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Post by timholycross on Jul 15, 2020 20:25:36 GMT -5
I just snipped one small portion from the website (this does seem a bit much...): All students are required to wear face coverings that completely cover mouth and nose at all times when on and off campus, in both indoor and outdoor spaces. The only times face coverings are not required are when students are (1) in their bedroom/ suite/apartment with only their roommate or suite/apartment mates, (2) eating with adequate physical distancing, or (3) undertaking personal grooming. www.holycross.edu/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-information/student-resourcesGoing for a run outside = mask on. Absolutely unnecessary and ridiculous. They have to catch you to enforce it. I assume they are not having guards at the gates of the school and you don't have to run on campus. I assume they thought of this in terms of team practices, workouts, which are allowed. Heavy exertion stuff is not feasible with a mask on in warm temperatures.
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Post by crusader99 on Jul 18, 2020 12:26:37 GMT -5
An Update from the N.J. Shore.
Contrary to the chatter, the College accommodated the requests for off-campus housing. They have also done terrific work communicating with the students and parents. By showing them they care for the person as part of the whole, as far as the current student in our family is concerned, they have a lifetime Crusader! Be safe and enjoy the Summer.
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Post by HC92 on Jul 19, 2020 9:03:52 GMT -5
An Update from the N.J. Shore. Contrary to the chatter, the College accommodated the requests for off-campus housing. Can you clarify what you’re saying? It was reported here by at least one alum who has been posting here for a long time that he was told they would not be approving more recent requests to live off campus until the dorms were full. Was he lying? Or are the dorms now full so requests are again being approved? Or did the College cave and start approving them after realizing how angry some people were?
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Post by HC92 on Jul 19, 2020 9:07:31 GMT -5
I am a parent of a current student. The student chatter is consistent, most do not want to attend college from home but are unsatisfied with the announced restrictions of movement, dining, use of facilities and bathrooms coupled with the mandatory on-line learning offerings. To adjust, most upper class students have applied for approval to reside off-campus. The chatter from those who have spoken to school Deans, advisors etc.. was somewhat surprising. The consistent response is that due to budgetary reasons that most requests will be denied. They do not want the lose the revenue resulting from empty dorm rooms. Science, health and safety be damned. This is the opposite justification provided for the in-person/on-line course offerings. So full tuition and room and board despite the marketplace (the students and parents) responding that on-line, long distance learning is a temporary, acceptable solution provided that it is not from a locked down dorm room. Forcing students to eat, and use the bathroom facilities at a designated time, restrict their access to facilities and common areas, and interaction with others (even with a face mask from a social distance) while denying an option that these young adults and their parents find acceptable is a terrible decision by the College. Hopefully, this is not the final determination and the same rational that led to the decision to require on-line, distance learning, will be applied to housing options selected by the students in consultation with their families. The latest information from the school is found on the below link: www.holycross.edu/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-information/student-resourcesI went back to look at who said what about the school’s response. Now I’m confused as this appears to be from the same guy who more recently wrote that the school is doing a great job and approving requests from those who want to live off-campus. .
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Post by crusader99 on Jul 19, 2020 9:44:11 GMT -5
Good morning. The 1st post was from information circulating among the students. As a parent of 20 year olds, I referred to that as “chatter”. The 2nd post was, quite frankly after being more informed. We listened to the webinars from the several school Deans made available and reached the conclusion that the College was adjusting to the student needs which was contrary to what we were told was the consensus from the early “chatter”. We are more than satisfied with the communication received from and flexibility provided and felt a 2nd post was warranted to update the prior post, which had a contrary flavor; albeit one based upon hearsay and not direct information. Hope this helps.
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Post by HC92 on Jul 19, 2020 9:50:10 GMT -5
Good morning. The 1st post was from information circulating among the students. As a parent of 20 year olds, I referred to that as “chatter”. The 2nd post was, quite frankly after being more informed. We listened to the webinars from the several school Deans made available and reached the conclusion that the College was adjusting to the student needs which was contrary to what we were told was the consensus from the early “chatter”. We are more than satisfied with the communication received from and flexibility provided and felt a 2nd post was warranted to update the prior post, which had a contrary flavor; albeit one based upon hearsay and not direct information. Hope this helps. Appreciate it. So, can students who want to live off campus freely do so or is the school restricting that, at least until the dorms are full?
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Post by crusader99 on Jul 19, 2020 10:28:45 GMT -5
I can report that our student and the others to have requested off campus housing have each been approved. We do it know the status of the % of dorm occupancy.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Jul 19, 2020 17:21:17 GMT -5
As I understand it, the college has leased apartments at The Edge and perhaps elsewhere. Whether students who will live off-campus in these leased apartments will pay the college, or the owner/operator of the Edge directly, I know not. For most colleges, the room charges represent a cash cow, as most residence halls are fully paid for. Figge, the newest hall, was funded from the college's cash reserves. There was no bonding, thus no financing. Room charges are a major underwriter of the HC athletic programs. If HC didn't fill its residence halls, and the revenue from same decreased significantly, fair to say that some sports teams could be on the block. Some colleges are now partnering with the private sector to build new residence halls. The private sector builds the hall, the students apparently pay the private sector owner directly, and the private sector turns over ownership of the hall to the college / university after 30 years. Schools that do this are likely near their bonding limits. Emerson spent about $100 million to convert the century-old Little Building, on Boston Common, to a residence hall. I am quite certain Emerson bonded for that, and as sure as the sun rises in the east, Emerson would not readily give students the option of living off-campus. Someone has to pay down the bonds' principal and interest. (The city of Boston also has a role in this, as the city has pushed, shoved, and strong-armed colleges and universities in Boston to house students on-campus, thus freeing up reasonably-affordable housing for families.)
