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I'm not from the US, but from the excerpted letter, it appears to be related to COVID-19. In Australia, we did the same thing - a lot of universities went remo

I'm not from the US, but from the excerpted letter, it appears to be related to COVID-19. In Australia, we did the same thing - a lot of universities went remote-only, so that we could eradicate the virus. It seems to have succeeded - COVID-19 seems to be under control in Australia (along with many other countries like NZ, Vietnam, Singapore, Taiwan etc) - however, the US/Europe seems to have really struggled to get it under control. I hope they succeed soon. I get the sense that a lot of people here (I assume from the US) are worried about their rights being infringed, as part of trying to protect people from getting sick. I'm not saying there doesn't need to be a discussion, or there isn't a balance - but it does come across as a bit churlish and petty, to try to openly defy public health measures in the name of defending human rights in the midst of a global pandemic.

alkonaut 6y ago
Yes I understand it has to do with Covid. But more than asking people to leave - why do they actually worry if some don’t? E.g are they legally responsible somehow for making sure students leave?
- zem 6y ago
  you don't need to be "legally responsible" to not want unnecessary covid exposure on your campus!
  - learnstats2 6y ago
    Accusing students of lying does not avoid covid exposure, though? It just creates bad will (and possibly legal issue).
  - alkonaut 6y ago
    I think the university must be risking something bad (such as legal consequences) if they felt that this type of obvious bad publicity was worth it. If they tell people to leave campus that’s as much as they can reasonably do. The next step before wondering why someone used their keycard to access a building they shouldn’t be near could be just removing the access? The best way to get people to leave has to be removing reasons to stay, for example access to campus resources.
wolco2 6y ago
Churlish and petty? I see it more that Americans were acting rationally and logically and parts of rest of the world were acting emotionally in panic and willing to stop thinking for themselves and put their trust in health officials. I wore a mask when it was considered racist and selfish to do so (Jan). Months later the who changed their advice and everyone needed a mask.
ketamine__ 6y ago
Australia is willing to suspend human rights to prevent a few deaths. Not everyone is going to agree with that. The IFR would have to be extraordinarily high for me to agree to a 6 month lockdown like enacted in Victoria.

alkonaut 6y ago

Yes I understand it has to do with Covid. But more than asking people to leave - why do they actually worry if some don’t? E.g are they legally responsible somehow for making sure students leave?

zem 6y ago
you don't need to be "legally responsible" to not want unnecessary covid exposure on your campus!
- learnstats2 6y ago
  Accusing students of lying does not avoid covid exposure, though? It just creates bad will (and possibly legal issue).
- alkonaut 6y ago
  I think the university must be risking something bad (such as legal consequences) if they felt that this type of obvious bad publicity was worth it. If they tell people to leave campus that’s as much as they can reasonably do. The next step before wondering why someone used their keycard to access a building they shouldn’t be near could be just removing the access? The best way to get people to leave has to be removing reasons to stay, for example access to campus resources.

wolco2 6y ago

Churlish and petty? I see it more that Americans were acting rationally and logically and parts of rest of the world were acting emotionally in panic and willing to stop thinking for themselves and put their trust in health officials. I wore a mask when it was considered racist and selfish to do so (Jan). Months later the who changed their advice and everyone needed a mask.

ketamine__ 6y ago

Australia is willing to suspend human rights to prevent a few deaths. Not everyone is going to agree with that. The IFR would have to be extraordinarily high for me to agree to a 6 month lockdown like enacted in Victoria.