Schools reopening their doors for the 2009-10 academic year will be increasingly cautious in the wake of this year's swine flu outbreak, especially after seeing its affect on preseason football camps across the country.

Tulane football had 22 student-athletes sidelined during a scrimmage this weekend due to flu like symptoms. Two weeks ago, Duke had almost half its team reporting symptoms. It's hard to wage a guess at which team may be next, but according to Inside Higher Ed, Anderson University, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Kansas and University of Tennessee at Knoxville have all recently reported symptoms among its student body and the tight quarters of college campuses allows for germs to spread quickly.

So what can be done? According to the experts, The U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, steps to protect students and student-athletes will need to be much more deliberate and focused including increased cleaning of shared surfaces such as door knobs and keyboards and isolation of infected persons.

More forceful safety precautions include increasing the distance between students in classrooms or suspending classes, but most rely on the condition that the flu worsens, infecting a larger number and wider range of individuals on campuses.

Do you think schools should wait for the flu to become a widespread campus problem before taking a more aggressive approach? Is this issue being taken seriously enough on college campuses?

Is suspending classes or events an unnecessary disruption to the lives of students and student-athletes academically and socially?

Visit the Center for Disease Control Web site for the full report on precautionary steps for institutions of higher education.