Rice University to Use Large Tents for Outdoor Instruction, Advises Students to Bring Chairs
“So…students pay tuition to sit under tents with masks to listen to lectures in the Texas heat with high humidity”
Why would any parent pay tuition to have their child attend college where they’re going to sit in tents wearing masks?
Campus Reform reports:
Students asked to bring their own chairs to campus with…tents?
As universities across the country are developing plans for students to safely return to campus this fall, some are turning to unique options, including tents.
Rice University Crisis Management Advisory Committee Chair and Vice President for Administration Kevin Kirby sent an official update to faculty and students regarding plans for the upcoming fall semester. Kirby revealed that Rice will purchase and install “four temporary structures” measuring 5 0x 90 feet each. Each structure will hold about 50 students and will be ready for use the first day of fall classes.
Kirby assured that the structures “will be lighted, cooled, heated, and ventilated, they will have audiovisual capabilities and they’re designed to withstand hurricane-force winds.” However, many people negatively reacted to the news on Facebook, noting the high temperatures Houston experiences every summer and fall.
“So…students pay tuition to sit under tents with masks to listen to lectures in the Texas heat with high humidity,” one commenter said.
Kirby countered these concerns by noting the decreased chances of spreading COVID-19 when outdoors.
“Being in Houston, we can be outdoors the entire academic year,” Kirby told the Houston Chronicle. “As we’ve all learned about coronavirus, the risks decrease when you’re outside.” Kirby noted that the structures “can be used not only for instruction but also for academic lectures in the late afternoon and student meeting and study spaces in the evenings.”
Rice will also purchase five “open-sided tents” measuring 40 x 60 feet each and “placing them adjacent to academic buildings.” The use for these tents has not yet been decided upon, but Kirby says that information will be released “in the coming weeks.”
Students will also be asked to bring their own chairs.
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Comments
Nah. Pass.
Those are circus presumably.
Air conditioned tents?!
Then you might as well be in a BUILDING.
Unless those tents are enclosed that A/C is going to do zero good.
“Higher learning.” Not.
It’s official, “college” can be added to the list of cultural ‘tent shows‘ in the country’s lore, you know, along with things like fundamentalist preachers, the freak show at the carnival, and medicine men.