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This is a very good point that deserves discussion. That said, this isn't an either-or situation. Universities could easily arrange temporary off-campus housing

by d4mi3n 7y ago

This is a very good point that deserves discussion. That said, this isn't an either-or situation. Universities could easily arrange temporary off-campus housing for students displaced by the crisis.

smacktoward 7y ago
They could, but would such housing be appreciably better at protecting from coronavirus transmission than the dorms? They'd likely be just as densely populated, if not moreso. If the university buys a couple of buildings and moves the residents of five dorms into those buildings, they haven't made things better, they've made them worse. The reason to close the dorms isn't because the dorms themselves are bad in this scenario, it's that packing people closely together is bad in this scenario. The virtue of closing the dorms is that it sends most of the students back home, spreading them out among the general population. Density is the enemy.
- SamReidHughes 7y ago
  Dorms tend to have shared bathrooms and common areas.
- d4mi3n 7y ago
  I agree that housing density is an issue. However, universities are likely to be subject to lawsuits in situations where they keep dorms open or shut them down. There must be something that can be done here that's better than those two extremes, event if it isn't perfect. We could: 1. Find alternative housing for some fraction of the students to lower the population density within the dorms--sending 1/3 of students elsewhere reduces population density to ~65% of what it would have been before 2. Retrofit current housing to help minimize spread of disease 3. Allow students to opt-in to remaining at the dorms with agreement to adhere to much stricter health and sanitation standards 4. Allow students to remain with the understanding that they will be quarantined until such a time that they can call be tested None of these are great ideas, I'm sure, but I can't imagine any of them being worse than the current situation we see these students in.
neltnerb 7y ago
Easily? How? 8500 students finding alternative housing literally overnight?
- d4mi3n 7y ago
  Took a stab at addressing this in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22548989 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22548989

by d4mi3n 7y ago

This is a very good point that deserves discussion. That said, this isn't an either-or situation. Universities could easily arrange temporary off-campus housing for students displaced by the crisis.

smacktoward 7y ago

They could, but would such housing be appreciably better at protecting from coronavirus transmission than the dorms? They'd likely be just as densely populated, if not moreso. If the university buys a couple of buildings and moves the residents of five dorms into those buildings, they haven't made things better, they've made them worse. The reason to close the dorms isn't because the dorms themselves are bad in this scenario, it's that packing people closely together is bad in this scenario. The virtue of closing the dorms is that it sends most of the students back home, spreading them out among the general population. Density is the enemy.

SamReidHughes 7y ago
Dorms tend to have shared bathrooms and common areas.
d4mi3n 7y ago
I agree that housing density is an issue. However, universities are likely to be subject to lawsuits in situations where they keep dorms open or shut them down. There must be something that can be done here that's better than those two extremes, event if it isn't perfect. We could: 1. Find alternative housing for some fraction of the students to lower the population density within the dorms--sending 1/3 of students elsewhere reduces population density to ~65% of what it would have been before 2. Retrofit current housing to help minimize spread of disease 3. Allow students to opt-in to remaining at the dorms with agreement to adhere to much stricter health and sanitation standards 4. Allow students to remain with the understanding that they will be quarantined until such a time that they can call be tested None of these are great ideas, I'm sure, but I can't imagine any of them being worse than the current situation we see these students in.

neltnerb 7y ago

Easily? How? 8500 students finding alternative housing literally overnight?

d4mi3n 7y ago
Took a stab at addressing this in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22548989 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22548989