University of Missouri going back to in-person classes in fall. Others consider it
The University of Missouri plans for students and faculty to return to dorms and classrooms on the Columbia campus for the fall semester.
“We had a ton of people asking us, ‘Are you going to reopen campus in the fall?’ The answer is yes, we are planning on it,” Christian Basi, MU spokesman, said Wednesday. “And if it is going to happen we have to plan. We are also keeping a close eye on the crisis and staying flexible enough to change course if need be.”
Officials at other area universities and colleges, which also are online only because of the pandemic, told The Star they are hoping to do the same.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, MU started offering all classes online on March 16 and eventually shut the campus down on March 23 — except for “essential employees,” including research projects that couldn’t be stopped, clinical activities in human and veterinary medicine, and security.
“While remote classes will continue through the summer, we expect to return to in-person operations and classes this fall,” Mun Choi, who is serving as MU chancellor and UM System president, said Wednesday in a notice to the campus community. “We know that many, if not all of you, are anxious to return to campus — to your offices, your classrooms, your laboratories.”
He said teams of university leaders are working “in consultation with public health officials and Mizzou’s own health care experts” on plans for a return to campus “within a ‘new normal’ that we expect will be necessary.”
Choi’s announcement came as some groups and political leaders are calling for a quick reopening of the economy. Yet national health officials are concerned that ending stay-at-home orders while the nation doesn’t have enough COVID-19 tests could spur a second wave of the virus.
Currently, Choi said, workers are disinfecting campus buildings. “We expect staff and faculty will return in phases once the pandemic reaches new stages of decline. We are also developing new social distancing procedures that could impact how we teach our classes, run our meetings or conduct our research.”
For example, in lecture halls, students may be required to sit in every other seat, or professors may have to limit the number of researchers in a lab.
Missouri State University, University of Central Missouri and University of Missouri-Kansas City all anticipate being back on their campuses for face-to-face courses in the fall.
“We are mindful, however, that public health officials are recommending that we be ready for multiple scenarios,” said John Martellaro, UMKC spokesman.
While continuing with only online classes in the fall is a possibility, Martellaro said officials are looking at such options as in-person classes with social distancing or some mix of online and social distancing.
“We may need to move in and out of these strategies through the academic year based on regional disease patterns,” he said.
The University of Kansas did not respond to The Star’s questions about plans for fall.
At Kansas State University, “our working assumption is that we will have face-to-face classes in the fall,” said President Richard Myers. But he said his campus also is planning for various scenarios, depending on what course the pandemic takes.
Rockhurst University officials said they are waiting for guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and federal and state leaders.
“We haven’t made a decision and do not think we can until closer to the fall semester,” said Katherine Frohoff, university spokeswoman.
