Editor’s note: This commentary is by Michael Olinick, a professor of mathematics at Middlebury College, and Judy Olinick, who is recently retired as coordinator of the Middlebury College Russian, German and Japanese Studies departments. They live in Middlebury.
In a recent New Yorker letter, environmental advocate Bill McKibben painted an idyllic picture of Vermont holding off the coronavirus by a combination of relative isolation, personal responsibility, neighborly concern and steady, sensible leadership. Although nearly everyone’s life has been touched in some way by the worldwide catastrophe, we in Vermont have indeed been blessed to remain until now at the outer edge of the disaster. Unfortunately, we fear that our reprieve may well end when thousands of students from across the country converge on the University of Vermont and Middlebury College.
While many colleges and universities are starting all fall classes online or allowing just a carefully selected part of the student body on campus, UVM and Middlebury are welcoming everyone, letting concern for their budgets jeopardize the rewards of months of cautious behavior and endangering their entire communities.
The rigid protective protocols touted by the administrations are reassuring on paper, but in practice they would try the endurance of saints and angels. How long can they prevail against the natural instincts of young people who will quickly feel unbearably constrained by them? As members of the Middlebury administration frequently repeat, arriving students will be expected to quarantine at home for two weeks in advance, to travel here directly with as few interactions as possible en route, to stay in their assigned spaces once on campus, to follow numerous health precautions, including wearing masks, distancing, reporting symptoms, etc., not to go into town or farther without permission or bring in guests and not to leave the state until they go home at Thanksgiving.
There will be few sports, no big parties, no large gatherings of any kind, no weekend trips and little else that makes extracurricular college life so special. Several hundred students will be housed in double rooms and most popular “hangout” spots will be off limits. There is no guarantee that all or even any of a student’s courses will ultimately be taught in person, and classes will be encumbered by six-foot distancing and masks.
It comes down to this: Importing a large group from across the country is very dangerous both to the group members and to everyone around them. Carefully designed measures rigidly adhered to can reduce the risk somewhat but not completely (we have no way of knowing how much). Not all students will be able to adhere to the rules completely however good their intentions. It then becomes a question of whether the benefits justify the risks. The college has already asserted that its online courses are not inferior to those taught in person. The non-academic benefits of campus life will be greatly diminished.
Even if 95% of the students abide by the college’s conditions for on-campus study, infractions of the rules by a very small number can start an outbreak that could overwhelm both the campus and the town. It has happened in other places. Why should we be immune?
Faculty can decline to teach in person (and a large percentage have opted to teach online only). Many staff members will be allowed to work from home. This should offer some protection, but we can’t know how much. The separation cannot be total. But staff whose jobs require their presence on campus face a double jeopardy: Their health and that of their families may be at risk if the students return; and their jobs, incomes, and health insurance may be at risk if the students do not return, leading the college to balance its budget with layoffs.
In our opinion the only moral solution is for Middlebury to teach all its classes online this fall and to take the necessary funds from its endowment to keep everyone employed. It can well afford to do this.
As Middlebury residents connected to the college, we value the students highly and have missed them very much since last spring. But seeing what the pandemic is doing to the world outside Vermont, we fear that reopening the college could easily result in tragedy. Claiming that the entire student body can safely come to campus is dangerous wishful thinking. The limited benefit does not justify the enormous risk.
