COVID-19 has put a damper on a lot of activities this year. For our spring semester, it was conducted entirely online after spring break, the spring athletics were canceled, and the summer sports and classes have been canceled or put online. When the spring semester ended, may students, faculty/staff, and parents all wondered what would happen for the next academic year? We learned quickly that the decision would come after the May and June Board of Trustees meetings.
“It has become clear that our students and our state are depending upon the university to return to some semblance of normalcy this fall, and this plan charts a course to do so as safely as is reasonably possible,” Acting President Neil Theobald said in a press release on June 2, 2020. “There are risks associated with bringing students back to campus, but the risks of not doing so are greater. We intend to do what we can to minimize the risks for our students, faculty, staff, and state.”
On June 2, 2020, the Board of Trustees released a plan for the next academic year. The Board plans to have the University open on August 24, 2020, and run the full semester, December 4, 2020. This will be done in person until Thanksgiving break or November 23, 2020. After November 23, the classes will go entirely online until the end of the semester, and this will include finals. This semester will look much like the Spring of 2020 did. After the completion of the fall semester, all students will come back one week later in January; by doing this, students will lose the week of spring break.
“I would rather go back to school and risk getting COVID-19 than continuing online classes,” said Tanner Conley, a student at the University. “Online classes are the worst; they are more work than being in an in-person class.”
This story will be developing over the next few weeks, and we will be updating you as we learn new information. Be on the lookout for stories this week and next about the residence halls and how the University plans to test the students and faculty/staff.
