You have a spouse intimately connected to the campus goings-on, but really, did it even take that to see what was going on here? This was easily predicted in like... June? (I know there's no context to a post but be assured the questions are me nodding along with you, not opposing you)WaveProf wrote: ↑Sun Sep 06, 2020 8:58 amNo one thought there wouldn't be huge parties. This was always part of the plan. Get students on campus, lock in tuition (that date was last week), hopefully lock in dorm money (TU gets 75% later this month, 100% in mid october), then move online, and have it not be a PR hassle because they can blame the students for not being responsible.PeteRasche wrote: ↑Sat Aug 22, 2020 5:59 pm I'm shocked that anyone thought there WOULDN'T be huge, unmasked gatherings at/outside of the Boot. I'm not the only one who was 100% sure it would be like any other year, was I?
It's a disgusting situation of creating a dangerous situation, lying to your students and their families about the "precautions" you've taken on campus, getting their money, then avoiding the parents being angry at the school by saying "oh we weren't planning to go online before winter, look at the money we spent! we could have made it! it's all because johnny and susie couldn't be responsible, actions have consequences!". Yes, actions do have consequences, for the little guy. Tulane will come out looking clean as a whistle and probably get another article in a national paper about their handling of COVID.
And the parents went right along with it because they wanted Johnny and Susie out of the house for a couple of months so they could live the kid-free lives they were used to (or expecting to have, if their kid is a freshman). For many, Tulane tuition isn't even a blip on their financial radar and it was worth the cost.
To be honest though, I don't blame Tulane specifically, because many/most American universities are doing the same thing. I'm sure there's an underlying fear of this being the proverbial "pin to pop the college bubble" that's been discussed off and on for years. Just like industry realizing that they don't need nearly the real estate footprint they used to have because so many people can indeed work well from home, at some point people are going to discover that they don't need to pay all the costs when online or partially-online college can succeed. Universities obviously don't want that to be known.
