Elise Romero
November 9, 2020
I wrote this article in order to analyze how well colleges in my area are handling COVID and if their policies were doing enough. Pennsylvania universities in the South West have been experiencing different numbers of COVID cases on their campuses, even though they have policy set in place to prevent spread of the virus. This article critically explores the operative strategies and policies aimed at containing COVID on four different university campuses and draws conclusions on their effectiveness. In doing so, I was also able to find the faults of these schools, issues that affect some universities more so than others, and what a “successful” campus looks like during the age of COVID.
In mid-March of 2020, the lives of U.S. citizens changed dramatically. The words “unprecedented,” and “uncertain” were introduced to the email inboxes of people everywhere. The Coronavirus has changed the way the world operates on a day-to-day basis, its effects prominently seen at the university level. Colleges across America had to enact policies that would prevent the spread of an airborne virus from taking over their campuses filled with students; what could go wrong? Pennsylvania colleges, specifically ones in the urban Pittsburgh area as well as Happy Valley, are not experiencing the same numbers of cases despite all following Center for Disease Control guidelines.[1] Student life and culture seem like an unstoppable force, especially when young adults tend to romanticize college life, so how effective can these policies be when faced with large campuses with hundreds of students, eager to execute their personal freedoms, and faculty?
By looking at the different methods universities have used in PA and student testimony about each method, one can see how effectively each campus is handling the spread of the virus, which college is statistically taking the best approach, and what else can be done. My sample set for my analysis is limited to only four PA universities, so I will be generalizing from the data found from University of Pittsburgh, Point Park University, Carnegie Mellon University, and Pennsylvania State University Main Campus.
This article will critically explore the operative strategies and policies aimed at containing COVID on university campuses. Since the chosen schools have a range of student population sizes, this will be considered in their effectiveness as well. The notion of “success” in their plans will be based on how low their case numbers as well as student testimony revealing if the policies are being followed. In this paper I will first provide an overview of each school’s policies and case numbers and then conduct an analysis of their effectiveness. I expect that each school should have, at least: guidelines reinforcing those set by the CDC, information on the number of students and staff infected, and a plan for students who become infected. An analysis of colleges’ policies has revealed that there must be some basic principles as well as a moderate campus population in order to succeed at keeping cases to a minimum.
University of Pittsburgh
In accordance with CDC quarantine guidelines, students were required to quarantine 7 days prior to arrival to campus, and then an additional 7 days once moved in. Students must complete daily self-check-ins, monitoring any symptoms of sickness. University of Pittsburgh students have been receiving weekly emails, one each Tuesday and another every Friday, from the University’s Covid-19 Medical Response Team (CMRO). Emails hold information regarding the most recent results of testing (both on the main campus and regionally), reminders on how to prevent the spread, and offer free flu shots. This information is also accessible from their COVID dashboard[2] in graph form with test results starting on August 1st that show both student and faculty with descriptions underneath to help readers understand the graphs. Students on and off-campus are randomly tested, and the dashboard and graph are updated with the results twice weekly. CMRO updates that are emailed are posted to their dashboard as well for ease of access to those who are not being emailed. In the event of a positive test, student(s) are to report it to Pitt’s Department of Environmental Health and Safety and will then be quarantined, as well as anyone they’ve encountered from the previous 6 hours.
Additionally, students and staff (returning to campus or not) were required to complete three health and safety requirements: Pitt Community Compact Acknowledgement, Return to Campus Student Acknowledgment, and Health and Safety Training. Among the requirements, the “Pitt Community Compact” holds a collection of principles meant to foster a sense of community with Pitt students and their peers, as well as Pittsburgh residents outside the Pitt community. These principles state a promise to wear a mask, stay in your residence hall/home if sick or infected as well as contact Student Health Services, practice social distancing, follow guidelines for building capacities, and refraining from unnecessary travel. The Compact includes personal acknowledgments to stay informed and understand responsibilities to self and others.
Pitt’s case ratio, using data from March 1st to October 8th, is 9.69:1,000. CMRO continues to update students and faculty as Pitt takes one step closer to pre-Covid conditions.
Point Park University
Point Park University has been conducting in-person classes for their Fall term and plans to cancel in-person classes from March 13th to the 17th before their Spring Term resumes March 18th. A comprehensive PDF called “Operations Manual for Returning to Campus”[3] has 69 pages of information regarding what precautions will be enforced and what steps infected students will take. The manual’s preventative actions include increased cleaning services in high foot traffic areas on campus and hand sanitizer stations. They list a detailed 6-step process for infected students who need to move to quarantine. They are extremely thorough in their explanations and leave nothing to the imagination of what is expected of students, at least in this document. In the sense of informing students of what is expected of them on campus, PPU covers the previously mentioned basics of CDC guidelines and actions for infected students.
