Transcripts For CSPAN Senate Hearing On COVID-19 Impact On C

And lane college. They talked about Financial Assistance provided by the cares act and the important of addressing the hardships of minority students and those of lower socioeconomic status are facing. [inaudible conversations] good morning. The hearing of the senate health, education, labor and Pensions Committee will come to order. We want to thank our staff for working through some technical difficulties this morning and thank the senators that are witnesses who are joining us from around the country in various offices. We are all following the attending physicians protocol for safe distancing and those of us who are here are Wearing Masks on our way in and sitting at least six feet apart while we are here. Senator murray and i will each have an Opening Statement, then we will turn to our witnesses for their statement of about five minutes each, if they could summarize. There it is. Senators will each have five minute round of questions. We have a vote at 11 40 so we will need to finish this hearing by about noon and hopefully all the senators will have had a chance to ask their questions. The question for administrators of 6000 colleges and universities is not whether to reopen in august but how to do it safely. Most are working overtime to get ready for one of the sure signs American Life is regaining its rhythm. 20 Million Students going back to college. Witnesses today are here to tell us their strategies for reopening safely. Mitch daniels, president of perdue in indiana, Christina Paxton of Brown University of providence, rhode island, bogan hampton of lane college in jackson, tennessee, george benjamin, director of American Public Health Association in washington. Purdue, the university of south carolina, rice, the university of notre dame and others will finish their inperson classes before thanksgiving to avoid further spread of covid19 during flu season. Vanderbilt university will require masks, to make social distancing easier, colleges are rescheduling classrooms that are usually empty in the early mornings, evenings, weekends,. Concerts, parties are out. Grab and go meals, flu shots and temperature checks will be in. Campuses will offer more online courses. Recently, i was on a phone call with 90 chief executives of tennessees 127 Higher Education. They are planning to resume inperson classes almost all of them this fall but they want the government to create Liability Protection against being sued if a student becomes sick. Bucking the trend, California State University system has announced it will offer most of its courses online. All roads back to college lead through testing. The availability of widespread testing will allow colleges to track and isolate students who have a virus, have been exposed to it so the rest of the student body doesnt have to before and teens. Campuses are using mobile phone apps for tracking and creating isolation dormitories to isolate students who have the virus or been exposed as the university of tennesseeknoxville is doing. Widespread testing not only helps contain the disease but helps build confidence the campuses safe. Us assistant secretary told our hearing that there will be 4050 million tests available by september, four to five times the number of tests available today more than any other country. Dr. Francis collins who leads the human genome project, leads a shark tank, enterprise at the National Institutes of health to discover new ways to conduct tens of millions of additional accurate test with quick results. Should everyone on campus be tested . On a webinar for institutes of Higher Education on friday , may 29, centers for Disease Control and prevention officials said they are not recommending that at this time you test every student but encourage campuses to work with their state and local health officials. However that doesnt take into account testing for peace of mind. Schools may want to test everyone before they come back to campus. Schools may want to think about randomly testing to detect symptomatic cases, have the blue to test everyone in certain categories, older faculty, students with medical conditions, virus hotspots, all students in a class or dorm where there is an outbreak or a person infected. Administrators ask me where will i find the tests . The answer is consult your local Health Department in your government and your governor. Each state submit a monthly plan outlining testing supplies in and needs. The admiral and his team helps fill in the gaps. My recommendation is you want your School Testing plan to be in your state plan. A School Contract with laboratories, who conduct tests, review the fda list of authorized tests or ask for help from a local university or hospital that created its own test. Covid19 plans should last the school year. They are pursuing vaccines at warp speed but no one expects them in august. The second semester there should be more tests, more treatments, better Contact Tracing and vaccines but amid the flu season in return of covid19 it will be the fall of 2021 before we begin to approach normal. Students returning in the fall and their families will want and need to have face of mind that they and their loved ones are getting back to a safe environment. Testing is the key to providing that. The reason colleges have an advantage, younger people have been hurt less by covid19. Nursing homes account for 5 of cases, 36 of deaths, compared with tennesseans under the age of 30, 30 of cases, less than 1 of the deaths. Still, there is much we are learning about the virus. We are warned not to be cavalier about assuming young people are not at risk. Colleges are notorious wasters of space. Former George Washington University President Steve Trachtenberg said that a typical college uses it for academic purposes a little more than half the calendar year. He said, generate that generates maintenance energy. He thought he could run two colleges in the space that he has one college he organized efficiently, but was never able to do it that way. Keeping students six feet apart will be easier colleges embrace new efficiency and more classrooms and spaces throughout the day and throughout the year and that is a lesson that will last beyond the covid19 crisis. Tracking and tracing will be easier to do at college. We know what classes students attend, colleges take it a step further, assigned seats, and a college can presumably require require students to wear masks. They can make mask wearing part of the campus culture. Those pose challenges as well. 19 and 20yearolds dont always choose to do the healthiest thing. A National Survey on drug use found a third of College Students admitted to binge drinking in the last month. 86 of undergraduates are not living on campus according to the National Center for education statistics. Many students will leave and return exposing themselves and others to virus making social distancing and cdc recommended Health Status all the more important. What should the federal governments role be in helping colleges and universities open safely, providing advice from cdc, funding innovation like the shark tank i mentioned for tests, encouraging universities to work with states to get included in their testing plans, helping supplies provide supplies the states dont have. Funding such as 14 billion in the cares act to address loss revenues and federal government could provide some Liability Protection. Beyond that decision in my view ought to be left to individual campuses. From the small technical universities to harvard, m. I. T. , the four year marine college, tuition free, best able to make their own decisions. When i became University President in 1998, 1988 i asked the president of the university of california why the university of california was so good and he said autonomy, and second, following to the college of their choice. United states is home to 6000 colleges and universities, the best system in the world. It has gotten that way because the Institution Campuses have had maximum autonomy and minimum direction from washington