The biggest questions parents and educators have about colleges reopening

Get the Full StoryColleges are beginning to announce their reopening plans for the fall.

Many students, parents, and educators have questions about what the upcoming academic year will look like.

While there are no definitive answers as to what, exactly, will happen, Business Insider spoke to three experts to learn some of the biggest questions and hear what answers they may have.

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Colleges around the country are revealing their reopening plans. And parents, educators, and students have some questions.

In just a few short months, many much-lauded aspects of collegiate life think packed athletic stadiums, libraries full of students, and individualized in-person instruction have gone from traditions to contagion hotspots.

And now, after panicked moves to online-only instruction and campus evacuations, the fall looms. And there's one big question that can't quite be answered yet: What does college in the US look like during a pandemic?

In the meantime, Business Insider spoke with three experts a professor who researches inequity in higher-education, a parent of two college-aged kids who also runs risk management for a community college, and a liability attorney to learn the biggest questions that parents and educators have or should have , and to see if they have any answers.Should students be returning to campus?

Michael Spath is the campus risk manager and an environmental health and safety officer at Borough of Manhattan Community College, a commuter school. He's also the father of twins entering their junior years of college. When it comes to the question of whether it's safe to have students return to campus, he has a pretty definitive answer:

"My answer is no, I don't think it's safe," Spath said.

Both of his daughters are planning on returning to school, but he said he thinks it's "premature" to reopen campuses.

"I think if anything happens, you're going to have to shut the campuses back down ," he said. As a college administrator, he said he's been beating his head against the wall over the issue figuratively .

"You think starting a college is hard? You have to try shutting one down."

Natasha Warikoo, a professor of sociology at Tufts University and the author of "The Diversity Bargain: And Other Dilemmas of Race, Admissions, and Meritocracy at Elite Universities," studies inequality in education. She said plans like Harvard's where all courses will be virtual, but 40 of undergrads will return to campus acknowledge that, for residential campuses, learning doesn't just take place in the classroom.

She said learning is also "what happens in the dorms as students talk together late at night and make connections and talk about ideas that may have come up in class during the day."

Some might think it's "crazy" for Harvard to have students return for virtual courses, but she said, "I think we're having to really think hard about what do students gain from the residential college experience."

Which students should be returning to campus?

Harvard will have all of its first-year students living on campus and other schools are also divvying up who returns to campus by class year. Harvard and peer institutions like Columbia are also prioritizing allowing students who need campus facilities to live on campus.

Warikoo said that while it's heartening that colleges are recognizing the students that require campus facilities, there would ideally be a blend of students on campus.

"I also think it would be problematic if only those students working class students, students from economically disadvantaged families if they are the only ones on campus, and it could start to also feel stigmatizing to them," she said.

What are parents' and students' legal rights if a student gets sick on campus?

Liability attorney Richard Bell told Business Insider that schools are responsible for the health and safety of their students, and must always follow reasonable standards and conduct to keep them healthy the only thing that's changed is that standards are a whole lot different during a pandemic.

But there are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to those standards.

"One of the biggest problems is the CDC," Bell said. "It has turned into the most wishy washy, noncommittal CDC of all time, because when they write up their guidance, now they put in terms like 'you should consider, you should recommend when feasible.'"

Bell said standard federal guidelines would likely help make those standards uniform. "But apparently, you know, federal government has abdicated their responsibility anyway for three months," he added.

That means guidelines will come down to states and localities and those differ widely. If you live in New York, but you're sending your child to school in Florida, schools will be bound by the guidelines set forth in Florida.

And some colleges and universities have been pushing for immunity from lawsuits if they've acted responsibly. But Bell said "it's good to have a fear" of liability. "It's a good incentive to make sure you act reasonably."

Even without that immunity, Bell said bringing forward a lawsuit for negligence is difficult which is why there hasn't been a flood of them. You have to be able to prove you contracted the coronavirus from a specific instance of the school's negligence, he said.

When asked what are the criteria for a case he would take against a college for negligence, he gave the example of a school knowing an employee had symptoms but still had them work, with that employee causing a large enough outbreak that cases were traced back to them.

"That might be a case," because there would be evidence of negligence, according to Bell.

See the rest of the story at Business InsiderSee Also:Even if remote work is here to stay, Manhattan office space will always be among the most valuable in the world here's whyHow to decide when it's safe to go to the dentist or doctor again if your state is reopeningHow to decide if now's a good time to go to grad school and the pros and cons of applying during the pandemicSEE ALSO: How to decide if now's a good time to go to grad school and the pros and cons of applying during the pandemic

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