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Post by A Clock Tower Purple on Feb 8, 2021 20:43:11 GMT -5
^ what a racial blast. When's the last time you were in Amherst - 60 years ago?
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Post by bfoley82 on Feb 8, 2021 20:58:45 GMT -5
^ what a racial blast. When's the last time you were in Amherst - 60 years ago? According to UMass, 17 percent of their undergraduate student population is African American, Chicano/Latino, or Native American/Alaska Native and 18 percent of graduate. They have 12 percent Asian as undergrads and 10 percent of grad students. www.umass.edu/diversity/data-policies
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Post by longsuffering on Feb 8, 2021 21:20:04 GMT -5
Being in the same tribe as me means the majority of kids at UMass grew up in Massachusetts like I did and I related to them. My last visit to UMass was September 11, 2010 the Saturday twilight football game between HC and UMass. Marcus Camby was also at that game being honored and it was the last time legendary UMass band leader George Parks directed the band as he died of a heart attack on the way to the Big House at Michigan for the next UMass game.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Feb 8, 2021 21:22:10 GMT -5
Not sure about that....UMass is pretty far away from downtown. You really think the gates around Holy Cross are stopping students from leaving? It has been one week that Holy Cross has been in session....give it a little bit of time. I meant managing 30,000 is harder than 3,000. Thinking of six degrees of separation theory, it is probably only two or three degrees at HC with the social penalty for violating the common good more powerful than on a larger campus like UMass. OTH, since I'm a Mass. native, the last time I was on the UMass campus the students all looked like they were in the same tribe as me, so a State U. has it's own homogeneity. But it still should be easier for a community of 3K to be accountable to each other than 30K. UMass reported 300 new cases Feb 2-4. HC reported seven new cases over the same three days. UMass' plans for the spring semester was/is to bring only 60 percent of the undergraduates back. The others would study entirely remotely. UMass' 7-day positive test percentage is 2.36 percent; HC's comparable percentage is 0.18 percent. HC tests more extensively than does UMass. UMass did about 12,300 tests Feb 3-5; HC did about 3,500 tests, Feb 2-4.
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Post by longsuffering on Feb 8, 2021 21:35:38 GMT -5
I meant managing 30,000 is harder than 3,000. Thinking of six degrees of separation theory, it is probably only two or three degrees at HC with the social penalty for violating the common good more powerful than on a larger campus like UMass. OTH, since I'm a Mass. native, the last time I was on the UMass campus the students all looked like they were in the same tribe as me, so a State U. has it's own homogeneity. But it still should be easier for a community of 3K to be accountable to each other than 30K. UMass reported 300 new cases Feb 2-4. HC reported seven new cases over the same three days. UMass' plans for the spring semester was/is to bring only 60 percent of the undergraduates back. The others would study entirely remotely. UMass' 7-day positive test percentage is 2.36 percent; HC's comparable percentage is 0.18 percent. HC tests more extensively than does UMass. UMass did about 12,300 tests Feb 3-5; HC did about 3,500 tests, Feb 2-4. Do you think my thought that social and peer pressure on a smaller campus makes managing the virus easier has any validity? You would think that logistics alone would make it easier.
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Post by bfoley82 on Feb 8, 2021 23:10:34 GMT -5
This line in the UMass Daily Collegian is interesting....UMass is actually BELOW the state average in percentage "John Kennedy, vice chancellor for university relations, said UMass did extensive testing in January as students returned and had a process for them to self-sequester to make sure COVID-19 was not coming to Amherst with them. The increase in positive cases didn’t happen until the first week of classes, he said. The positive tests were under 1% during the student intake, but have risen to 2.46% among the 16,293 tests since Feb. 1, still lower than the 3.1% statewide average, said Jeff Hescock, executive director of Environmental Health and Safety." www.gazettenet.com/Amherst-and-Hadley-officials-maintain-restrictions-with-rise-in-COVID-19-cases-at-UMass-38762467I just think Holy Cross could see a similar surge over the next two weeks...we will see!
