College presidents want to open their campuses in the fall, but they’re aware that lawsuits could follow no matter their course of action, a group of university leaders told White House officials this week.
The group of 14 presidents spoke virtually with Vice President Mike Pence, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and Deborah L. Birx, the White House coronavirus-response coordinator, on Wednesday. The federal officials did not urge colleges to bring students back to campus next fall or to keep them away, according to two presidents in attendance. But Pence wrote afterward on Twitter that the college leaders are “stepping up” to return students to their campuses in the fall as higher education deals with the Covid-19 pandemic.
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The two presidents interviewed by The Chronicle confirmed that the group had discussed legal issues connected to the coronavirus and campus operations. The issue of liability could emerge in two main areas, said Heather Wilson, president of the University of Texas at El Paso, who was on the call. The first would be from students seeking tuition refunds for online classes in the form of lawsuits like the ones Drexel University and the University of Miami have seen this spring. The second would be if campuses resumed in-person operations, and people got sick upon returning.
The presidents asked for more guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how to conduct in-person operations safely, the two presidents told The Chronicle. Presidents raised the idea of liability protection, Wilson said, adding that companies seeking to manufacture N95 masks wanted waivers, too. Such a step would ensure that “people aren’t discouraged from doing the right thing,” she said.
“We need to take reasonable precautions, but we also know we’re all learning,” she said. “The precautions change over time.”
If campuses receive more extensive guidance and follow it, said Michael R. Lovell, president of Marquette University, it would limit some institutional liability. “Where you get into trouble is if the guidelines come out and you didn’t follow the guidelines, and something unfortunate happens.”
W. Scott Lewis, a partner with TNG Consulting, said colleges shouldn’t count on federal or state governments to grant them immunity from lawsuits.
Colleges must adhere to federal, state, and local guidelines; they often conflict, and he recommended that campuses follow the strictest, usually set by the CDC. “Legal risks aside, what risks are we willing to take on?” he said. “These are real people who could get really sick. What protections can we put in place?”
Most of the presidents on the call lead research universities, and several have connections with the White House. Wilson was previously President Trump’s Air Force secretary. Mitch Daniels, president of Purdue University, was Pence’s predecessor as governor of Indiana. And Pence gave the commencement address in 2018 at Hillsdale College, the smallest institution represented on the call.
The group also sought flexibility in the areas of accreditation and international enrollment. With respect to the latter, the leaders asked that consulates and embassies make international-student visas a priority when they reopened. They also urged flexibility on policies that require international students to take a certain number of credits in person, Wilson said, adding that White House officials were “very receptive” on that topic.
Pence indicated that White House officials would do “everything they could” to help campuses get coronavirus-testing supplies, Lovell said. A readout from the White House after the call did not mention such an assurance, and Pence’s office could not immediately be reached for comment.
The presidents were contacted about the meeting earlier this week, at a time when many campuses were sharing plans about their fall-semester operations. The California State University system, the largest in the country, on Tuesday said it would conduct most classes online this fall. Many others — upward of 60 percent of plans reviewed by The Chronicle — have expressed optimism about in-person classes.
Colleges face plenty of logistical challenges to reopening classrooms and dorms. Some colleges have outlined ideas such as installing one-way signage around campus (to foster social distancing) and distributing personal-protective equipment in vending machines. Keeping campuses closed could mean a perilous financial loss for colleges, and the call for more guidance from the CDC signaled that many hard decisions lie ahead.
Initially, the group of presidents planned to gather in person, Lovell and Wilson said. But after several of Pence’s staff members contracted the disease, it was deemed “safer” to meet virtually, Lovell said. The group spoke for more than an hour and a half. The new Title IX regulations, announced last week, were not discussed, he said.
The Marquette president said he had left the meeting feeling “energized” and more hopeful that campuses could figure out how to open in the fall, even in a modified format. On Friday he announced that his campus would begin the semester in late August and end instruction in November, citing experts’ prediction that the virus would surge again in the late fall. Marquette intends to resume operations in person.
Finis E. St. John IV, chancellor of the University of Alabama system, said that the White House saw the event as an “introductory inquiry” and that more meetings would follow over the summer.
Katherine Mangan and Nell Gluckman contributed reporting.
