Endemic Diseases Don’t Justify Restrictions
On March 10, 2020, Middlebury College informed students of an early start to spring break and a pivot to virtual learning, optimistically suggesting these disruptions might end in April. Students who were here in spring 2020 need no reminders of that virtual semester, or of the following heavily-restricted fall semester and online J-Term. While the execution of these semesters left plenty to be desired, the various restrictions were at least defensible, and the quickly-changing circumstances forced the college into difficult decisions.