Last Friday, Oct. 9, University of Wyoming President Ed Seidel was interviewed by the Wyoming Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) on his handling of COVID-19 at the university.
“Well I think overall we are doing quite well. We have taken a quite strong approach to testing and the kinds of interventions we need to take to make sure that students, faculty, and staff are safe and also that the community is safe,” said Seidel.
Seidel continued and provided what his interaction with the process of getting informed about COVID-19 cases on campus is like.
“I get daily reports, in fact as many as three times a day I’m getting reports on the status of the situation here on campus and I think we are managing it quite well. I’m actually quite proud of it.”
When questioned about a decrease in enrollment for the fall semester, Seidel said, “we were looking at something like fifteen to twenty percent downturn in our student enrollment,as many universities were. And then we put in this program and now we’re only down three and a half percent.”
According to a UW communication, 11,829 undergraduates and graduate students enrolled this fall which is only a decrease of 420 students from last fall.
When questioned on the effectiveness of online instruction at the university this fall, Seidel voiced his support for the effectiveness of online education.
“Well, I think online instruction can be effective. There are universities that are entirely online. In fact, many of the universities, even some of the most expensive private universities, the Ivy League for example, have gone primarily online,” said Seidel.
Later in the interview, Seidel was asked about his commitment to having in-person classes with safety precautions during a pandemic.
“We were committed from the beginning since I got here certainly, and I know President Theobald was as well, to having an on-campus experience where we could stay open. But in order to do that, we had to put in place a very, very comprehensive testing program,” said Seidel.
The PBS interviewer also questioned Seidel on the safety of letting Cowboy football return during a pandemic.
Saidel said, “with advances in testing technology and with the sort of an about-face of some of the other conferences… It’s now feasible to test the team members three times per week, which is what we will do.”
The UW football season is planned to begin in less than two weeks on Oct. 24.
Seidel concluded the interview with a statement to UW students who are attending classes this semester during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I hope that, and I think it is generally true, that the students feel like they’re being supported by university to get through a very complex time in our history,” said Seidel.