On the other hand, information regarding updates of cases and changes on campus requires some level of searching. Transparency about case numbers is not something all can expect to receive from campuses, especially with the economic hit most universities took at the start of the 2020 school year. Their COVID-19 page[4] states, “there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 linked to any member of the Point Park University community.” However, looking at The New York Time’s “Tracking Covid at U.S. Universities and Colleges,”[5] Point Park has had 3 confirmed cases on campus since March 1st. Out of a student body and staff of approximately 5,000 people, this gives a ratio of .557:1000 that are infected. However, campus-affiliated newspaper The Globe tweets out results that even The New York Times hasn’t reported. The Globe tweets[6], “Here is today’s campus dashboard:” and include a screenshot of a table showing positive cases identified and by what group (employee, staff, student, etc.)
As of 10/9/20 at 9:47 AM, PPU has 17 cumulative cases, making the correct ratio 3.16:1,000, a drastic difference than The New York Time’s information.
Carnegie Mellon University
Just 3 miles away, Carnegie Mellon University has adopted hybrid learning of four varieties: in-person plus remote (IPR), in-person rotating plus remote (IPR), remote only (REO), and in-person only (IPO). Like Flex@Pitt, CMU has adopted a model that is accommodating to its whole student population. Upon visiting their website, a pop-up immediately appears giving a direct link to their page[7] regarding Covid policies. Their site is all-encompassing, but the information is sectioned into a multitude of tabs, making it difficult to find simple information since everything is organized in specified niches (six main tabs, three of which have a total of twenty-six additional tabs between them, some of those then have more drop downs attached). While it can make navigating last longer, it’d be difficult to say CMU isn’t organized and informative.
CMU is following a system of phases, like Pitt’s and the county’s, that they are currently in the third and final phase of, of which allows classes in person. Their site states that after Thanksgiving, they will be moving completely online. Additionally, there are several graphs that provide relevant information regarding weekly as well as past tests along with graphs to visualize them. They also have multiple resources in the event of infection, addressing students, faculty, and staff, as well as what authorities should do if they’re informed of infection. Their guidelines for preventing COVID are stated within a 4-part document, “Tartans Responsibility,” which includes a commitment to minimize and prevent Covid, as well as recognize symptoms and support containment (similar to Pitt’s Compact). The document also has rules that are based on “Minimum Requirements to Return to Campus.” These requirements are wearing face coverings, a daily symptom self-assessment, staying home if sick, physical distancing, hand washing, discouragement of in-person meetings (groups of 25 may meet if in a space that adheres to social distancing), and enhanced sanitation and disinfection.
CMU’s ratio is close to Point Park’s, being 3.50:1,000.
Penn State University Main Campus
Outside of Pittsburgh, the largest PA college is Penn State’s main campus. From March until now, PSU has had 2,682 cases, with a student and staff population of 117,000. Their COVID page[8] is extremely simple to view, organized by information relevant to students and information relevant to faculty and staff. Similar to CMU, Penn State developed a slogan, “Mask Up or Pack Up.” Classes at Penn State have taken place both online and in-person, embracing the hybrid model that most colleges have. Their spring semester plans to be done the same way “provided that the public health landscape allows for in-person instruction.”
Their page has tabs that link to more information, such as “personal safety practices for everyone on Penn State campuses,” a page that has information such as how to properly wear a mask, properly remove one, and follow social distancing. There is also separate information that relates specifically to students and staff. Students are required to read and agree to “Penn State Coronavirus Compact,” take a COVID test prior to arriving on campus, and self-quarantine 7 days prior to arrival. PSU randomly tests about 1% of the population on campus, with student-athletes included in that percentage. The Dashboard says results of the testing will be posted biweekly. Their testing is done both in-house and through third-party testing of both symptomatic and asymptomatic students. The Penn State News[9] gives further detail on contact tracing and information regarding students who test positive or are experiencing symptoms, having students either quarantine or isolate in on-campus residential space for the required time (14 days for quarantine, 10 days for isolation[10]).
With these policies in mind, Penn State main has the largest ratio of 22.92:1,000.
