The avalanche is coming
First domino of the Nescac?
Somewhere in Maine Joan Benoit is outraged!
Horizon wrote:
First domino of the Nescac?
I don't know. Bates & Colby have announced that they currently plan to have all students report to campus this fall, presumably with athletics resuming. Here is Bates' announcement made on June 15:
"Over the past seven weeks, the entirety of the Working Group, including both the Fall Planning and Finance teams, has carefully deliberated, pressure tested, and reflected on a wide range of scenarios and academic calendar models for the upcoming year. With public health, the student and faculty experience, and sustaining Bates’ mission at the forefront of decision making related to the academic calendar, the Fall Planning Team recommended to the faculty and leadership team that Bates adjust the 2020–21 academic calendar in order to offer our fall and winter semesters in the 2+2 format. On Monday, June 8, the Bates faculty voted to endorse this proposed 2+2 academic calendar."
2+2 means that in the fall semester, students will take two classes at a time on compressed schedules to avoid disruption if a fall COVID wave requires shift to online classes. A different structure, but students are asked to plan to come to campus. Last I heard, Colby was planning on starting the fall term early and ending by November, so I don't know how that would impact athletics...
We will see.
Here is another canceled but not cut program
http://athletics.umdearborn.edu/general/2019-20/releases/20200622ff9trq
They are just getting ahead of the NESCAC-wide announcement. The conference is going to cancel all fall sports for every NESCAC school.
It's a win, because now they can seem "ahead of the curve on safety". They should have just let the conference announcement also be their announcement. But nobody likes Bowdoin to begin with, so why should we expect more from them?
I like Bowdoin. They have no loan financial aid packages.
Good for them. Ahead of the curve.
lmb wrote:
Somewhere in Maine Joan Benoit is outraged!
lives on Cape Elizabeth near the ocean.
So if the conference “cancels fall sports” what does this actually look like?
-no conference schedule for soccer.....
-no conference xc championship
Do schools still get to practice daily?
Do xc programs get to compete in any xc meets like duals or invites since those are “non conference”?
Does each school then get to decide on if they will allow teams to compete in non conference competitions?
I work at a NESCAC school wrote:
They are just getting ahead of the NESCAC-wide announcement. The conference is going to cancel all fall sports for every NESCAC school.
It's a win, because now they can seem "ahead of the curve on safety". They should have just let the conference announcement also be their announcement. But nobody likes Bowdoin to begin with, so why should we expect more from them?
What's wrong? Didn't get into Bowdoin?
I think this is a good call.
Administrators are going to have plenty of headaches in the fall -- if there's an outbreak in Maine, they will have to drop everything and come up with a plan. Sports is one less moving part to worry about.
Another consideration is that we don't know what portion of students will show up for fall classes. If there's a resurgence in August, a lot of parents are going to keep kids home. So maybe the big team sports like football won't be able to field a full roster.
If I were running Bowdoin, my full attention would be on surviving the next few years, as an institution. This suggests they're thinking that way too.
Caveat: a 1.74B endowment helps too:
The right choice. Take the year off, and re-group next year
FWIW, Tufts just announced they have basically all students back on campus in the fall. Here's what their FAQ said about sports:
Varsity Sports
The Department of Athletics and Tufts medical staff are working together with the NESCAC, public health officials, and the NCAA to determine how and when varsity sport student-athletes, coaches and staff can return
to practice and competition. As the NESCAC continues to develop plans for the return of athletics, the university is hopeful there will be significant opportunities for coaches to provide meaningful athletic experiences for
student-athletes at Tufts this fall. Coaches will communicate directly with varsity student-athletes as soon as
final decisions are made.
Interesting... this might be our year!!!
Bowdoin should drop hockey, too.
Haha never heard of them so who cares. What fall sports do they even have? When a group of five or power five school comes out and says this then it'll mean something.
Totally dumb. These kids are at higher risk of getting killed in bus accidents traveling to meets than dying from Covid. Of course without training for varsity sports some of them will also be less fit and therefore potentially at higher risk of Covid complications... Surely elderly or sickly coaches can be temporarily replaced (or just given the season off). Not a thoughtful policy. Doesn’t benefit the students. Administrators covering their asses indiscriminately at this point.
How can they possibly know in June that, in a state with minimal virus cases, that it is too dangerous to have sports in November?