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Post by hc89 on Jul 19, 2020 18:55:25 GMT -5
Good morning. The 1st post was from information circulating among the students. As a parent of 20 year olds, I referred to that as “chatter”. The 2nd post was, quite frankly after being more informed. We listened to the webinars from the several school Deans made available and reached the conclusion that the College was adjusting to the student needs which was contrary to what we were told was the consensus from the early “chatter”. We are more than satisfied with the communication received from and flexibility provided and felt a 2nd post was warranted to update the prior post, which had a contrary flavor; albeit one based upon hearsay and not direct information. Hope this helps. Appreciate it. So, can students who want to live off campus freely do so or is the school restricting that, at least until the dorms are full? To answer the Qs more directly: 1. Students who want to live off campus CANNOT freely do so. Students must apply for and receive “permission” to live off campus. There was no change made in this policy- at least not publicly anyway. 2. Yes, the school has continued to “restrict” its students by prioritizing a “full” campus over everything else. With that said, of those that have applied, some students have received “permission” to live off-campus and others have been denied. There is no doubt that these are challenging issues all the way around. Hoping for a safe, healthy return to campus for all incoming and returning HC students!
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Jul 21, 2020 7:38:03 GMT -5
> HC will be using Loyola as the isolation / quarantine hall. If all of Loyola is used, that's 300 beds taken off-line. I do not know whether Loyola is so configured that one could readily separate floors, which would allow for floors to be used by 'regular' students, but I tend to think not.
> As of late last week, one third of the students had sent in their intentions with respect to fall semester. From memory, about 70 percent intend to live on-campus, about 15 percent off-campus, about ten percent entirely remote; about four percent live at home and commute. Last spring, 300 seniors requested and were given permission to live off-campus, and are included in the 15 percent.
> The number of requested withdrawals for the semester (year) are relatively few, as is the number of incoming freshmen requesting deferral until 2021.
> Ten percent of the fall courses will be in-person; i.e., no remote. The other courses are hybrid or entirely remote.
> HC's testing contract with the Broad Institute calls for test results reported within 24 hours, not more than 36 hours. The testing will be modified nasal swabs. (less intrusive!) Students may be able to self-administer the test once they have been taught the procedure. ALL students will be tested when they arrive, whether living off-campus or on-campus. Testing thereafter may initially be every 3-5 days, but it appears as if the frequency may drop if positive tests are nil, or very,very close to nil.
> Fr. B. has apparently moved back to Ciampi, from his 'exile' to Loyola? It may be that this is due to Loyola being prepared as the isolation hall.
> Fr. B. said there was paving going on near Ciampi. This is not visible from the webcams. This may be related to the speculated reconfiguration of the parking lots between Hart and Hogan.
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Post by CHC8485 on Jul 21, 2020 8:43:21 GMT -5
There is a backhoe doing some gravity defying work on the side of the hill facing Wheeler at the Jo right now. Possibly digging for a new set of stairs from the Wheeler beach. Yikes! www.holycross.edu/webcams/recreation-center
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Jul 21, 2020 10:30:07 GMT -5
There is a backhoe doing some gravity defying work on the side of the hill facing Wheeler at the Jo right now. Possibly digging for a new set of stairs from the Wheeler beach. Yikes! www.holycross.edu/webcams/recreation-centerI think this work is mainly for utility conduit pipe. The main 12 kV line runs by the east side of Wheeler, and there is a switching station there. (I only know this because an option on the Luth contract was to replace the old 12 5 kV line, but this apparently was not exercised.) A rendering shows stairs up from Wheeler Rd to the lower level entrance at the NW corner of The Jo, and then more stairs up to the ground level entrance on the west side of the building, where the public safety office will be. IMO, stairs at Wheeler Beach would not be ADA compliant, although a rendering of the east side of The Jo does show a short set of stairs close to The Jo, but no indication these go further. It appears that to construct and elevate the play terrace on the east of The Jo, at least 2-3 feet more of dirt needs to be placed on top of the existing grade as seen on the webcam.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jul 21, 2020 11:39:08 GMT -5
I looked at the PAC web cam as well--lots of progress--structural steel going up--since I last checked the site out.
Question: how many square feet does the Jo have and what did the Field House have?
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Post by rickii on Jul 21, 2020 12:14:59 GMT -5
I looked at the PAC web cam as well--lots of progress--structural steel going up--since I last checked the site out. Question: how many square feet does the Jo have and what did the Field House have? You beat me to it KY.... Now that the building is up it looks much smaller than I anticipated.
