Vermont State College officials estimate local populations are about evenly divided on whether they are welcoming or worried about students returning to dorms.
“Half of our population very much wants and needs the students to return for obvious financial reasons,” said Jonathan Spiro, the interim president of Castleton University, which expects to have 350 students living in its dorms this semester despite the fact that there are no in-person classes. “Half are very concerned about irresponsible teenagers running amok in the streets of our town.”
Leaders of the State College system presented their reopening plans August 17 at a Zoom board meeting. Rep. Eileen Dickinson, R-St. Albans Town and chair of the board, started the discussion by telling the presidents that the board knew the situation was fluid.
“These are living documents,” she said. “Changes are coming in almost literally every day.”
The Vermont State College system includes Castleton University in Castleton; Community College of Vermont, which has centers in 12 Vermont cities and towns; Northern Vermont University, which has campuses in Lyndon and Johnson; and Vermont Technical College, which has campuses in Randolph and Williston.
Each institution has a different plan for reopening this semester, all of them designed to follow Vermont Department of Health guidelines regarding Covid-19 safety measures on areas such as testing, quarantines, and social distancing.
At Castleton, reopening includes Castleton Lodge at Killington, a former hotel near the ski resort that is home to the university’s hospitality and resort management program.
Of 700 classes offered by Community College of Vermont, or CCV, this fall, only 25 will include an in-person component, said Joyce Judy, president of CCV. She said the college’s centers around the state won’t be open to the public, only to faculty and students.
“We expect students who perhaps need to use the computer lab will be there,” she said. “We expect very few students to come into our centers.”
Vermont Technical College is the only school in the state college system to have reported a positive test for Covid-19 already, on August 14. That student is now in isolation on campus, said VTC President Pat Moulton.
VTC is offering a mix of remote lectures and low-residency in-person programs this semester.
“So much of our curriculum has to involve practical hands-on learning,” said Moulton. “It’s tough to learn to be a nurse and not actually give someone an injection.”
As with many colleges in Vermont and across the country, classes start in August at VTC and there will be no breaks at all this semester. Students will go home at Thanksgiving and finish their work remotely, Moulton said. She added the school had offered housing to students from out of state and those who would find it difficult to undertake their studies without it. About 100 students will reside in Randolph this fall, and 28 in Williston.
Under state guidelines, all students must sign a pledge agreeing to follow Covid-19 safety rules. Students must conduct a health screening, including a temperature check, prior to arriving on campus. Under state guidelines, all schools must administer a Covid-19 test within 48 hours of students’ arrival.
Face coverings are required of students, faculty, staff, and visitors when indoors or in public, including in dormitories. Visitors aren’t allowed in dorms.
Students traveling from an “unsafe” area in a private vehicle must quarantine at home for 14 days, or for seven days if they then take a test and receive a negative result for the virus. Those who take public transportation must quarantine after they arrive at school. Many of those quarantines are underway now, with food being delivered to those students in their rooms.
Moulton has already heard from some parents who say their children are struggling with that experience.
“We have heard from parents of students who have anxiety and depression who treat them outside with physical activity, fresh air,” she said. “They are not doing very well in the circumstances.”
NVU expects to have 300 students on each of its campuses in Johnson and Lyndon. Classes will be offered in-person and online. The university is using the Broad Institute, which is affiliated with Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for testing. The University of Vermont and Middlebury College are using the Broad Institute too, noted NVU President Elaine Collins.
Wary communities
As for the impact on wider public health in college towns, Spiro said he sees both sides of the issue.
“I think they are both right,” he said of community members who welcome the money students will spend in town, and those who worry students will spread the virus. Spiro said he regularly receives emails from locals on the topic. “We need them financially, and we need to make sure that public health is protected.”
Moulton couldn’t estimate how many in the community welcome the return of the students. She said she had asked the Randolph town manager for his impressions.
“The biggest concern he was hearing was hoping that students were coming back for the economic activity,” she said.
Collins said from what she has read, the community is evenly divided on the topic of the students’ return.
“That said, I have not had any messages in my box from the community that suggests they are not happy about how we are proceeding,” she said.
College officials are now working on plans for the spring semester. Judy said she expects to decide by mid-September whether or not to keep CCV almost entirely remote.
“We are leaning toward doing spring just as we did fall,” Judy said. “We just feel like we’re going to be in a similar situation in the spring.”
Mike Pieciak, the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation, is on the VSC board. Pieciak has been serving as the lead in Covid-19 modeling for Scott since the crisis began last winter.
He told the board and college presidents August 17 that the most important variable on their campuses this semester is the turnaround time for testing. The sooner people get their results back, the sooner the college can respond with contact tracing and isolation, he said.
“We certainly can anticipate seeing cases on our campuses,” Pieciak said. “How we respond to those cases is of critical importance.”
