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Campus-Community Connections
The official newsletter of the International Town & Gown Association™ September 21, 2020
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Courageous Conversations: A Student Perspective
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On Wednesday, September 16, ITGA held its third panel in their on-going Courageous Conversation series. The topic for this month’s Courageous Conversation was Now, Hear My Point of View and focused on students’ experiences, fears, and the challenges they have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The student panelists talked about adjusting to online learning, the importance of constant communication from the universities, why mask mandates need to be in place and enforced, and the feelings of isolation and loneliness that can happen during remote learning and to students who are having to quarantine. Being a student myself, it was interesting to hear the panelists discuss many of the same struggles I’ve faced and lessons I’ve learned since classes first went remote in the spring. Submitted by Laura Hobbs, Student Intern, DePaul University. The recording will be available on our website soon.
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Colleges Plan Low-Risk Social Activities
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One hallmark of the fall semester so far has been the recurrent theme of college administrators pleading with students to stop partying -- and threatening and imposing punishments on those who do -- to try to tamp down the spread of COVID-19. But as college administrators try their hardest to stop students from attending crowded indoor parties and bar hopping, the question arises of what they can or should do to help students socialize in lower-risk ways. To this end, some colleges are creating new outdoor gathering and performance spaces, erecting tents that limited-sized student groups can reserve, and holding film screenings and other student life events in oversize venues like the football stadium. Inside Higher Ed
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The Cities of Opportunity Learning Lab
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Through ITGA's partnership with the National League of Cities, ITGA members are invited to participate in the Learning Lab, a peer-to-peer virtual forum for local leaders to work together to address the root causes of poor community health. The Cities of Opportunity Learning Lab will have their first welcome call later this month. If interested, please sign up here. The Learning Lab is open to NLC members and non-members alike. To learn more about NLC Cities of Opportunity, along with other ways to engage with the program, please find a one-pager here.
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Infection Rates Soar in College Towns
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Just two weeks after students started returning to Ball State University last month, the surrounding county had become Indiana's coronavirus epicenter. Out of nearly 600 students tested for the virus, more than half have been positive. Dozens of infections have been blamed on off-campus parties, prompting university officials to admonish students. University President Geoffrey Mearns wrote that the cases apparently were not tied to classrooms or dormitories but to "poor personal choices some students are making, primarily off campus." Similar examples abound in other college towns across the nation. Associated Press
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At the end of August, nine days before students started class at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, more than two dozen local elected officials sent a letter to university administrators urging them to significantly alter their plan to bring students back to campus. The officials asked for three changes to the university’s “Smart Restart” plan. Since the university began testing on Aug. 6, more than 2,000 students have tested positive for COVID-19. That’s about 7 percent of undergraduate students, a data point that blows out of the water initial outbreaks at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Iowa. Inside Higher Ed
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A growing and impressive group of professionals from campus communities continue to network and share strategies for improving town-gown relations. Join us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.
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