MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[GoPerry]

Wheaton the latest  to suspend geo-physical instruction and go exclusively on-line/virtual instruction for remainder of semester.  Asking students to remain at home or return home after Spr Brk.

This is no doubt difficult news for Anajuwan Spencer and all seniors looking forward to completing their studies alongside their classmates and teammates.

This is the first domino. Wheaton will undoubtedly cancel its spring sports schedule within the next few days, and, with Wheaton gone from the picture, the rest of the CCIW will likely follow suit.

More reasonable thing would be to maybe take a few weeks break at worse and reassess. Canceling spring sports feels like a severe overreaction. If they want to give it a few weeks, fine... but canceling everything is very different to come back from.

Dave, Wheaton has effectively closed off its campus from now until the end of the semester to everybody but faculty, staff, resident grad students, and international students from restricted countries who won't be able to go home. That means that student-athletes won't be allowed back on campus, either. How is Wheaton supposed to field its teams in spring sports?

I've known a number of institutions that have allowed some students on campus ... and I think there has to be some rationalized thinking with all of this.

Wheaton is not one of them. Have you read this, Dave?

https://www.wheaton.edu/life-at-wheaton/student-development-offices/student-health/student-health-services/covid-19/

The difficult thing about Spring sports is that the season's are so short.  Conference tournaments take place the first week of May so waiting just 3 or 4 weeks means you've already missed over half the season.

With so many things to consider surrounding safety of the student body, and the challenges of your faculty moving instruction to online platforms, I doubt the spring sports issue ranks in the top 5 of the priority list for administrations.  I might be tempted to vote for cancelling just to sweep it off my "things I have to decide" list.

[Gregory Sager]

The difficult thing about Spring sports is that the season's are so short.  Conference tournaments take place the first week of May so waiting just 3 or 4 weeks means you've already missed over half the season.

Yep. There's that, too.

With so many things to consider surrounding safety of the student body, and the challenges of your faculty moving instruction to online platforms, I doubt the spring sports issue ranks in the top 5 of the priority list for administrations.  I might be tempted to vote for cancelling just to sweep it off my "things I have to decide" list.

It's certainly not top priority, but it has to be fairly high, if for no other reason than the logistics involved in sending teams hither and yon (and in hosting contests on your own campus), as well as the risk of cross-contamination from one school to another.

[79jaybird]

While it is not official,  Mrs. 79Jaybird is preparing to have her lessons available to teach online. She received an email from the President saying there are some discussions and meetings on how to move forward.   My hunch is that Elmhurst will probably close at some point, the dorms vacated, and classes to be taught in an online fashion.

[lmitzel]

And it's official: NCC is implementing the attendance restriction for Friday.

[lmitzel]

Looks like the same at Elmhurst on Saturday.

[79jaybird]

Hopefully they will have live stats available for the game.   

[kiko]

Wheaton the latest  to suspend geo-physical instruction and go exclusively on-line/virtual instruction for remainder of semester.  Asking students to remain at home or return home after Spr Brk.

This is no doubt difficult news for Anajuwan Spencer and all seniors looking forward to completing their studies alongside their classmates and teammates.

This is the first domino. Wheaton will undoubtedly cancel its spring sports schedule within the next few days, and, with Wheaton gone from the picture, the rest of the CCIW will likely follow suit.

More reasonable thing would be to maybe take a few weeks break at worse and reassess. Canceling spring sports feels like a severe overreaction. If they want to give it a few weeks, fine... but canceling everything is very different to come back from.

Oy... this POV is not going to age well.  This entire situation is >>>>> bigger than sports.  Treating this as something less than a public health crisis that requires extraordinary measures is actually pretty unreasonable -- especially given the incubation period for this virus. 

Using the NBA player as an example, when you look at one confirmed case in a game between two teams, and then consider which other teams those two have faced in the past two weeks (and who *those* teams have faced), not to mention the referees at the game and which other teams those officials have reffed games for, who they've reffed with, etc. etc. etc... it is blindingly obvious that Business As Usual or Let's Wait And See is not the right call.

[Gregory Sager]

And it's official: NCC is implementing the attendance restriction for Friday.

Your trademark "Three!" call will be echoing off of the airplane hangar walls, Lucas.

[lmitzel]

And it's official: NCC is implementing the attendance restriction for Friday.

Your trademark "Three!" call will be echoing off of the airplane hangar walls, Lucas.

I'm told I can be heard all the way up the hill from the hangar, so let it echo.

Gonna be really surreal to be announcing a Sweet 16 game with the crowd of a noon Tipoff Tournament game in November.

[Gregory Sager]

Carthage just announced that it, too, is going to be online-only, likely for the rest of the semester. They're still holding out a small hope that they can reverse that and go back to live classes after Easter, but they're holding out a pipe dream with that one.

[voxelmhurst]

Like many, I'm very worried about the economic/societal fallout from all this. A basketball tournament gets put into perspective.

Additionally, what is the mentality amongst the players? Are they still motivated? Is it asking too much of them to continue to suit up and travel, even in closed arenas?

[WUPHF]

Carthage just announced that it, too, is going to be online-only, likely for the rest of the semester. They're still holding out a small hope that they can reverse that and go back to live classes after Easter, but they're holding out a pipe dream with that one.

The thought process, I think, is trying to minimize whatever obligations they have to issue refunds.

This could be absolutely devastating for US higher education.  It is not just tuition (which they probably have an argument not to refund), but obligations to food service vendors and anticipated on-campus housing revenue.

I hate to say it, but I think we are going to lose a few Division III schools over this. 

Not Carthage, but others than are already teetering on the brink.

[Gregory Sager]

Carthage just announced that it, too, is going to be online-only, likely for the rest of the semester. They're still holding out a small hope that they can reverse that and go back to live classes after Easter, but they're holding out a pipe dream with that one.

The thought process, I think, is trying to minimize whatever obligations they have to issue refunds.

This could be absolutely devastating for US higher education.  It is not just tuition (which they probably have an argument not to refund), but obligations to food service vendors and anticipated on-campus housing revenue.

I hate to say it, but I think we are going to lose a few Division III schools over this. 

Not Carthage, but others than are already teetering on the brink.

Yes, this thought has occurred to me as well. I didn't think that it was a coincidence that the first wave of schools that announced that they were closing down their campuses were state universities and well-endowed private institutions. Those are the schools with the resources to absorb this kind of financial shock.

[Gregory Sager]

It hasn't been announced yet by the school, but I've just heard from a North Park professor that NPU is going to an online-until-at-last-Easter mode as well.

[WUPHF]

Yes, this thought has occurred to me as well. I didn't think that it was a coincidence that the first wave of schools that announced that they were closing down their campuses were state universities and well-endowed private institutions. Those are the schools with the resources to absorb this kind of financial shock.

I think that is exactly right.  The schools with less cushion are certainly holding out hope that they are small enough, or in some cases, isolated enough, that they can keep going.