Hard to believe but in academic time, fall 2021 is just around the corner. Delays in vaccination program make this extremely challenging for universities, in many ways more challenging than planning for F2020 or S2021 was.
A #highereducation
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Do unis assume herd immunity and business as usual by f21? Yay, let's go back to in-person classes w/ no physical distancing, normal dorm capacity! But, it's a risky bet, because much harder to pivot at last minute from normal -> covid than reverse. Hello, contingency plans. 2/6

Scenario 2: most faculty vaccinated & want to teach in person, too few students vaccinated for herd immunity. Too few classrooms to teach >≈50% of catalog F2F w/ distancing. Legal, moral question if can deny equal access to unvaccinated students (and what does equal mean)? 3/6

In this partial vaccinated scenario: what about student-facing staff? They aren't on vaccine priority lists, and it's nearly impossible to know now, in Feb, how many will have been vaccinated by fall. Can't run a uni w/out them, must keep safe. 4/6

Scenario 3: low vaccination rates by fall, or vaccine-resistant mutation. Unis plan for repeat of S2021: physical distancing, most classes remote or dual-mode (boo!), etc. Conservative from health perspective, very risky financially & psychologically. Students bail. 5/6

Tempting to just wait and see. It's only February, right? Problem is, the decision deadline for systems (e.g., enrollment, facilities, financial aid) is nearly here. Some universities will begin pre-enrolling students for fall 2021 in a bit over a month. Tick. Tick. Tick...

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