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Union College President: Fall Semester Built On Flexibility

Union College President David Harris
Jackie Orchard
/
WAMC
Union College President David Harris

Colleges across the Northeast closed up dorms, moved classes online and canceled spring sports in March as the coronavirus pandemic took hold. Now, different campuses are coming up with different plans for the fall. Union College announced its reopening plantoday, which includes on-campus living for first-year students at the private school in Schenectady. A decision on fall sports has not yet been made. College president David Harris spoke with WAMC’s Ian Pickus.

We've been working extremely hard on this since we had to effectively closed campus in March, and turned our attention fully to this in April. We've consulted with public health experts, we've worked with the state and looked at CDC and other federal guidelines as well, and identifying what's possible, and then work closely with others on key measures such as testing, contact, tracing, barriers, and so forth.

I've asked some other college presidents recently this question, Is this the hardest stretch you've had in your leadership position?

It's not even close. That's the hardest stretch I think we've seen in higher-ed and our country in a very long time. And it's as I keep telling folks, it's because there's a substantial disparity between the consequences of decisions and the information we actually have upon which to make those decisions.

So let's talk a little bit about what the fall semester will look like. You say that first year students will be able to live on campus. Why will that be possible?

So what we're saying is that flexibility is the cornerstone of our plan. We're saying that we expect our first year students to be with us on campus in the fall, I believe it's critically important to build community face to face, in a residential environment. And so we prioritize the first years as, as being back on campus.

I know people had a really hard decision to make this spring, you know, as they were thinking about what they do in the fall, especially first year students. Did you guys see any drop off in admissions numbers from that first year class because of this pandemic?

We did see the numbers are down a little bit, but you know, it's really hard to know. No one feels confident about the numbers right now because students were not able to visit campuses in March and April. And those are critical weeks for students to make final visits and make their final decisions. As a result, we are confident that there are students who are double or even triple or more deposited at schools. What I mean by that is that there are schools who think a student is coming. But what they don't know is there's at least one or more other schools who think that student is coming. The students are waiting until they see what the plans are for fall.

Oh. So that's- That, that typical, like May 1 deadline, that doesn't really apply this year?

Well, students did reply by May 1. My point is, they just might have told more than one school they were coming.

Wow.

And we don't know that.

That sounds complicated.

Indeed.

OK. So what happens for first year students showing up in early September? What will campus look like and what will their classes look like?

So what you're going to see across higher-ed is a year that looks very different from the past. So you're going to see students who are come to campus, and some of them will have- Many of them will have some of their classes online, even though they're on campus. You will see students at Union College who are going to be in singles than they were in the past. We believe that exceeds what New York State requires will believe it's critically important in terms of safety and peace of mind. You will see individuals who have fewer large gatherings, fewer clubs. The dining hall, there will be a lot more grab and go, and reduced hours for particular individuals to be in the dining hall. So it'll feel very different from what it's felt in recent years.

And what about in person classes?

In person classes will be with masks or other face coverings for faculty and for students. And you'll expect to see people spaced within those classrooms. So there'll be in bigger classrooms and they might have in the past given the class size.

What about things that are less in your control like parties?

So what we have to do, as other schools do, is to first of all be very clear with folks about expectations. We have a revised code of conduct that will go out to folks to certify that they have read and understand, and will comply. And we will have increased sanctions. So in the past, some activities that may have been, you know, one, two or three warnings before there were some more significant action, the significant action will come much faster because the consequences of non-compliance are much greater than they were in the past.

What about testing?

Testing is absolutely critical. In fact, I wouldn't be comfortable opening the school if we did not have reliable testing. We're in conversation with vendors. And I'm confident now that we will have affordable, high quality testing that will give us results rapidly and allow us to test students every week.

What's the number of students coming this fall?

We really don't know yet. So it's because our plan provides, unlike many schools, our plan provides students with flexibility. It provides ways for them to advance their educational goals, whether they're here or whether they're remotely. So students will be telling us in the next few weeks whether they plan to come back to campus, or take advantage of some of our exciting remote options.

Union College has already had a somewhat unique schedule. It's not on the traditional two semester schedule, it's on a tri-mester. How does that factor into the dates when students will actually be on campus?

So you've seen many schools around the country, semester schools, start a little bit early and say they're going to complete by Thanksgiving, and maybe complete the last week or two online. Our trimester schedule always, basically starts after Labor Day- And right around Labor Day and it completes by Thanksgiving. So we didn't have to make that change. We have three terms a year instead of the two, you see at many schools. And that's great because you don't want to see students go home for Thanksgiving around the country and then come back to campus afterwards.

What about international students? I mean, as we speak today, you know Governor Cuomo has set a mandatory quarantine for eight more states just in the US. We haven't even talked about international travel.

Right. So this is again why it's so important for us to have exciting offices for students who are on campus and those who are not. And not just watching a Zoom of the class that people are taking on campus, because we know for visa- Because of visas there many students, internationals will be unable to come to the US for study in the fall.

We have not talked about upperclassmen. What happens if you're a sophomore, or a junior, or a senior and you were planning to be coming back in September?

