My son's state university is forcing students to return in person. I fully expect a notable outbreak in some college to start a wave of media noise, followed by all the universities sending everyone back home again. Sucks because students are signing leases, moving crap, buying meal plans, etc, right now. Aside from the obvious safety issues.
I'd be surprised if that happened. Stanford's in a heavily populated part of California. It might make sense for them, based on the student population (mostly rich or at least well off) and location. My university has plans to keep students in campus housing even if we're forced to go 100% online, and I think from a public health perspective, that's a good thing. You don't want college students moving around if you have an outbreak. And once they're home, they're definitely not going to all just sit in the basement - they'll still be going to bars and parties. That would be a disaster. And the only place that there's hope they'll be tested or interact with others that are tested is on campus.
> My son's state university is forcing students to return in person.
That's horrible. As much as possible, we're accommodating students that feel safer online. About the only way I could see someone being forced to return is if their remaining credits were a lab science class. The worst thing you can possibly do is increase the density on campus. Everyone here is encouraged to work off campus as much as possible. Many of our courses are online or hybrid, where you reserve the in-person interactions for the parts where it delivers real value over the alternative. It's that 20% where face to face matters, not the other 80%.