Go Irish - ND open August 10

[DopeyDame]

Notre Dame has announced that students will return to campus for classes August 10.

It sounds like a really well thought out plan that hopefully can be a model of other colleges. Before commenting, I'd encourage people to actually read the announcement! https://coronavirus.nd.edu/news/fr-jenkins-letter-to-faculty-on-reopening-campus/

Some highlights:
- Fall semester will be August 10 - Thanksgiving, with no breaks, so no reason for students to come and go from campus (and bring germs to and fro)
- Comprehensive testing
- Isolation of all students who test positive
- Separate quarantine location for students who have come into contact with them
- Faculty are directed to prepare the semester in two separate, equal sections, so they can easily transition online at a clean breaking point if needed
- Remote education available for students in isolation or quarantine
- Options (not detailed what) for faculty and staff who can't/shouldn't go back to campus
- Social distancing and masks in classroom and lab settings

ND has some things going for it, not the least of which is it's a small, pretty insular campus. The vast majority of students live on campus, so there's not a lot of risk of bringing student germs into South Bend or vice versa (as opposed to students who go to school in NYC or Boston or something specifically because they want to be part of the city community). Also, ND students are already used to things like single sex dorms and parietals, so they're probably a little more cooperative about restrictions than some other student bodies might be.

The plan definitely sounds like it depends on widespread testing, so I can only assume they're confident they'll have access to all the tests they need.

Fingers crossed and Go Irish!

 

[AlohaNow]

I saw this on the news last night and thought, that's a pretty smart plan!

 

[morgan98]

As much as it pains me to say - GO IRISH! (from a Purdue Boilermaker).

In my previous life (first marriage, after college) I lived in the South Bend area and worked for a Big 6 then firm in South Bend. I completely agree that this plan has a good change of working there given the size of the town and how insulated the campus and area is in general.

I think the idea about starting the semester and going straight through is a good one, although starting school on August 10th is a bit depressing.

 

[DopeyDame]

As much as it pains me to say - GO IRISH! (from a Purdue Boilermaker).

In my previous life (first marriage, after college) I live in the South Bend area and worked for a Big 6 then firm in South Bend. I completely agree that this plan has a good change of working there given the size of the town and how insulated the campus and area is in general.

I think the idea about starting the semester and going straight through is a good one, although starting school on August 10th is a bit depressing.

I actually thought the start date sounds awesome! They'll get to spend more time on campus when it's beautiful and avoid at least a few weeks of miserable winter ;-)

It will be interesting to see if they push back the start of spring semester and eliminate spring break or something.
The thought of being able to avoid December, January, and February on campus sounds amazing!

 

[lesliekatya]

As someone who used to live in Badin - I hope they have air conditioning now....