Analysis
The University of Pittsburgh fulfills the three criteria I set out to find. It also adds the component of a neighborhood-oriented plan that prioritizes community over self. However, there are some faults. For example, the COVID dashboard is flooded with CMRO Updates that have no additional information in their title to give readers an idea of what the update includes. This can make staying up to date and informed difficult (especially if you are specifically trying to search for certain aspects of their policies) as all the information appears amorphous on the “Updates and Announcements” page. Information that was relayed early on, such as the 3-phase plan that the University will follow to move to in-person classes, is easy to remember, but the entropy of biweekly updates can get overwhelming and sometimes unclear. This can make it difficult to differentiate between an update on testing or new information for on-campus students and staff. Larger announcements, such as messages from Dean Bonner and updates on phase placement, are sent on their own, but the rest get lost in the links.
Additionally, students’ adherence to Pitt’s guidelines has been inconsistent. Students were supposed to stick to their pods for socializing and eating, or essentially any contact without masks, but not all students have been following this rule. On campus, the “Tower B Olympics” took place early in the fall term, hosting several Tower B residents in a single dorm and hallway. The Pitt Class of 2024 Facebook group has posts of students asking to be added to new or existing “party group chats”, with several students commenting their Snapchat handles. One Saturday with warm weather, Schenley Park was packed with unmasked students playing frisbee, football, spike ball, and even baseball simultaneously. Students, some of whom were unmasked and eating, sat around the park at the small tables.
“The students are pretty good at wearing masks but some popular spots like Schenley tend to have more kids without masks,” says freshman Julianna Paul.
Some students feel that Pitt is doing well as preventing COVID on campus but have concerns for how cold weather will affect campus.
“I feel that as the winter months approach Pitt should find ways to make more shared indoor spaces available to students,” freshman Tyler Vandenberg shares. Buildings that serve as study areas, such as the many floors of the Cathedral of Learning, are closed and students have taken to using the green spaces of Schenley Park or Heinz Chapel to study. With Hillman offering less space in order to follow capacity guidelines and social distancing, students who wish to leave their dorms have limited options for out of dorm studying. Pitt moved to guarded risk on Monday, October 19th, however a recent increase in cases (possibly due to partying from “Halloweekend”) has led to a regression back to elevated risk posture and shelter in place.
Point Park almost hit the mark; however, due to the discrepancies in case information, they have not fully provided what is needed to fulfill the three proposed criteria. With no information on their site and the reliance on the school paper to disseminate information, their failed clarity makes their campus policies fall short. Lack of transparency aside, the effectiveness of their policy is also reflected in the student experience.
“Right now policies are wishy-washy, some profs take it seriously and others don’t wear their masks while lecturing,” says Journalism sophomore Jake Dabkowski. “Many just don’t wear the masks and hang out in public spaces on campus sans masks. In my opinion, those places should be closed. Every day they update how many cases on campus but they never email. You have to seek it out.” [sic]
Since Point Park has yet to stop their in-person classes and the ratio is still low, the campus’ policies seem to be managing fine despite the discrepancies highlighted above. This is likely due to the small number of people on campus.
Carnegie Mellon University also fulfilled the proposed standards, and then some. Unlike Pitt or PPU, CMU has developed a slogan, “Tartans, All in. Everywhere.” This, along with “Tartans Responsibility,” seems to have been created in order to foster a feeling of unity as well as an obligation; if you are not following the guidelines and your responsibility to the college, you are failing both yourself and your peers. Their COVID page includes a video featuring students talking about the “Tartans, All in. Everywhere” ideal and there is clear social pressure to abide by the guidelines with the featured students stating, “We all miss socializing, but it’s like, read the room” as well as, “I think it’s selfish. Don’t do it.” CMU is the first of these schools to incorporate a clear negative connotation to rule-breaking to supplement their policies. And it seems to be working, at least for on-campus students:
“Students and staff are following the rules very closely, everyone I see on campus and even in the dorms are wearing masks. Even when people are taking out the trash, they wear a mask,” shares CMU freshman Maggie Chen.
However, a graph from September shows CMU’s largest positive test rate coming from off-campus students. An anonymous tweet from the account CMU Confessions[11] shares a disgruntled grievance stating, “… my roommate is CONSTANTLY out…” further supporting CMU’s results. Comments under the post speculated if the anonymous person’s roommate was walking to work or possibly spending time with a significant other, but no other comments connected to the anonymous source have since been posted to the account. Despite off campus discourse, their efforts to minimize the virus on-campus while maintaining different modes of learning have been successful considering the size of staff and students.
Penn State, like Point Park, is not clear on its case numbers on their COVID dashboard. Unlike PPU, there were no secondary sources to confirm their case numbers. They did provide thorough CDC-based guidelines and instructions for infected students. Beyond information on testing and the basic ways to prevent COVID, there are few additional guidelines provided to students.