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Post by alum on Jul 21, 2020 12:45:12 GMT -5
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jul 21, 2020 12:50:07 GMT -5
It’s surprising that the two buildings would have similar square footage with the Jo having three stories . Certainly to me it looks as wide as the FH from the camera’s perspective
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Post by Crucis#1 on Jul 21, 2020 13:05:28 GMT -5
Last week there was a trench dug on the west side of the Prior. In the trench were two conduit what appeared to be PVC pipes that ran from the Prior north near the old parking lot guard house. Concrete was poured on top of the pipes. The trench has now been covered by dirt and no longer visible.
Does anyone know what utilities are in the buried trench?
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Post by bringbackcaro on Jul 21, 2020 13:24:34 GMT -5
> HC will be using Loyola as the isolation / quarantine hall. If all of Loyola is used, that's 300 beds taken off-line. I do not know whether Loyola is so configured that one could readily separate floors, which would allow for floors to be used by 'regular' students, but I tend to think not. If memory serves me correctly, I believe there is a section of Loyola in the back-right (from the main entrance) that is already a bit isolated from the main part of the building and could be blocked off from the main entrance with a separate access point all the way to the right of the building. I don't see how they could make things work if they had to keep all of the rooms in Loyola clear.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Jul 21, 2020 14:07:57 GMT -5
Last week there was a trench dug on the west side of the Prior. In the trench were two conduit what appeared to be PVC pipes that ran from the Prior north near the old parking lot guard house. Concrete was poured on top of the pipes. The trench has now been covered by dirt and no longer visible. Does anyone know what utilities are in the buried trench? My somewhat educated guess is electrical, and telecommunications. ------------------------- with respect to Loyola, I have a long-faded memory that there may have been an infirmary in the original Jesuit residence Loyola. That said, Loyola was chosen because of the plethora of bathrooms, in that those in isolation / quarantine don't need to share bathrooms.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jul 21, 2020 14:23:23 GMT -5
Yes, the infirmary was in Loyola during my early 70’s years at HC.
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Post by newfieguy74 on Jul 21, 2020 14:28:15 GMT -5
Yes, I was there in the early 70's also. The infirmary was definitely in Loyola because I had to go there to get allergy shots. The nurse, a nice woman, did not have a gentle touch with a hypodermic. As I recall the rest of Loyola was the Jesuit residence.
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Post by CHC8485 on Jul 21, 2020 14:52:50 GMT -5
What used to be the infirmary rooms are now dorm rooms - both of my children lived on the floor immediately over health services which served as the infirmary rooms in the 80's. They MIGHT have preserved a couple of rooms on the ground floor should a student or 2 need medical isolation but don't know for sure.
All that said, it would not take much to isolate on floor over the health services offices. Just a matter of locking some doors and turn off key card access. In fact, that floor my kids lived on probably has a dozen or so rooms and would make an ideal isolation floor. Each room can accommodate a couple of students with a private bathroom.
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Post by CHC8485 on Jul 21, 2020 15:20:44 GMT -5
According to the Worcester Tax records, the fieldhouse has 98.000 sf "living area." However The sketch of the footprint tells a very different story the dimensions on the drawing show The main body of the building is 100 x 300 so 30,000 sf. A couple of appendages add about 6500 sf. Throw in 8,000 sf (probably a very high estimate) for the upstairs offices and you get 45,000 sf being VERY generous. So unless there is a secret basement to the fieldhouse no one knew about to double the square footage to the tax record, the Jo will add space. Here's the link to the tax record. Scroll down to see the old field house. gis.vgsi.com/worcesterma/Parcel.aspx?pid=53943
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Jul 21, 2020 16:39:39 GMT -5
chc8495 nails it. I used Google maps to try and measure the length and width of the field house itself, and the values I got were close to 100' x 300'. The north-south basketball courts were not regulation length, I figured they were about <90' with about five feet at each baseline to the wall. All that office space was moved to the Luth, so the actual recreation space was not much more than 30,000 sq ft.
If a court with endlines etc measures 100' by 55', that's 5500 sq ft. per court. IIRC, there were five N-S courts, with one converted to volleyball, but its been dacades, so the total number may be incorrect.
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Post by alum on Jul 21, 2020 17:17:59 GMT -5
According to the Worcester Tax records, the fieldhouse has 98.000 sf "living area." However The sketch of the footprint tells a very different story the dimensions on the drawing show The main body of the building is 100 x 300 so 30,000 sf. A couple of appendages add about 6500 sf. Throw in 8,000 sf (probably a very high estimate) for the upstairs offices and you get 45,000 sf being VERY generous. So unless there is a secret basement to the fieldhouse no one knew about to double the square footage to the tax record, the Jo will add space. Here's the link to the tax record. Scroll down to see the old field house. gis.vgsi.com/worcesterma/Parcel.aspx?pid=53943I was close on the length. Way off on the width. My problem was that I couldn’t do the math to figure the width of the area covered by the curves on the track. This might explain why I didn’t take any math in college. 😁
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