SEMO Drops Mask Mandate

 Since I teach at SEMO,I am of course on the email list and received a message about 3 p.m. yesterday that, effective immediately, all mask mandates, save for those regarding transit  and health facilities. What really struck me was the fact that it was immediate. With no evidence, I rather think SEMO's president got some pressure from state government to drop the remaining classroom mandates. Missouri has pushed getting rid of mask mandates fairly hard so I could see state government not wanting a state university to maintain them.

COVID -19 infections at SIUC

 The number of people reporting COVID-19 infections at SIUC is comparatively small. Here are the numbers the university posts each week There are 

5 on campus students

12 off campus students

2 faculty/staff

At this stage, from what I have read, shifting classes to all online and sending students home would be a really bad idea as we would be sending a lot of potentially infected people out of the area instead of keeping them here where they can be monitored.

In case you are interested in comparing, here are SEMO's daily stats

67 students

4 employees

20 in isolation on campus.

SEMO Numbers

 have not seen what the numbers are for SIUC yet, but Southeast Missouri State published preliminary numbers today:

Both headcount and FTE enrollments at the beginning of the semester are better than projected. Headcount is 9,603, a decrease of -4.9% and FTE is 7,957, a decrease of -3.8% from this time last year.

Cybersecurity Certificate

SIUC will offer a fully online cybersecurity certificate program starting this fall.  SEMO started a full cyber security program in 2019 as are a lot of other colleges. This, of course, means we will see a lot of people trained in cyberscurity hitting the job marketing in 3-4 years and the market unable to absorb them. This, from what I have read, is a trend in higher education. There is a demand for a set of skills to fit a particular job, colleges set up a program to meet that demand and, then by the time the program starts producing graduates, the demand has been filled and the market is looking for people with a different skill set.

SEMO Extends Spring Break

Southeast Missouri State University followed in SIUC 's steps today and extended its spring break, more or less until March 27. Classes will resume on March 23 but online only or through alternate methods, whatever those might be.

What Students Want in a University

I have taught at SEMO for about 20 years and every semester I have made a point of asking my student why they chose to attend it. Admittedly, this is a non-random sample but the overwhelming reason is

Program--students choose to attend SEMO because it offers a particular program or major.

Secondary reasons include:
financial aid package
scholarship
location--either close to home or (less often) far away from home.

I have never had a student yet cite the appearance of the campus or any sports teams or facilities (except those attending on an athletic scholarship) as a reason to attend.

SIUC Numbers

No official numbers out yet for fall enrollment at SIUC, though they are reportedly slightly down. If they were up, I"d bet we'd have seen official numbers a week ago, since SIUE and SEMO didn't seem to have any problem in getting them to the media.

Textbook Rental

The DE takes a look at textbook rental in today's paper. Needless to say, 710 Bookstore doesn't think it's a very good idea, nor does the University bookstore because, after all, SIUC is a research university and needs to change textbooks frequently. Of course, SEMO has a textbook rental program and manages to change textbooks every couple of years or so without any problem.

I did like this particular quote from Core Curriculum director James Allen, regarding lowering textbook costs:

“We have not come to this just recently. We’ve been working on it for about 10 years,” Allen said.

And maybe sometime in the next 10 years, something will actually happen.

If I recall correctly, SIUC at one time did offer a textbook rental program but it was eventually discontinued some years ago.

Blood Drives

Several blood drives in town this week and next. Last time I donated, the nurse mentioned that student turnout for drives at SIUC was way down. Apparently DCI Biologicals is so successful at recruiting (and paying) students for blood that they can't donate when the Red Cross hits town. Drives at over at SEMO (where there is no DCI Biological) pull in 3 to 4 times the number of students that an SIUC drive does.