You can do that. So, you have two options. You can come back, just like the first year students, and you can take face-to-face classes and some of your traditional classes will be online classes, you can do that. Or you can opt to be away and take advantage of some other opportunities.

Like what?

So, there are three opportunities. One is, as I've mentioned, some of the traditional courses will be offered online to students who are actually here on campus. Well, if you can take it from a dorm room, you can take it from your bedroom 400 miles away. And so that's one option. Your second option is this new courses online called Minerva, builds on wisdom, the goddess wisdom, one of us in our motto, Minerva is. And the idea here is many of these are team taught many across disciplines. They address some of the biggest challenges we face, the society, racial inequality, artificial intelligence, climate change, and so forth. And your third option is actually an experiential opportunity. We've done these so we wanted to expand, and so there'll be opportunity. Some we've identified some students who identify where they will work 10 hours a week, and they will work with faculty on readings and methods of evaluation.

So people could still be on track to graduate this coming year. Let's say they were close to having the coursework done, even if they didn't come back to Union physically for this next year.

Absolutely. That's what I think is that's what we're so excited in our plan. It allows every student to make real meaningful progress towards their degrees, because whether they're here on campus, or they're remotely, or they're remote.

Now, athletics have not yet been decided on. Other schools, like Williams College has said no fall sports, RPI as well. How come that decision hasn't been made yet?

So, we are trimesters. We start a month later than- Weeks, if not a month later than everybody else. And so you'll see some of the decisions a little lagged for us simply because we start a little bit later. We are having conversations with our league, Liberty League, RPI is also a member. So it's another meeting today, and we will make our decisions of athletics as we have a better sense of what the league is deciding whether we're going to go along with the league approach or whether we decide we need to do something that better fits our needs.

Oh, so you're raising the possibility of playing as an independent or something this fall?

Well, it could go either way. Right? A league could say they don't want to play and a school might say they do, in which case it's the independent. Or the league might say we're going to conduct athletic competition, the school might say we're not comfortable, that's the RPI model.

Interesting.

In the sense of Liberty League hasn't said no. And NESCAC hasn't said no. But Williams, Bowden and RPI have all said they're not playing.

You know, it just strikes me that there's so much unknown even as you make plans for the fall, Tony Fauci was testifying today about this huge spike in cases. What happens if things go south, you know, a few weeks after students are back?

Yeah, well, that could certainly happen. What we've been saying all along is that all of our students, faculty and staff, are going to have to plan for what we call multiple tomorrows it's part of our vision statement, as we prepare people for multiple tomorrows, is we may have to move to a fully online model with short notice as we did on March 12th. That could well happened again. We believe that the steps we're taking with testing, social distancing, awareness campaigns, as well as strict compliance will mitigate that possibility. But it's, you can't be sure.

What's been the effect on the campus, the campus' finances evolved the last four months?

It’s substantial. And every school, you've seen schools not to collect room and board revenue, and still have many of those expenses. You've seen that at schools. You've also seen schools with significant concerns about enrollments. Not just, will students say, "I'm not sure I want to come back this year, given the constraints, and I'm going to take a gap year or take a leave," but also the international students who- Some schools have a lot more internationals than we do, and that's a big risk. And so losing potentially room and board revenue, as well as tuition from some of those students. And so we'd like every other school I've seen, have had to make some very difficult financial decisions.

No, some places are saying this has become an existential issue. Union goes back so, so far. Is that, you know, on the table here?

Well, Union's 225 years old, I have no reason to believe I'll be the last president of Union College.

OK. But if, if a parent is listening to this right now, I mean, your advice is: You know, we think we can do this safely this fall.

For me, it's very simple. Which is, I would not have- Be moving forward with the plan we announced today, if I did not feel comfortable with people coming back. For me, that is not just as an individual who engages with lots of people on campus as President. But it also is if I had a child who was a Union student, I would be comfortable with him or her coming back. If I could not get to that threshold, I would not have authorized the plan that we're moving forward today.

You know, separate from the financial pressures and just the logistical pressures. So much of being a college president is about pressing the flesh. And going to events, and convening events with people. How is all of this changed your job?

It's very different. My job has become lonely, in a physical sense. So I'm used to seeing people around campus, and I walk around campus, it’s really quiet. I was excited, I had a meeting with some of the central staff and dining facilities, campus safety, who've been here for the last three months. And it was just so exciting to actually see in-person, some of the members of our community and to realize just how rare and occurrence that has become.

Just last thing. I'm just curious about this, because the governor and SUNY were collecting, you know, campus plans from all of the 64 SUNY campuses and then coming up with sort of a framework. For private colleges, how much interaction Are you having with state DOH and state officials about what's safe and what isn't?

So, we've been working with the county, more directly and through CICU, which is an organization that represents private colleges and universities, interacting with the state through CICU.

A lifelong resident of the Capital Region, Ian joined WAMC in late 2008 and became news director in 2013. He began working on Morning Edition and has produced The Capitol Connection, Congressional Corner, and several other WAMC programs. Ian can also be heard as the host of the WAMC News Podcast and on The Roundtable and various newscasts. Ian holds a BA in English and journalism and an MA in English, both from the University at Albany, where he has taught journalism since 2013.
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