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Feb 9, 2021 7:51:41 GMT -5
This line in the UMass Daily Collegian is interesting....UMass is actually BELOW the state average in percentage "John Kennedy, vice chancellor for university relations, said UMass did extensive testing in January as students returned and had a process for them to self-sequester to make sure COVID-19 was not coming to Amherst with them. The increase in positive cases didn’t happen until the first week of classes, he said. The positive tests were under 1% during the student intake, but have risen to 2.46% among the 16,293 tests since Feb. 1, still lower than the 3.1% statewide average, said Jeff Hescock, executive director of Environmental Health and Safety." www.gazettenet.com/Amherst-and-Hadley-officials-maintain-restrictions-with-rise-in-COVID-19-cases-at-UMass-38762467I just think Holy Cross could see a similar surge over the next two weeks...we will see! I don't think so. The quoted statewide average of 3.1 percent includes testing being done at colleges and universities. > The statewide average without higher ed is 4.6 percent positive. > The latest statewide average with higher ed is 3.0 percent positive. > The statewide average for higher ed only is 0.4 percent. UMass' percentage is 6x the statewide average for higher ed. Higher ed in Massachusetts has performed 4,050,000 tests since August 2020, the weekly test count in the first week of February was nearly 235,000. This statistic began to be measured in August; the highest positive percentage for higher ed is during the first week of January 2021, at around 0.75-0.8 percent. (Need to download a zip file to get the raw data, which I am not doing.) UMass is an outlier, and its high percentage of positive tests, 2.46 percent, skewed the state-wide higher ed number upward. Basic data can be found here. www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-response-reporting#covid-19-interactive-data-dashboard-
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Feb 16, 2021 15:17:55 GMT -5
On January 27th, HC sent the following missive to students, excerpted below. The target audience, i.e., the miscreants, were all, or mostly, freshmen, who had arrived on campus in the several days before the missive was written.
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Post by rgs318 on Feb 16, 2021 15:20:32 GMT -5
That is not good to hear. I hope our HC newcomers embrace the need to watch out for their health and for that of others on the Hill.
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Post by newfieguy74 on Feb 16, 2021 16:14:46 GMT -5
When I read things like this I think of my own days at HC. Some 18-22 year old find self-regulation to be challenging. Maybe students are more mature today; I don't know. I have grave doubts about whether my freshmen class could have uniformly shown the type of discipline required. I lived on the first floor of Alumni as a freshman. I recall one other first floor student. We had a hall meeting with the RA one night because of misbehavior.The student in question liked to make holes in the corridor walls with his head when drunk. At the meeting he stood and said that he would do what he wanted and no one was going to stop him. It's hard for me to imagine he would have been Covid compliant. It doesn't take too many recalcitrant students to derail the college's plans.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Feb 16, 2021 17:40:19 GMT -5
It appears that the students have taken the warning to heed. HC is currently using just four percent of its dedicated isolation / quarantine space. The positive test percentage is 0.13 percent.
Eight students tested positive between Feb 10th and 16th, the majority are students living off-campus. Over 7,000 tests were done between Feb 8 and 16..
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Post by HC92 on Feb 16, 2021 18:23:12 GMT -5
What exactly are the rules for students interacting with other students?
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Post by CHC8485 on Feb 16, 2021 18:51:33 GMT -5
As I recall, in my day, the rule from the Dean of Students for students interacting with other students and communicated by my RAs at every start of the year hall meeting was that, and I quote, "co-habitation is frowned upon." I suspect that still applies in one form or another.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Feb 17, 2021 6:28:17 GMT -5
What exactly are the rules for students interacting with other students? Its complicated and differs by alert level. See: www.holycross.edu/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-information/campus-alert-levelAFAIK, the rules do not apply to those students living in off-campus housing that is not leased by the college. I have a sense that the college has created pods, i.e., students living on the same floor, and the rules are more flexible for those who are part of a particular pod. Pods, such as described, are needed because of the shared bathrooms in the older residence halls. Though the rules indicate that The Jo is closed other than for testing, it is now open for NROTC PT, and apparently will be opening soon for student individual recreation. There are no club sports this semester, and I believe there are no intramurals. IMO, if the college and the students reach the point that there is ZERO community transmission among on-campus residents, there may be further relaxation. I would not expect any relaxation for the many hundreds of off-campus residents of the college, unless the college begins vaccinating.
