Blame shifting on campuses over Coronavirus
Preview:
Recent coronavirus outbreaks have forced many colleges and universities to send students home and return to remote instruction, sometimes within a week of starting classes. Critics have declared this outcome “predictable and even preventable,” and accused college administrators of placing their institutions’ financial interests ahead of student health and community safety. Colleges, we are told, have “forfeited the moral authority” to blame students who ignore physical distancing rules, refuse to wear masks, and party as if it were 2019; they know that many students will not abandon the social life that is so much a part of the college experience. We’re told, as one Harvard University epidemiologist put it, “it’s unconscionable for these administrators to be shaming and blaming and punishing their students for what we all knew would happen.”
Originally published: September 6, 2020
Author: David Wippman
Position: President
Institution: Hamilton College
Published by: The Hill