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US Colleges Struggle to Salvage Semester Amid Outbreaks

Associated Press

   MADISON, WISCONSIN - Colleges across the country are struggling to
   salvage the fall semester amid skyrocketing coronavirus cases, dorm
   complexes and frat houses under quarantine, and flaring tensions with
   local community leaders over the spread of the disease.

   Many major universities are determined to forge ahead despite warning
   signs, as evidenced by the expanding slate of college football games
   occurring Saturday. The football-obsessed Southeastern Conference began
   its season with fans in stadiums. Several teams in other leagues have
   had to postpone games because of outbreaks among players and staff.

   Institutions across the nation saw spikes of thousands of cases days
   after opening their doors in the last month, driven by students
   socializing with little or no social distancing. School and community
   leaders have tried to rein in the virus by closing bars, suspending
   students, adding mask requirements, and toggling between in-person and
   online instruction as case numbers rise and fall.

   Tension over the outbreaks is starting to boil over in college towns.

   In Rhode Island, Governor Gina Raimondo, a Democrat, this week blamed
   outbreaks at two colleges for a surge of virus cases that boosted the
   state's infection rate high enough to put it on the list of places
   whose residents are required to quarantine when traveling to New York,
   New Jersey and Connecticut.

   Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, alarmed by what he saw as
   draconian rules on college campuses, said he was drawing up a "bill of
   rights" for college students.

   No confidence

   Faculty members from at least two universities have held no-confidence
   votes in recent weeks against their top leaders, in part over reopening
   decisions.

   The University of Wisconsin-Madison had seen more than 2,800 confirmed
   cases in students as of Friday. The school shut down in-person
   instruction for two weeks, locked down two of its largest dorms, and
   imposed quarantines on more than a dozen sorority and fraternity
   houses. The school lifted the dorm lockdown just this week.

   Dane County Executive Joe Parisi has demanded the university send all
   of its students home for the rest of the academic year.

   "[The virus] was under control until the university came back," Parisi
   said.

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