“On campus, I see professors and staff enforcing and abiding by the guidelines and, as a result, the students wear masks everywhere on campus. Downtown, however, a good majority of students just wear the mask on their chins and large groups will just walk around with no mask’s insight,” reveals junior Katie Kohlman. “Socially on campus, I see socially distant circles outdoors and other socially distant activities taking place. Downtown, there are much less LARGE parties but that’s not saying there are no parties happening. Plenty of events that don’t follow CDC guidelines still occur downtown as students get restless and often appear to be over the ‘10 people max.’” [sic]
Again, PSU’s ratio of 22.92:1,000 is fairly large in comparison to Pitt, Point Park, and Carnegie Mellon. They seem to have a relatively lax emphasis on guidelines for preventing COVID and, keeping in mind the enormous gathering of freshmen that took place during the early days of move-in[12], students are not taking social distancing or the virus seriously. However, this large number should not be taken without consideration of the enormous amount of student and faculty on campus.
Figure 1 shows the ratios of each school, comparing number of those infected to 1,000 non-infected. As previously addressed, the moderately sized schools are controlling their cases better and the larger campuses have far higher case numbers. While all four schools have incorporated the three basic ideas I originally sought to find in their policies, having a smaller campus size as well as additional policies/pressure helps immensely in keeping COVID cases lower.
As shown in Figure 1, CMU has a slightly higher ratio of cases compared to Point Park, but their methods have proven successful in keeping on-campus students safe. Pitt attempted to create a sense of community like CMU did, as the “Pitt Community Compact” and “Tartans Responsibility” have similar rhetoric of pledges and acknowledgments to public safety and executing competence. CMU might have been more successful because of its creation of a clear negative connotation associated with the idea of breaking school guidelines. There must also be an acknowledgment of the impression of prestige that comes with attendance at Carnegie Mellon University. Students, faculty, and alumni already put an intense amount of academic pressure on themselves with students reporting poor mental health from academic stress, so a translation of that pressure to follow the guidelines would be plausible. This could also explain why students who are off campus contribute more to positive case numbers since they are not in university housing and able to relax about certain expectations. However, measurable presence of pressure is not easy to qualify in its application and is only speculative based on the academic environment.
However, Point Park University contrasts the successful CMU method, as they have no slogan or rallying sense of community. Even though Dabkowski points out students and staff are not consistent in their adherence to guidelines, they have the statistically lowest ratio of infection. The CDC and COVID analysts have no studies or research on colleges that improve due to lax rules, only an abundance about schools that are negatively impacted. Their low case numbers are most plausibly linked to their small campus population, as Point Park is the smallest of the four schools analyzed here. Due to the transparency issues previously seen with Point Park, the low case numbers could also simply be an incorrect report of information given to students and The Globe, but this is purely speculation.
Even with less enforcement of COVID precautions on the Point Park campus, their ratio is by far smaller than Penn State and Pitt. While Carnegie Mellon is not a “small” school, their off-campus students who are under less jurisdiction from the school are testing positive far more than any other group on campus. This suggests they are contracting COVID in places even the university cannot control. Because of this, and the fact that they meet the three criteria outlined to define success, CMU is doing the best of these schools discussed based on what they can feasibly regulate. For universities to achieve safety whilst housing students and staff on campus, they must not only have the base requirements, but a smaller population, high sense of community and responsibility, and the presence of pressure that doesn’t allow for any disregard to the rules.
As seen by the influx of cases at Pitt after Halloween weekend, student life and culture will continue to affect case numbers as it already has. Preventative measures have room for improvement and none of the analyzed schools have implemented “perfect” policies for case reduction and avoidance. I personally don’t think any campus policy can be considered perfect if there are cases to begin with. However, what is almost baffling is that there have been no changes to policies since the start of the school year for any of these schools. Cases continue to fluctuate, yet what is clearly broken is not being fixed. While some universities have policies in place that allow campuses to move from an either stricter or looser conduct, they are left to wait until cases either get bad enough that they shut down further or have few enough cases to grant more freedom. Students and staff are left following the rules and policies but still facing consequences of high case numbers.
