As colleges across the U.S. grapple with plans for the fall amid the coronavirus pandemic, more than a dozen leaders of public and private Massachusetts institutions on Wednesday released a four-phase framework to safely reopen campuses, providing recommendations that will help prepare students, families, workers and state leaders for the coming academic year.
The plans, submitted by the Massachusetts Higher Education Working Group to Gov. Charlie Baker’s Reopening Advisory Board on May 22, were formed under the leadership of Laurie Leshin, president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an advisory board member.
The 14 college and university presidents said the recommendations, formed after a survey of 80-plus campus leaders across the state, were guided by the need to protect student, faculty, staff and community health; enabling students to progress on educational goals; continue contributions in research and innovation; and minimize adverse economic impacts on families, employees and the commonwealth at large, the group wrote.
The leaders called on each institution to use the framework to develop specific plans covering each phase on their own campuses. The plans should include monitoring health conditions to detect infections and plans around containment and scaling back operations if necessary.
The majority of institutions believe they will issue their plans for the fall by around July 1, the group said. Most schools will need six weeks or less to fully prepare for fall reopening.
Phase one includes the reopening of research labs and medical, dental, veterinary and allied health clinical education and services. College leaders expressed high confidence in reopening these spaces and services based on strict compliance around personal protective equipment; strict controls of clinical areas; and tight protocols for point of care testing of patients, students, staff and faculty.
Schools in phase one will also likely see “small numbers of staff” return to work on-site as-needed “to support ramp up of campus operations and activities that cannot be supported remotely.” Schools will support phased move-out processes remaining in Spring 2020 and provide special attention to at-risk faculty and staff as repopulation begins.
According to the recommendations, moving on through the phases requires that public health criteria, including adequate supplies of PPE and tests, are met.
Phase two would see the “cautious” reopening of limited student programming on campus, such as summer bridge programs. Students in career technical education programs forced to leave campus in the spring can safely return to low density labs, studios and shops on campus in phase two. Housing, dining and classroom spaces can open on a small scale.
Phase three calls for the “careful” reopening of residence halls, dining halls and classrooms at a larger scale, with social distancing measures and other mitigations in place, including “de-densifying” eating areas similar to protocols at reopening restaurants and smaller class sizes that could lead to a mix of in-person and remote learning.
The group described phase four as a “new normal" only reached when a vaccine or other treatment is widely available, herd immunity is achieved and the public is confident “the crisis is over.”
“While each campus will need to make its own decisions concerning operations in the coming academic year based on their own planning and needs, we hope this framework provides guidance in their work to repopulate their campuses at the appropriate time,” the group said. “We look forward to continued close collaboration among our institutions, and between higher education and the Commonwealth as we all work to serve our students and communities.”
The group of college and university presidents included Robert Brown of Boston University; Nicholas Covino of William James College; Javier Cevallos of Framingham State University; Mary-Beth Cooper of Springfield College; Helen Drinan of Simmons University; Patricia Gentile of North Shore Community College; Deborah Jackson of Cambridge College; Paula Johnson of Wellesley College; Richard Lapidus of Fitchburg State University; Marty Meehan of University of Massachusetts; Anthony Monaco of Tufts University; Paula Rooney of Dean College; and Yves Salomon-Fernandez of Greenfield Community College.
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