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Post by timholycross on Feb 19, 2021 10:15:37 GMT -5
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Post by bfoley82 on Feb 19, 2021 20:12:29 GMT -5
What exactly are the rules for students interacting with other students? Its complicated and differs by alert level. See: www.holycross.edu/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-information/campus-alert-levelAFAIK, the rules do not apply to those students living in off-campus housing that is not leased by the college. I have a sense that the college has created pods, i.e., students living on the same floor, and the rules are more flexible for those who are part of a particular pod. Pods, such as described, are needed because of the shared bathrooms in the older residence halls. Though the rules indicate that The Jo is closed other than for testing, it is now open for NROTC PT, and apparently will be opening soon for student individual recreation. There are no club sports this semester, and I believe there are no intramurals. IMO, if the college and the students reach the point that there is ZERO community transmission among on-campus residents, there may be further relaxation. I would not expect any relaxation for the many hundreds of off-campus residents of the college, unless the college begins vaccinating. Just to compare, Michigan Athletics performed 4,236 tests with seven student athlete positive (no staff) from Feb. 13-19th....this is just the athletic department. Holy Cross only performed 7,884 tests??
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Post by bfoley82 on Feb 19, 2021 20:13:55 GMT -5
UMass Athletics can NOT play home games until at least March 1.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Feb 20, 2021 9:17:09 GMT -5
Its complicated and differs by alert level. See: www.holycross.edu/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-information/campus-alert-levelAFAIK, the rules do not apply to those students living in off-campus housing that is not leased by the college. I have a sense that the college has created pods, i.e., students living on the same floor, and the rules are more flexible for those who are part of a particular pod. Pods, such as described, are needed because of the shared bathrooms in the older residence halls. Though the rules indicate that The Jo is closed other than for testing, it is now open for NROTC PT, and apparently will be opening soon for student individual recreation. There are no club sports this semester, and I believe there are no intramurals. IMO, if the college and the students reach the point that there is ZERO community transmission among on-campus residents, there may be further relaxation. I would not expect any relaxation for the many hundreds of off-campus residents of the college, unless the college begins vaccinating. Just to compare, Michigan Athletics performed 4,236 tests with seven student athlete positive (no staff) from Feb. 13-19th....this is just the athletic department. Holy Cross only performed 7,884 tests?? University of Michigan has 950 unduplicated athletes (140 for football). That number of tests means UMich is testing an average of 4.5 tests per week per athlete, regardless of whether the athlete is competing or not. HC tests athletes who are competing (4 sports presently) 3x a week, otherwise 2x a week. As for UNH, I'm surprised the campus is open. UNH has 498 students currently in isolation. If that were HC, HC would have closed the campus and sent everyone home, and there would be no spring sports schedule. UNH COVID dashboard www.unh.edu/coronavirus/dashboard
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Post by gks on Feb 20, 2021 13:35:41 GMT -5
There is no need right now for schools to have lockdowns etc.
Students deserve better.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Mar 2, 2021 15:39:28 GMT -5
I went looking at The Spire's Twitter feed to see if there was any tweets about men's basketball. None. I did find several tweets tied to HC's new J-term (January classes). And comments on the Ciocca Center's Business Certificate offering.
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Post by longsuffering on Mar 2, 2021 22:55:27 GMT -5
UMass Athletics can NOT play home games until at least March 1. I just heard a rumor that Becker College might fail with UMass absorbing some of their programs. That would be a shame for Worcester. I used to walk through that area in the 90's and wonder how that neighborhood would fare without Becker maintaining so many of the buildings. Maybe WPI could use some of the facilities.
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Post by bfoley82 on Mar 2, 2021 23:03:09 GMT -5
UMass Athletics can NOT play home games until at least March 1. I just heard a rumor that Becker College might fail with UMass absorbing some of their programs. That would be a shame for Worcester. I used to walk through that area in the 90's and wonder how that neighborhood would fare without Becker maintaining so many of the buildings. Maybe WPI could use some of the facilities. Not a rumor...It sounds like Becker is closing. Would be interesting if UMass used the facilities to open a UMass-Worcester campus www.wbjournal.com/article/becker-college-planning-for-potential-closure
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Post by timholycross on Mar 2, 2021 23:47:46 GMT -5
When Becker and Leicester were junior colleges they had good hoop teams; our freshmen used to play them regularly. Leicester played in a gym that was big enough for a junior high school at best. Big home court advantage.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Mar 3, 2021 7:57:03 GMT -5
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Mar 4, 2021 17:02:43 GMT -5
Six positives today. Thirteen positives March 1 - 4. highest number of positives over a four day period since Jan 23-26, with 14, and when freshmen (likely infected at home) were arriving on campus.
Worrying trend, as this is a mid-week spike, and not a spike on a Monday following a typical weekend when little testing is done.
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