Home Coronavirus Coverage COVID-19 Roundup: Colleges Shift Strategy in Waves – Inside Higher Ed

COVID-19 Roundup: Colleges Shift Strategy in Waves – Inside Higher Ed

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Institutions in New Jersey and Massachusetts revert to mostly virtual instruction; Purdue’s president sees “zero lethal risk” to students; instructional and living alternatives crop up.

The number of colleges reversing previously announced plans to bring many of their students back to campus this fall has continued to climb this week, with some going entirely virtual for the semester and others starting the semester online and delaying students’ return (at least for now).

Meanwhile, significant numbers of institutions are sticking to their plans to reopen their physical campuses — and some of their leaders are doing so with gusto, as is the case with Purdue University president Mitch Daniels.

In an interview on MSNBC, Daniels, reiterating statements he made last spring, said COVID-19 posed “essentially zero lethal risk” to Purdue’s students, who he said are at “greater danger driving to campus than they will be here.”

Under questioning from the anchor Katy Tur, who challenged Daniels on there being “zero” risk to students, he also acknowledged that Purdue faculty and staff members faced a greater risk, as did those in the surrounding community. But he countered that merchants in college towns like West Lafayette, Ind., depend heavily on the campus. “Closing down would inflict great harm on them,” Daniels said.

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