Daily Lumina News 082820

COVID-19 has shifted the way colleges and universities operate, altered the college experience for students, and triggered protests by faculty members and staff against plans to reopen in the fall. It also has affected the economies and normal operations of the towns that rely on their local colleges.

Student journalists have been tirelessly reporting on college reopening plans—and their editorials haven't held back. One headline from the student-run newspaper at the University of Notre Dame, declared, "Don't make us write obituaries."
And the news stories haven't let up—stories about reopening plans, testing on campus, hybrid or online learning, and of course, what all of this has been like for students.

The spring semester and its full-throttle move to remote instruction proved brutal for most college professors—and the summer offered little relief, as they used the time to transition their fall courses to a fully online format or to multiple formats for a range of reopening scenarios.
Today, faculty members say they’re working harder than ever to meet students’ needs through remote instruction, even if critics of the model don’t know it.

The pandemic has increased the mental strain on a generation of college students already reporting record levels of psychological challenges, state and national surveys show. California colleges have responded by moving therapy appointments online and using state grants to add services.
But some mental health advocates say the coronavirus crisis highlights the fragility of a system that even before the pandemic was not doing enough to meet students’ needs.