College Closes Grounds, Prepares for Unusual Fall
Three large tents will be used as Swarthmore College classrooms and meeting spaces this fall. Photo: Rachel Pastan
As Swarthmore College readies itself to begin its fall semester on Monday, President Val Smith has announced that the campus is now closed to visitors.
In an open letter to community residents, Smith explained that the college is inviting approximately 700 students — mostly first-years and sophomores — back to campus for a shortened fall semester. “Although outdoor spaces are generally considered safe,” Smith wrote, “with nearly 700 students, as well as a significant number of faculty and staff, on campus, maintaining social distancing will be much harder than it has been over the past five months.”
The college housed only about 60 students over the summer.
In addition to first-year and sophomore students, the college invited resident advisors and transfer students to campus for the fall. Others with a pressing need to be on campus could apply for space. The limited number of students makes it possible for each one to be housed in a single room.
The college is also discouraging students from what Smith calls “nonessential travel,” including trips into Swarthmore’s business district. The president acknowledged the possible impact of this on businesses where students typically shop. But she also said some business owners and residents were concerned about the presence of students in the borough.
Smith’s letter anticipated residents’ frustration with the decision to close campus. “Many of you have told me, in recent months, when so many social activities have been unavailable, strolling or bicycling through campus has provided a much needed respite,” she wrote. “We look forward to the time when we are able to welcome you back to campus.”
Faculty Prepare Like Never Before
Most Swarthmore College classes will be offered virtually this semester. Faculty were given the option to teach in person, but none were required to do so.
Those who plan to be on campus at least once a week will be tested for COVID-19 weekly. This applies to staff as well as faculty.
Employees who come to campus less frequently were told they would be required to have a negative COVID test within seven days before setting foot on campus. But, “there has been some faculty and staff resistance to the testing policy,” according to English professor Peter Schmidt. “The testing process is currently being revised to respond to some of the suggestions made for greater safety and flexibility.”
Schmidt is one of a minority of professors who will be teaching some of his classes in-person this fall, a choice he calls “difficult and frightening.” He acknowledges the increased health risk to students and professors alike from in-person teaching. But Schmidt made the decision to do some face-to-face teaching to protect students who are not American citizens and could otherwise be at risk of deportation. The U.S. government has made various contradictory statements about deporting non-citizen students — both international students and those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program — if they enroll only in online classes. At the moment, the policy is limited to first-year students.
“There’s no rational pedagogical or ethical defense of such a policy,” Schmidt said. “It’s clearly meant to make non-citizens’ education in the U.S. as difficult and demoralizing as possible.”
This semester, 19% of Swarthmore College classes will be taught in person or have an in-person component.
Physics professor Amy Graves, who will be teaching remotely, says every detail of every course seems to require three times the preparation this fall. “I just spent two hours recording a 15-minute flipped classroom video,” she said. In the flipped classroom model, students are introduced to new material before — rather than in — class, and class time is spent practicing it. Teaching this way is particularly important now, Graves says, because “it is harder to engage students when we are separated.”
Like many faculty, she is asking herself a flood of questions: What computer do I Zoom from? What if my internet drops? Does my Bed, Bath, and Beyond curtain really work to cut down the window glare so my face shows up? What about the students on the other side of the globe who are 11 and 13 hours removed from the Eastern Daylight Time? She worries about how to help her students, flung out across time zones and communicating over the internet, become friends.
Graves hopes that greater familiarity with her online tools — Zoom, Moodle, Explain Everything, and others — will make her teaching and preparation process easier over time.
Like Graves, Schmidt is finding that his preparation time has ballooned to double or triple what it usually takes. “But,” he adds, “I’ve just had lots of names and smiling student faces show up in my enrollment lists! It’s their eagerness, intelligence, and positive energy that keeps us all going.”
