...Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives and Innovation J. Michael Haynie said the gathering of first-year students "may have done damage enough to shut down campus, including residence halls and in-person learning, before the academic semester even begins."
Because the individual expected costs of partying (the probability of suffering harm from infection times the cost of harm) are much lower than benefits for young people, it is easy to predict that young people are more likely to party. And, because the costs of partying fall on the University, while the benefits of partying accrue to the students, it is easy to understand why the University wants to deter partying.
Deterrence works best if the punishment is swift and sure, and linked closely to the crime. Publicizing the policy ahead of time (I don't know whether Syracuse did this), and making it very clear that the expected costs of punishment are big, may raise the costs of partying above its benefits. However, since only 23 out of what looks like a very large gathering were suspended, the expected costs of punishment (the probability of getting caught times the cost of suspension) seem too low to deter partying.
Mug maxim: Anticipate self-interested behavior, lest you be victimized by it.
HT: Danny S.
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