Back to School Blues: Covid and the Crisis of the American University

As fall approaches, colleges and universities find themselves in the unfortunate position of having to reconsider the plans they made in the spring to reopen with a full schedule of on-campus courses and activities. The reconsideration is due to the spread of the new Delta variant of the Covid virus. On August 2, the University of Rochester where I’ve taught since 1992 issued new vaccination requirements for all faculty, students and staff. Eight days later, the requirement to wear a mask inside all campus building went back into effect. I suspect that the foremost question now for the university administration is how students will react these changes. Not simply to these requirements but to the expectation that more restrictions are likely to follow. More

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