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MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

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Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#121

Post by JMTQp8lwXL »

chickenpotpie wrote: post #71
CodesInChaos wrote: post #59

I never understood why US universities have so many more rights over their tenants than other landlords. Why do they have the right to terminate what's effectively a rental agreement with only a week's notice?

I don't get it either. It was especially irritating at my university because the dorms were several thousand dollars a semester more expensive than larger, better apartments nearby, but they were the worst landlords I ever had. They would kick me out all the time, while still charging me rent. During finals week you had to be gone within 24 hours of taking your last final or be fined. If schools in the US aren't goin…

If you stay past your lease date in a regular apartment, you will typically be fined as well.

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#122

Post by IAmGraydon »

The real reason behind such a move is the culture of litigation in the US. Someone made your coffee too hot? Sue them. Someone stepped on your toe? Sue them. In this case, everyone is ducking for cover because they don't want to be the focus of a lawsuit that claims they didn't do anything to prevent the spread of the disease. The people who make these decisions at MIT are not unintelligent. They have all the resources and risk models at their disposal. They have obviously found that the financial risk to the school is greater if they don't send all the students away vs if they do.

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#123

Post by solbloch »

At my university, Syracuse University, we just learned that school will be online preliminary for one week after our spring break ends. (Finish this week of school, spring break, then online for a week after)[0].

Not sure that all my peers going home is the best idea. Also, we on campus have watch those from the Florence Abroad Program come back to campus and attend events. Not too likely to have been infected, but I'm worried about all our parents and grandparents.

I wonder, what will my Korean or Chinese friends do? If they are expected possibly to have to be back on campus in a month, they can't go home and come back, they can't stay here, so they have to pay for an apartment for a month?

[0] https://www.waer.org/post/syracuse-university-cancels-campus...

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#125

Post by smacktoward »

CodesInChaos wrote: post #59

I never understood why US universities have so many more rights over their tenants than other landlords. Why do they have the right to terminate what's effectively a rental agreement with only a week's notice?

In contract law, there's a concept called force majeure (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_majeure), which comes into play when the normal circumstances under which the contract was signed are changed by a sudden, unpredictable event -- the proverbial "act of God."

Most contracts have a force majeure clause, that either releases the parties from their contractual obligations in such an event, or substantially relaxes the penalties for failing to meet those obligations. The idea is, nobody could have seen these circumstances coming, so it's unfair to hold either party to obligations they suddenly find themselves unable to meet.

(Example. I contract with 5,000 people to give them admission to a concert, and then the night before the show an asteroid falls out of the sky onto the stadium I had contracted to hold that concert in. Force majeure means I'm not obligated to put on another show at my own expense despite losing all the money I'd already invested in the first one. It would be unfair to hold me to that promise, since it was invalidated by circumstances no reasonable person could have foreseen.)

I'm not a lawyer, and I'm not privy to the precise language in the contracts between universities and students for residential housing. But I feel pretty confident that they have a force majeure clause in them. And seeing as how Massachusetts declared a state of emergency over the coronavirus today (https://www.boston25news.com/news/mass-gov-declares-state-em...), it seems like universities in that commonwealth would have a reasonably strong legal argument for exercising them.

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#126

Post by saagarjha »

chickenpotpie wrote: post #71
CodesInChaos wrote: post #59

I never understood why US universities have so many more rights over their tenants than other landlords. Why do they have the right to terminate what's effectively a rental agreement with only a week's notice?

I don't get it either. It was especially irritating at my university because the dorms were several thousand dollars a semester more expensive than larger, better apartments nearby, but they were the worst landlords I ever had. They would kick me out all the time, while still charging me rent. During finals week you had to be gone within 24 hours of taking your last final or be fined. If schools in the US aren't goin…

Surely they had better things to do than to try to figure out when people had their finals and check door-to-door every day to make sure people left when they should?

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#128

Post by wegs »

rurp wrote: post #91
tekacs wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’re providing packing materials and helping with the move. Financially, they say: > We understand that being asked to leave campus may pose a serious financial hardship for certain individuals. Students will receive a follow up communication on this matter. It’s unclear what their solution is, but they seem to have thought about it...

It would be nice if they had thought about it enough to offer some sort of concrete solution. I can only imagine how stressful and infuriating the situation MIT is imposing on its students must be for many of them.

To be fair, MIT tends to handle this sort of thing pretty well, and informally. I expect it doesn't have clear policies, but that it will try to do right by people on a case-by-case basis based on people's individual circumstances. I wouldn't take this quite so cynically.

That's not to say the Institute isn't corrupt, evil, and horrible in other ways, but this is not one of the ways in which it's evil. The badness mostly starts with higher-ups and schemes in the many millions of dollars.

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#129

Post by chrisco255 »

jacquesm wrote: post #110
chrisco255 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every report I've read shows the risk factor for young adults is extremely low, and probably no worse than the ordinary flu. Closing down the school for a whole semester seems like an overreaction.

Young adults interact with people who are not young adults. Young adults that need not be ill might end up in an ICU unit that an older person with a weaker immune system could have used to their advantage. As long as there is no vaccine this is going to be a huge exercise in resource allocation.

Wouldn't it make sense for high risk individuals to self-quarantine and for the rest of society to carry on? There may not be a vaccine for at least another year. They've never successfully produced a vaccine for any coronavirus, whether that's SARS or the common cold.

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#130

Post by philipkiely »

My college is doing the same right now. It’s a small residential college about an hour’s drive from the nearest confirmed case. Campus mood is indescribable. I think the move is for the best but as a graduating senior it’s a very emotional time.
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