AICUP Member School University of Pennsylvania just published, in the Thursday June 25th edition of the Philadelphia Business Journal, their plans for students returning to Campus and the precautions and protocols they will implement to prepare and to maintain a safe environment for students, faculty and others.
As the largest AICUP Member School, with an enrollment of 27,000, it is informative to note that most of the measures being taken are the same or variations to those being taken by smaller schools with enrollments 10% as large.
As you read, please note the common themes of need to wear facemasks, maintain social distancing and physical separation. Each of these “rules”, have repeatedly been shown to be effective limiters of exposure, whether they be in social or educational settings.
While there are physical changes to equipment and facility spaces that can provide benefits, as mentioned elsewhere in our Blog, easily accomplished measures of use of PPE, maintaining social distancing and performing regular hand washing are the critical common efforts that are needed on all campuses, big or small.
Article from Bizjournal.com: Penn to test all students for Covid-19 on arrival, provide private dorm rooms
“All students will have to agree to wear a mask in public places, stay at least six feet away from others and avoid crowds of more than 25 people. Penn has a total enrollment of nearly 27,000.
The school is asking that all students, if possible, get tested before they leave home to attend Penn, and stay there if they test positive. Penn will also test all students when they arrive on campus, unlike other schools that plan to focus testing efforts on symptomatic students.
Everyone on campus will be required to report symptoms by text or a mobile app before entering buildings and use a digital platform to store GPS location data in their smartphones to aid with contact tracing. The school says the phone owner will own the location data, and its use is designed only as a “memory aid” to help tracers.
Any students who test positive will be quarantined in the school’s Sansom West high-rise dormitory.
All students living on campus, including in fraternities and sororities, will have private rooms and a maximum of six students sharing one bathroom. All first-year undergrads, transfer undergrads and second-year undergrads will be offered housing. A percentage of third- and fourth-year students will also be able to live on campus, and will be assigned based on the school’s “priority process.” Penn said it will also lease off-campus housing to provide living space for third- and fourth-year students who can’t be housed on campus. All students will be required to move out after Thanksgiving break, and room and board rates will be prorated.
Move-ins will be staggered and spread out prior to the start of classes on Sept. 1, and new student orientation will be held largely online.
More information about housing is “forthcoming,” the university said.
Dining halls won’t have self-serve options and indoor and outdoor seating will be limited, but students can get food to-go to eat in their rooms, small gathering spaces or other places around campus. Libraries will have limited capacity, with additional pick-up services.
All large classes will be held online. For in-person classes, students will be seated six feet apart and plexiglass will be installed on lecterns to provide a barrier between the professor and students.“