However, from what I have analyzed, there isn’t exactly a lack in any school’s basic policy, this being CDC based or otherwise, rather the implementation and manner to which its students follow it. With this issue, universities have no choice but to either enact further restrictions and rules or wait until their case numbers reach whatever threshold they have before forcing campus-wide quarantine. As of right now, it is the latter that’s occurring. Strides toward stricter implementation has already started, with several schools threatening expulsion if caught hosting a party, but the issue of how to make students take COVID more seriously is still up in the air as parties conspicuously continue. I believe that faculty, campus police, and the surrounding community need to put greater pressure on students in order to create a different culture like that of Carnegie Mellon’s on campus environment. This sort of community watch would be necessary for a school like Penn State, where previously it was shared that faculty and staff are strict on campus, but the downtown community is not. If not for the immense size difference, CMU and Penn State may be more comparable in that they have little control over how their students conduct themselves off campus, though this could be said for the other universities as well since Pittsburgh is also a social hotspot beyond college life. Pitt and Point Park would benefit from a greater sense of community as well, as Pitt has students that will overcrowd public spaces and Point Park has low enforcement from those who are in charge. In order to get students to try and take this more seriously, there must be a deliberate and focused effort to educate students about the possible effects of the virus on their future and its effects on the surrounding community. Unfortunately, these isn’t much research to streamline what young people experience if they survive the virus, and without concrete data, all that is left is fearmongering, which I don’t find preferable when trying to persuade. However, an analysis of how the surrounding area is affected would be feasible. As for the three colleges located in Pittsburgh, studies of disproportionately affected minority communities[13]may prove to be just the right kind of guilt trip party-hungry students need– though Pitt does include an entire lecture on COVID’s effect on Pittsburgh’s minority groups that freshmen are required to take as part of the Anti-Black Racism course, and there is 40+ new cases as of November 7th. If the lecture were to be expanded on or possibly reiterated in an environment that isn’t as casual as video lecture, there may still be hope to instill greater responsibility in students. I don’t have information on the classes that these other universities have that may incorporate this important data, but if given greater care and attention it has potential to convince students to shirk their privilege for longer than a few weekends.
As the seasons change and campuses near the end of the first semester, there are several factors to continue watching for their effect on cases. Colder weather has students worried about campus locations to study and safely socialize. As winter break approaches, students will also be heading back home so there is a risk that communities across the nation will have a rise in cases due to students returning. For the spring term, many schools canceled their spring breaks in attempt to keep students safe and avoid another year of 20-something year old’s telling news outlets they’re unconcerned by the virus. It’s with great optimism that I hope cases will decrease during winter with students at home and indoors, and that colleges take the time off to improve their policies to become further reaching and stricter. As already seen by an almost full first semester’s worth of data, case development and fluctuation will continue to be something to watch as colleges finish out the year during a global pandemic.
[1] CDC. “Guidance Documents.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 11 Feb. 2020, www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/communication/guidance-list.html?Sort=Date%3A%3Adesc.
[2] “Pitt COVID-19 Dashboard.” Pitt.Edu, 29 June 2020, www.coronavirus.pitt.edu/healthy-community/campus-cases.
[3] Point Park University. Operations Manual for Returning to Campus. 1 Oct. 2020. pointpark.edu.
[4] “COVID-19 Student Resources.” Point Park University, 2020, www.pointpark.edu/StudentLife/StudentAffairs/COVID-19/index.
[5] “Tracking the Coronavirus at U.S. Colleges and Universities.” The New York Times, 26 Aug. 2020, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-college-cases-tracker.html.
[6] Twitter, 2015, twitter.com/PPUGlobe/status/1314563183273746433. Accessed 3 Nov. 2020.
[7] Carnegie Mellon University. “Home – COVID-19 Updates – Carnegie Mellon University.” Cmu.Edu, 2020, www.cmu.edu/coronavirus/index.html.
[8] “Back to State | Coronavirus Information | Penn State.” Psu.Edu, 2020, virusinfo.psu.edu/back-to-state#students.
[9] “Back to State Testing, Contact Tracing and Monitoring Plans Outlined | Penn State University.” Psu.Edu, 2020, news.psu.edu/story/627214/2020/07/30/administration/back-state-testing-contact-tracing-and-monitoring-plans.
[10] “What Is the Difference between Isolation and Quarantine and Why Are There Different Time Requirements? | Penn State.” Psu.Edu, 2020, virusinfo.psu.edu/faq/story/what-is-the-difference-between-isolation-and-quarantine-and-why-are-there-different-time-requirements.
[11] Twitter, 2015, twitter.com/cmuconfessions3/status/1312841534367125504. Accessed 3 Nov. 2020.
[12] McCarthy, Erin. “Penn State Students Party Outside Freshman Dorms, Flout Coronavirus Safety Rules, during Move-in Week.” Https://Www.Inquirer.Com, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 20 Aug. 2020, www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/penn-state-party-freshmen-coronavirus-masks-20200820.html.
[13] Potter, Chris. “County Releases Racial Breakdown Of Corona Cases.” @905wesa, 2020, www.wesa.fm/post/county-releases-racial-breakdown-corona-cases. Accessed 10 Nov. 2020.
Policy & Political Review 