universities should open depends on staff health concerns Whether universities should open depends on staff health concerns
Whether universities should open depends on student health concerns Whether universities should open depends on student health concerns
Debate Mini Map

Should colleges and universities open in person for the Fall 2020 semester?
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No – Students should do the semester online and not come back to campus

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Reopening college campuses is too dangerous

Repopulating college campuses threatens the lives of the faculty, staff, and surrounding communities. While most college students are healthy 18-22-year-olds, the other people involved in the campus operation are not, and neither are those living in the surrounding communities who will suffer alongside the colleges if an outbreak occurs.
Michael J Sorrell Tammy Baldwin
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The Argument

Bringing an entire, or even a partial, student population back to campus encourages the spread of the virus and risks bringing Covid-19 into the college's surrounding areas. Students will be arriving from all over the country (and internationally) to resume in-person classes, and some of them will inevitably bring Covid-19 with them. Opening college campuses to students in the fall risks creating thousands of outbreaks around colleges across the country. College-based outbreaks are not trivial matters, because although young people have a much lower risk of death, many young and healthy people have suffered a severe illness. Covid-19 is known to cause significant long term issues in young and healthy people, including problems to the kidneys and heart, as well as neurological issues.[1] More importantly, students are not the only people to consider. Most other campus workers, including administrators, cleaning staff, professors will be placed at risk merely by being on campus, and their age makes them much more susceptible to the virus. Additionally, colleges need to consider the implications of an outbreak on their surrounding area, especially rural towns that don't have the medical capacity to handle an outbreak. Colleges are optimistic about their ability to contain the virus. Social distancing, hybrid teaching, restricted movement, and thorough 'test-trace-isolate' measures will be implemented, but infections will inevitably emerge. Having students return to campus poses a big risk to everyone who lives on or near the college. It is therefore too dangerous to have students return to campus for in-person classes in the Fall 2020 semester.

Counter arguments

A study from Cornell University believes that having students return to campus will actually be safer for students than remaining remote. Their study suggests that "a combination of contact tracing, asymptomatic surveillance, and low initial prevalence (supported through testing students prior to, and upon, returning to campus) can achieve meaningful control over outbreaks on Cornell’s Ithaca campus in the fall semester."[2] This is especially the case for students who do not have stable or safe home environments, live with frontline workers, or come from high infection areas. Colleges have the resources to provide safe living spaces for their students, making college campuses potentially safer spaces than individual homes. Colleges legally have to comply with federal and state guidelines in order to reopen, therefore they will be able to provide all the necessary protective equipment that ordinary people may not have access to.

Proponents

Framing

It is important to minimize danger and harm.

Premises

Rejecting the premises

References

  1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/06/30/there-is-no-safe-way-reopen-colleges-this-fall/
  2. https://people.orie.cornell.edu/pfrazier/COVID_19_Modeling_Jun15.pdf
This page was last edited on Sunday, 23 Aug 2020 at 19:42 UTC

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