Trump rebukes expert’s warning against reopening campuses

As the Trump White House continued to encourage United States colleges and universities to welcome students, staff and faculty back to a brick-and-mortar campus in the autumn, government health officials cautioned last week that a COVID-19 vaccine would not be ready by the start of a new academic year but added that widespread testing for the disease is expected to be available.

Their comments on 12 May during a Senate committee hearing triggered a flurry of headlines that underscored the complex, contentious and sometimes confusing messages being conveyed about the pandemic, including questions about how higher education institutions are or should be responding to it.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert and a key member of the White House task force on the coronavirus, said no vaccine would be available by September, traditionally the start of the school year, and warned that reopening the country prematurely could lead to avoidable “suffering and death”.

“The idea of having treatments available or a vaccine to facilitate re-entry of students into the fall term would be something that would be a bit of a bridge too far,” Fauci said, “even at the top speed we’re going.”

Those remarks drew a rebuke the next day from President Donald Trump, who is eager to demonstrate a command over the health crisis and revitalise the nation’s economy. Fauci’s warnings against opening too soon was “not an acceptable answer”, Trump said.

In his testimony, Fauci had also suggested that ramped-up testing for the virus could allay concern among students and parents about staying safe on campus.

Dr Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the US Department of Health and Human Services, told senators that it “is certainly possible to test all of the students” by September, but added that it would be “much more likely that there would be a surveillance strategy done where you may test some of the students at different times.”

Senator Lamar Alexander, a former university president and chair of the committee, said his exchange with Fauci during the hearing may have “created a little confusion” because Fauci was speaking only to a vaccine, and not to testing for COVID-19.

Alexander earlier in the week had said the administration’s testing efforts were “impressive” but “not nearly enough”. After Tuesday’s hearing, he dialled that back. “If I were president of a university today, I would be planning on going back to school” in September, he said.

Several large institutions, including Purdue and Northeastern universities, have already announced plans to reopen in the autumn. The University of Wisconsin system, which has lost about US$170 million in revenue because of the lockdown, is looking into how it might pay for testing all students.

Harvard Medical School officials said on Thursday that they aim to bring students back to campus by January, adding: “We are mindful of the many unknowns and will update our projections as new information becomes available.” The University of Virginia has said it will make a decision in June.

Meanwhile, the nation’s largest public university system, the 23-campus California State University, announced on Tuesday that autumn semester classes will primarily be held online. Chancellor Timothy P White said: “It might not be possible for some students, faculty and staff to safely travel to campus.” He also said a virtual approach would be less disruptive “if a serious second wave of the pandemic occurs, as forecast”.

Concerns about liability

In a conference call last week organised by the White House coronavirus task force, 14 college and university presidents told US Vice President Mike Pence that they are more likely to reopen their physical campuses if they can be protected from lawsuits if students get sick, according to Inside Higher Ed and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The American Council on Education, the chief higher education lobbying group in Washington, is urging Congress to support a liability waiver for COVID-related issues.

“Absent some legal protection, colleges will have to get creative about finding ways to protect the institution,” said Edward Cramp, an attorney at Duane Morris law firm who consults with a number of colleges and universities.

In addition to taking “all the reasonable steps to protect their student bodies such as masks, temperature checks and social distancing, they should also consider other measures to protect the institution from crushing lawsuits.” Options might include, for example, requiring students to arbitrate claims against the institution or engage in dispute resolution as a condition of enrolment, he said.

Cramp also noted the importance of communication, especially for international students, many of whom were unable to return to their home country after the outbreak this past semester. “Colleges have to explain to students and families why it is safe to come back, what they are doing to make things safe on campus, and assure students that they have contingency plans in case there is another outbreak,” he said.

For universities, uncertainties around the trajectory of the pandemic are heightened by economic uncertainties. The New York Times reported this month that many 2020 high school graduates have been reluctant to commit to where they will enrol amid so much uncertainty. Record-setting jobless claims have raised questions in some communities about whether some of this year’s high school graduates might choose to put off going to college.

Dozens of institutions, including Pennsylvania State University, Indiana University and the University of Miami, are facing class-action lawsuits filed by students demanding a tuition refund, arguing that they did not receive benefits such as in-person instruction, student activities and access to campus facilities such as laboratories, libraries and athletic centres.

Ohio University on Friday notified its campus community it had terminated the contracts for 53 instructors and will lay off nearly 100 administrators.

Missouri Western State University is laying off faculty members and cutting majors, including English, history, philosophy and sociology. At least one small liberal arts college in Illinois is closing its doors altogether, while one in Massachusetts, Pine Manor College, is merging with a larger neighbour, Boston College.

Congress has allocated about US$14 billion of its stimulus package for a Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, most of which goes directly to institutions to prevent, prepare for and respond to COVID-19, but universities are awaiting guidance on how the grants can be used.

“It’s a real challenge for institutions right now,” Cramp said. “There’s no one size fits all.”