virus transmission in higher ed

What’s the Point of Grades? [Jack Schneider]

Our present use of grades is a matter of historical accident, not design. The result is that grades fail to advance the multiple purposes they ostensibly serve.

Pass/Fail grading — the stopgap that many have turned to in the wake of the pandemic — is not a long-term solution. The problem can only be addressed at its root. Shaken from our complacency by a crisis, perhaps we can begin the conversation about what comes next.

          --Jack Schneider

Source:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/25/opinion/coronavirus-school-grades.html

:-)

SAT- & ACT-optional

"Students who do not submit standardized testing this coming year will not be disadvantaged in the application process."

Source:

https://college.harvard.edu/about/news-announcements/admission-application-considerations-class-2025

Expecting Students to Play It Safe if Colleges Reopen Is a Fantasy [New York Times]

The flava:
A number of American colleges and universities have decided to bring students back to campus this fall, believing they can diminish the risk of coronavirus transmission if everyone wears masks, uses hand sanitizer and social distances. Some schools also plan to reconfigure dorms to create family-sized clusters of uninfected students, who could socialize in relative safety, if only with their suite mates.

These plans are so unrealistically optimistic that they border on delusional and could lead to outbreaks of Covid-19 among students, faculty and staff.

The article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/15/opinion/coronavirus-college-safe.html

Someone expresses an opinion about an art history professor condemned by Stanford Undergraduate Senate.

"Prof. Salseda, an assistant professor, apologized; nearly everyone does, of course. What have things come to, though, that university professors (and surely also students) can't accurately quote important music, literature, or film that they are discussing? (Unless, of course, they're the right color.)"
          --Eugene Volokh

https://reason.com/2020/06/15/art-history-professor-condemned-by-stanford-undergraduate-senate/

UNT professors create antiracism syllabus [Denton Record-Chronicle]

The flava:
The University of North Texas History Department has created an antiracism syllabus titled “Decriminalizing Blackness” to help people understand the history of racism in America.

It was created as an active response to local and nationwide protests after the police killing of George Floyd.

The conceptual syllabus resembles that of a genuine course by outlining a course description, learning objectives and has an extensive list of course materials and activities. The sources help learners understand and attack racism and give histories on the criminalization of blackness.

The article:
https://dentonrc.com/education/higher_education/university_of_north_texas/unt-professors-create-antiracism-syllabus/article_b8cde5a1-3081-594d-acb5-ffc91dc254de.html

Individual COVID-19 fatality risk (and the consequences for universities) [VoxEU.org]

"The most prominent risk indeed stems simply from age.  In essence, this is due to young ‘animals’ stronger immune-response to most viruses also applying to COVID-19. . . .  Faculty members might want to appreciate the fact that most students are young and hence face a rather miniscule risk - current estimates suggest that it may be about the same as the risk of dying in a UK road accident in a normal year. . . .  For university presidents and their management teams, it is essential to recognize that the COVID-19 virus is much more dangerous to older members of university staff.  This time, age matters."
          --Centre for Economic Policy Research


The article:
https://voxeu.org/article/covid-19-pandemic-causing-crisis-uk-universities-0

To Reopen Campus, Colleges Prepare To Take On Contagious Students [WBUR]