FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[ColbyFootball]

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/13/colby-college-trustee-bob-diamond-delaying-fall-semester-possible-to-ensure-in-person-class.html

Perspective from Colby trustee on the fall semester

The President of Washington & Lee was also interviewed. He stressed the importance of athletics, and for getting the students on campus for classes. They're actually considering starting classes early so they can end the fall semester before Thanksgiving. That is forward looking by W & L, not the frightened manor I fear the nescac's will handle this.

Interesting to note that W&L prez Dudley is a Williams alum, former professor, and provost.

President Dudley has had to make some hard calls during his tenure at W&L. He managed to calm the name debate for a while again, though it will reflash eventually. This will be another big moment for him. It was a good interview and as an alum I've been really pleased with his tenure and demeanor. We will see how the fall goes, but W&L in rural Lexington VA is a hard benchmark or example for schools in much more urban areas.

W&L is no more remote than most nescacs, and a less remote than most. But the liberal nescacs follow the best if a different more liberal media driven drum. That is my fear. That they will follow the liberal MSM narrative.

[nescac1]

The bubble approach is interesting.  But wouldn't that foreclose intercollegiate athletics ?

[Oline89]

The bubble approach is interesting.  But wouldn't that foreclose intercollegiate athletics ?

not if every school in the league followed the same concepts.  Leave one bubble, get on a bus, enter next bubble.  Separate fans from players

[Jonny Utah]

Testing will be big, and I think we are getting closer now to getting better widespread testing .  I work for the town of Brookline, and we just had testing (Covid and antibodies) available for 100 town workers and 400 random residents (results are around 10% with antibodies and zero town workers with Covid  Brookline has had 40 Covid deaths with 37 from Nursing facilities unofficially)  Boston just had a similar study with 750 random residents with similar outcomes (2.6% positive with Covid and 10% positive with antibodies).  Results were back in one day from the Brookline tests. 

In two months hopefully this can be done at colleges with staff/students weekly or bi-weekly.  Maybe those who come to and from campus get tested more often (with their families).  Williams has a pretty big campus with a lot of workers and is pretty intertwined with the town, so that might make it a little harder, but most campuses are like Williams in general.  Williams also has a lot of money and can and should have some sort of testing program.  This month two students have sued BU and Northeastern for not providing with them with the level of instruction (in person) that they were promised and have taken both schools to federal court for the 2 months of online learning.  Not saying that Williams is afraid of that but at least it might make it worth while for them to test and do the best they can.

Anyway hopefully the next two months testing capabilities are improved even further and we can get back to normal (normal being football!)

[amh63]

Several comments on the Colby view of when to open up.  Have been looking at how the Nescac schools are approaching the graduation of the 2020 graduates....and the incoming FY class.
Amherst has recently announced that all Summer on campus camps, etc. are not to be.  This impacts recruiting and incomes of some coaches, etc.
Anyway, in the case of Colby based on their online posting, they have a huge  number of applications and have accepted a small percentage of applicants...maybe the lowest % in the conference.  Colby has featured their total new athletic facilities on it's website.  The facilities will be ready this Fall...Fall of 2020.  The new facilities have attracted applications...future students who want to use the facilities, etc.
IMHO...Students want to be on campus to watch/enjoy sports, play sports. 

[lumbercat]

AMH 63

Couldn't agree more. The appeal of this new facility extends beyond varsity sports. This facility is right in the wheelhouse of the wellness/fitness movement  which will only intensify further when we get through this virus.

[nescac1]

Colby's new facility looks simply insane.  But I seriously doubt that a facility that wasn't close to being finished when the most recent group of applicants were touring campus and decided to apply had much to do with the final number of applications.  Colby's applicant pool has been trending way up* every year for five years now.  It's ranked 11th in the most recent US News rankings, which I think represents a historical high, and certainly must have helped.  I don't know enough about the school to have a sense of what it's been doing right, but clearly, it's been trending up in applicants' eyes for some time now. 

I do think the facility will have a more tangible impact on the success of varsity athletics.  Between that, the recent strong football hire, and the hoops program, it's clear the admin is focused on athletics in a way some Nescac peers may not be ....

*From Colby Echo: Colby's acceptance rate is once again projected to fall for the Class of 2024 if the current trend of growing application numbers continues. Indeed, last year the Class of 2023 had an overall acceptance rate of 9.6% , while the Class of 2022's was 13% and the Class of 2021's was a distant 16%.

[amh63]

I'm getting bored watching sporting reruns....guess this is a rerun of an earlier statement.  I have taken interest in stories wrt to steps taken by college and pro sports to open up sporting events.  A NASCAR event with empty stands was a great hit...with record TV ratings.  There was a story in the WSJ on how Texas A&M was trying to space ticket holders in it's 100 plus thousand football stadium...over 60 thousand season ticket holders.  The University has a huge endownment.....like the Un. Of Texas....but relies heavily on the football season ticket holders' money to support it's sports program.  Yes, lots of people want to see live sports.  Does poker and bowling events count??  No.  The too long series on Michael Jordon's last stand does not count too.  Nor does Gay's WSJ story wrt to wearing mask...with a pix of pro baseball players sitting on the bench...with improper spacing.
Will turn it back to serious posters now.

