Colleges Are Getting Ready to Blame Their Students

“Do you really want to be the reason that Tulane and New Orleans have to shut down again?” That was the question that Erica Woodley, the dean of students at Tulane University, posed in a July 7 email scolding students for their “disrespectful, selfish and dangerous” partying during the Fourth of July weekend. “This type of behavior is indefensible and truly shameful,” she admonished. Woodley went on to warn—in bold and all caps—that students who hosted gatherings with more than 15 people would face dire punishment: suspension or expulsion.

With new coronavirus cases on the rise in most states, the notion that universities can reopen safely for in-person instruction in the fall is , maybe even . According to a led by Yale and Harvard researchers, outbreak control would require testing all students —a tall order when the federal government is needed to do so. And universities that for the virus are creating those plans without federal guidance: The Centers for Disease Control testing for students without symptoms or exposure.