on everything from curriculum, tuition, admission policies, healthcare plans for students, compensation for faculty. Campuses themselves to determine student behavior and conduct, housing, safety and a host of other issues. So, i would suggest we follow the same tradition here. President trump and congress should not tell California State University system it has to open in person in the fall, nor should it tell notre dame and purdue it cannot open in the fall and shouldnt be telling Brown University they cant test everyone if brown wants to and tell indiana it has to or purdue that it has to even though they dont want to. We know a single lost year college can lead to a student not graduating as setback career goals. University Research Projects have erased much of the Funding Congress has given our research universities. Many american colleges will be permanently damaged or closed if they remain, as our witness Christina Paxson brown says, ghost towns. Two thirds of College Students want to return to campus, according to the axios survey. Mitch daniels, another witness today, says at purdue, tuition deposits by incoming freshmen broke last years record, colleges and universities are microcities. Administrators make them among the safest small communities in our country. Safest communities in which to live and work during this next year. In doing so, they will help our country take a step toward normalcy. Senator murray. Murray so hard to make it possible for the hearing to be safe and socially distant. People around the country, especially young people protesting for longoverdue change, we have to remember the opportunity institutions of Higher Education have to direct disparities and the responsibility to do so and that means as we look at the dramatic impact covid19 is having on institutions of Higher Education, talk about ways students and faculty, we have to address the unique impact this virus has on black communities and other communities of color. We have seen communities of color and other vulnerable populations face the harshest impacts from the pandemic. It is our job to ensure students who have been and will continue to be disproportionately impacted by covid19 dont see their education suffer or fall behind. With that in mind, we must recognize and address the disproportionate impact this crisis is having on those who are already facing challenges. Students of color, firstgeneration College Students, students experiencing homelessness and student parent at muslim Public Health and science drive decisionmaking. The Coronavirus Crisis has deeply affected every single aspect of our Higher Education system and it will have profound impact on students and colleges for many years to come. The covid19 pandemic has forced institutions of Higher Education to grapple with unprecedented challenges from widespread closures to rapid transition to Online Education to unprecedented Student Financial need and unemployment and revenue losses. Many may not be able to reopen their doors including historic and under resourced colleges that serve high populations with low incomes and students of color. Faculty and staff to administrative and support staff, food service and much more are wondering if they will have a job to return to in the fall. For students across the country from graduating High School Seniors to community College Students, students pursuing advanced degrees, this pandemic has shattered their notion of a Normal School year to navigate this world. Every student across the country is experiencing unprecedented disruption and many students will need Additional Support like advising and tutoring and Mental Health to succeed in a new learning environment. Not every student is experiencing equal disruption. The pandemic has hit certain communities, particularly communities of color significantly harder than others in these disparities are true for Higher Education where they are bearing a heavier burden of the crisis. The pandemic started, students of, students who are parents, firstgeneration students, lgbtq students, and veteran students are more likely to struggle to meet basic needs like food and helping housing, resources widely closed, this pandemic has exasperated many of those students. They rely on managed apartment buildings and been forced many students experiencing homelessness or with unsafe homes and International Students are unable to return to their home countries. Going home is not an option. For many students without access to a computer or the internet or quiet place to study, Online Learning is not an option. And with many oncampus and Community Childcare providers closed, the one in five College Students who are parents have fewer options for childcare. As we towards moving towards solving the countless challenges facing colleges and students we absolutely have to keep in mind and address the unique needs of students who are disproportionately impacted as colleges begin to reopen safely, physically or online. We need to make sure colleges do not rush into a decision on how to reopen without consultation. There is a very real possibility of a resurgence of coronavirus. Thats why colleges and universities need a detailed plan to keep the Campus Community safe regardless how the pandemic evolves in the coming months. Students, faculty, staff and college need to know before colleges reopen their doors, they have plans for every potential outcome. Every contributing factor and every scenario. Colleges and universities cannot do this alone. They need in depth, actionable and detailed guidance from the federal government on best practices when it comes to how to house and keep student safety, minimize classsize and keep students socially distant, how to make sure libraries and shared equipment are cleaned properly and often. And when it comes to the broader community, how to keep faculty and staff safe and have minimized risk when students travel to and from campus. Those are a few of the questions to be answered before schools can open safely. Doing so requires a complex planning process that we cannot get wrong. Colleges and universities need the actual support from secretary of education who instead of working with the Higher Education community on how to reopen safely, forcing colleges and universities to implement a new harmful ideological title ix regulation during a pandemic that will ensure one thing, that students already worried about the pandemic are going to be more unsafe next year when it comes to sexual assault. Im glad to hear from the witnesses today. This committee and the American People deserve to hear directly from her on how she is working with the Higher Education community, as well as secretary of labor Eugene Scalia on how we can safely protect workers from the virus and secretary of health and Human Services alex azar on how they are responding to this crisis. We need to not only address the immediate news for colleges and students, but we need to begin to plan what the future of Higher Education will look like in the wake of coronavirus. These truly unprecedented times require bold, responsive leadership but colleges and universities are not getting what they need. And while i am fighting to secure additional funding and address the ongoing needs of colleges and students across the country, i continue to push this administration to not only implement the law as intended by congress, but to step up and provide leadership and guidance for faculty, staff and students because they desperately need it. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Chair alexander we now move to senators questions. Welcome all four witnesses, we introduce all four but let me ask senator braun to introduce the first witness and then i will introduce the other three. Sen. Braun mitch daniels, first time i met you was in 2015 as a freshman legislator and you came into the ways and means committee. The third year into the tuition freeze. Tuition increases for 36 years prior to when you did that. What are you going to do to lower cost . 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