[jumpshot]

Williams College stated yesterday the format for the coming school year only will be a fall semester ending by Thanksgiving, followed by a spring semester, no Winter Study, and three courses rather than the customary four. Decision promised by July 1 regarding the delivery technique (s) of residential, on-line, or a hybrid of "bricks and clicks". All yet to be ratified by the faculty. Benefits are obvious as to operational and logistical considerations. No specifics as to athletics yet publicly communicated. Lots of details to be worked out in any case. My expectation is that other small liberal arts colleges that  retain the financial flexibility will adopt a similar framework. More second tier colleges will shut down entirely (Wells) or amalgamate such as Pine Manor has with Boston University.

Go EPHS!

[nescac1]

That makes a lot of sense, jumpshot.  I really don't see the point of an online experience at a place like Williams for more than a few months, so I hope the school does not go that route.  I'd rather they just push the whole academic calendar back and have a summer term, instead.  It's one thing that classes were online this spring, when it was already part way through the semester, but to start a semester like that?  It really kills everything that makes Williams special.  Virtual learning is far, far, far from Mark Hopkins on a log! 

What's key is to retain maximum flexibility, and also plan for a possible 2-3 month break between semesters, should COVID, as expected, resurge in the late fall.   

[ColbyFootball]

Williams College stated yesterday the format for the coming school year only will be a fall semester ending by Thanksgiving, followed by a spring semester, no Winter Study, and three courses rather than the customary four. Decision promised by July 1 regarding the delivery technique (s) of residential, on-line, or a hybrid of "bricks and clicks". All yet to be ratified by the faculty. Benefits are obvious as to operational and logistical considerations. No specifics as to athletics yet publicly communicated. Lots of details to be worked out in any case. My expectation is that other small liberal arts colleges that  retain the financial flexibility will adopt a similar framework. More second tier colleges will shut down entirely (Wells) or amalgamate such as Pine Manor has with Boston University.

Go EPHS!

Notre Dame is planning in person classes this Fall, and believe they're starting early. They're planning quarantine space for kids and faculty etc. They'll also testing, taking temperatures etc. And will have contingency plans if circumstances warrant changes. That is a very reasonable approach. Lastly, what's lost in all of this hysteria is that young people are at low risk to have serious negative outcomes if infected. 90% of deaths are of people related to nursing homes or long term care facilities, or those with serious underlying conditions. So I appreciate Notre Dame's approach, and like the direction of Williams.

[SpringSt7]

Lastly, what's lost in all of this hysteria is that young people are at low risk to have serious negative outcomes if infected. 90% of deaths are of people related to nursing homes or long term care facilities, or those with serious underlying conditions. So I appreciate Notre Dame's approach, and like the direction of Williams.

With all due respect to the more experienced posters and alums on here  , I'm sure many people around NESCAC campuses would tell you that it isn't the students' safety that they are foremost concerned with, as much as it is the people in the surrounding areas. Using Williams as the example again, the majority of the non-student population around Williamstown and the Greater Berkshires is older than average---lots of folks retire to the area to grow old, and I would imagine there is similar sentiment at geographically similar schools such as Middlebury or any of the Maine schools.

The issue isn't so much the safety of the kids (although that would obviously never be put at risk) but how could an already small local healthcare system that is concentrated with more at-risk folks handle an influx of cases when students from around the country/world return in the fall.

With all of that being said, it is nice to see leaders of our higher education system working towards finding solutions and ways to get things back up and running as close to business as usual come the Fall. It would have been terrible to see one or two institutions make a panic decision to cancel the Fall three months out and for the rest of the nation to follow suit, only to discover it could all have been avoided. We obviously have a long way to go, but it is a welcome sign to see attempts at optimism and creativity.

[PBPOP20]

The student population is considered for all NESCAC rural campuses.  Retirees made their decisions to retire there knowing the school was there.  Local businesses and hospitals are what they are having considered the schools population as 75% there... so, I hear you, but not returning is just as damaging to those communities.

[ColbyFootball]

I'm sure what I have to say may be controversial.

As Americans, when did it become acceptable to quietly allow our rights to be trampled on? When did it become acceptable to allow fear to paralyze us as a society?

With the great minds at the nescac schools, and other colleges and universities, and the vast financial resources available at many, surely they can formulate a plan to open in person education and all Sports and other activities. Our society needs to get back to normal asap with reasonable safety restrictions in place, and sensible contingency plans. Life has never been about zero risk. So to demand it now is unreasonable and unacceptable.

[Pat Coleman]

Hi there -- I think to equate the measures being taken as demanding zero risk is a false equivalency. Obviously zero risk is unattainable, but lowering the risk is certainly possible, and it's what is being done.

Now, obviously there are different ways to mitigate risk, and nobody has prohibited people from going into grocery stores, at least not long-term, or from leaving their houses at all, but there is a wide range of what people believe are "reasonable safety restrictions."

One thing for sure -- the virus cares not what people's opinions are of safety restrictions. It moves when people move and transmit it to other people.