We got an email from our President this morning that people who haven't been approved to work are going in anyway because "it's just easier" or "they need a break from home". I'm so sick of people breaking the rules. I assure you the ones mandated to go in to do literal paperwork would trade to stay home all the time just for safety.
We host mandatory information sessions for certain programs. We're supposed to have some in April. So far we've been doing 1:1 phone calls, which is ok because it eats up time on slower days, but overall we can't do that in large volume. My boss is overwhelmed with a lot, but she's supposed to spearhead moving these sessions online. I don't want to bug her, but we need to know what we're doing for a month or two as I assume at the last we won't be open to the public in May.
I’m having that issue with one of my direct reports. She’s the receptionist for our office, and I know she feels like she can’t do her job at home. But, our university has instructed us that we are to do what we can from home and that’s that. No stressing about not being able to do x, y, z, we will still be paid in-full. They’re even still paying student workers right now, which I think is amazing.
But the damn receptionist (who is old) will not. follow. directions. and still goes in several times a week. I’ve instructed her to stay home. She will not listen. I took it to my boss, and my boss doesn’t really care. 🙄 I know in the scheme of things, one person in an empty office is not likely to get infected/infect others, but she can’t be the only one there. There must be more people who are clinging to working in the office for no reason. It just makes me mad. The university is being so good to us to keep the campus community safe, and they’re basically spitting in the administration’s face.
Our buildings are all on lock down - no more swipe access. The only way to get in now is to have the campus police let you in.
Post by litskispeciality on Apr 5, 2020 17:40:30 GMT -5
We still have physical keys so its easier for people to get in. They are limiting which door you can come in to the building, but I dont believe the police oficwr has a running list of who's approvwd to be in the building, they just have you give your name, no ID or anything.
I didn't even think about study abroad. I feel bad for intl. students too, I'm sure the gov had to lift the restrictions about more than one online class, but how scary to be even further away from family right now.
I didn't even think about study abroad. I feel bad for intl. students too, I'm sure the gov had to lift the restrictions about more than one online class, but how scary to be even further away from family right now.
It's interesting and I think will rewrite the industry for decades to come.
I'm not in the USA, but most American students were recalled home pretty quickly. Students from Italy, Spain and France were told to not go back.
I feel supremely sorry for these kids. My lifelong love of travel started with studying abroad. I feel like there will be a whole generation of traumatized kids who won't dare try to go anywhere ever again. I hope I'm wrong.
I didn't even think about study abroad. I feel bad for intl. students too, I'm sure the gov had to lift the restrictions about more than one online class, but how scary to be even further away from family right now.
It's interesting and I think will rewrite the industry for decades to come.
I'm not in the USA, but most American students were recalled home pretty quickly. Students from Italy, Spain and France were told to not go back.
I feel supremely sorry for these kids. My lifelong love of travel started with studying abroad. I feel like there will be a whole generation of traumatized kids who won't dare try to go anywhere ever again. I hope I'm wrong.
I never got to study abroad in college, which was a huge bummer. Study abroad was a big appeal when selecting college. I feel bad for everyone that won't be able to travel. My community college held a ton of fundraisers to do a service trip to Iceland, which got cancelled. I can't blame the colleges, but it's such a great experience if you can go.
On the flip side I have feelings about them bringing people back from countries that had outbreaks before the US, but what's done is done. That sucks for those students though, and they probably lose out on a lot of money.
Post by litskispeciality on Apr 9, 2020 14:17:45 GMT -5
This is more of a vent than a check-in. I know everything is upside down, but it feels like communication is even harder now. We had a meeting today where we went over a 4 page, single spaced document...in 1 hour and 10 minutes...including Q&A. We got the document less than 15 minutes before the meeting. We probably would have had less questions, pissed off less managers if we had time to read it ahead of time.
Is anyone here in Admissions? I have questions about titles that you might be able to answer. Also I never even thought about deposits not tracking as normal. Everyone's waiting to find out if they can move away or if they have to go online in the fall. We don't have housing so it's the one issue I don't worry about. I wonder if the national May 1st deadline will have to be extended this year?
Post by litskispeciality on Jun 19, 2020 12:39:49 GMT -5
Bumping this again as the randoms today made me feel better that we're not the only school in limbo. We're doing advising/new registration apts through Zoom and it's so time consuming. It's good in one sense, but taking a lot longer. At this point we're told we'll mostly be online, with some in person (I assume labs), but they don't know which ones as each faculty member has to sign on. One of the hardest parts is not knowing if the class will still be syncronus online during the scheduled time, or log in whenever. I guess a lot of people want to make changes and drop every time we move a class to online.
How are all of you holding up? Any answers or directions? ETA: those of you at residential schools, do they plan to open the res halls as is? Is that helping or hurting your enrollment? It's so weird being at a school that doesn't require a May (now June 1st) deposit deadline, I assume our wave is coming because everyone had to commit in the last couple of weeks.
We had a very doom and gloom meeting yesterday about international students not being able to arrive and worry that current F1 students already in the US will still be limited to only 1 online class per semester. (That is the rule in a typical year.) We're hoping the gov't agency that oversees this, relaxes that rule like they didn in the spring. Otherwise it would be disasterous for our enrollment. It's so hard not having any answers. Our school is doing hybrid - some (smaller) classes will meet in person, but will also have an online component. All big courses are all online.
We were also just directed that all orientation has to be online. It makes me sad for the students who can move to our city and start in person. WE can't even schedule an informal get together with them. No group activities at all. As much as I have gotten used to being at home and I honestly love it...I do miss my students. And I will miss meeting them in person in August.
We had two rounds of large layoffs and everyone received a pay cut (scaled according to salary, starting at 7% and going down to 3%) and I received our budget for next year. I honestly don't know how we can operate on what we will have left after the required items are paid (like accreditation and the copier lease). There is nothing. Honestly, I just had a faculty member email me to request a hard copy of a text book so he can prep for fall and I'm not sure how I am going to cover it. It's a textbook but I honestly don't know where that $100 will come from.
We are planning face to face but there hasn't been a hard commitment on it. A neighboring university announced that their dorms will close for Thanksgiving and the remainder of the fall semester will be online. One a few hours away is starting three weeks early and their semester ends at Thanksgiving. This past spring that was a major issue here, students returned from spring break and then got sent home three days later. Where I am at doesn't feel as well thought out or organized and we still don't even know if orientation will be face to face or not.
We are doing new student orientation online. We are moving forward with plans to be in-person for the fall semester, including opening the residence halls with modifications, although no details about that yet. Everyone on campus is required to wear a mask at all times, except if you have a private office or a cubicle that is more than 6 feet away from another one. We also got word this week that most employees will have a reduction in salary for the next several months (reduction percentage according to salary).
I haven't heard anything about enrollment numbers yet, except that the orientation office has added a couple of sessions, so we have more interest from new students than anticipated. However, I don't know how many students are going through orientation each session vs. last year - so I can't say that these added sessions mean we're on track with last year, or surpassing, or if we're still down as compared to last year because we have fewer students per session.
Harvard fully online for Fall though welcoming about 40% of students to campus. Students will take classes online regardless on if they live on campus or not. No tuition discount
I had JUST gotten through a meeting where I said "Our college isn't a leader in making decisions, we're a follower. We won't be the first to close, and if we're closing, that means no colleges in MA are opening, and that's going to devastate the state economy" and I saw this article.
And to make shit more confusing... the ICE statement ... ugh.
“With sorrow—for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection—we dissent,”