Students from across the country are returning to college campuses for a fall semesters that look very different from fall in 2019. According a survey by the website, The Chronicle of Higher Education, of the 1,200 schools contacted, 55 percent plan for in-person learning, 10 percent will remain exclusively online, and the rest plan on a combination.
The University of Mary in Bismarck will bring students back into the classroom this semester. Freshman move-in date is Sept. 5. But, even as they return to classrooms, online instruction will be available for flexibility. Safety protocols and a five-level system has also been put in place to ease students back while balancing health, safety and optimum learning. Adaptations include: classes getting moved to larger rooms or split up and staggered, improved room ventilations, directed traffic flow and increased sanitation. Wearing masks will be mandatory only when social distancing is not possible.
Students eager to return
Jerry Richter, Executive Vice President at UMary said that after being forced to switch to classes online in March, students repeatedly expressed the message: “Thanks for caring about us, you did a good job online, but please don’t do that to us again.” Restricting education to exclusively online takes out the human element, according to him. “Every good Christian knows that relationship is important and you learn that through community,” he said. “That is what students missed and what they want.”
Benjamin Helget, a senior double majoring in psychology and Catholic studies wholeheartedly agreed.
“The university, staff, and students handled that transition very well, but it was, by all means, a stressful time of change,” he said. “I believe that UMary’s plan to be in person with the option of online is a very good solution to an unprecedented and difficult problem. I will be the first to admit that I am excited for in-person classes to begin, but by no means do I want that at the expense of my fellow students or faculty’s safety.”
Katelyn Schmidt, a junior majoring in elementary education and minoring in Catholic Studies, studied on the Rome campus last fall (as did Helget), so she said it was a big disappointment to have spring semester back home cut short.
“It felt like summer had arrived early,” she said. “I am extremely excited to be back on campus. The students, professors, and religious on campus are one of my favorite things about UMary, so it will be great to see them and be with them in person.”
Athletic programs
Football, volleyball, and soccer players usually start arriving on campus in early August, but this year, the fall seasons will be canceled or postponed.
As for fall sports, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC), with 16 member schools including the University of Mary, terminated the 2020 season in all sports through December 31. The announcement comes days after its governing body, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), cancelled all 2020 fall championships. This decision currently allows for the start of the winter season and training on November 27, with competition beginning January 1, 2021. Seniors have the option of postponing their final year of competition until the fall of 2021.
“While I’m disappointed with this necessary outcome, I want to be clear that this decision has been made to best ensure the health and safety of everyone involved in Marauders Athletics,” University of Mary Athletic Director Dale Lennon said in a release issued by the university on the day the cancelation announcement was made on Aug. 13. “As director of athletics, I vigorously pursued the opportunity to compete until we no longer had another option. The safety and well-being of our scholar-athletes was the driving force in our decision to cancel or suspend fall competition. Provisions are in place to assure that athletes will not be put in a compromising situation of having to make participation decisions that make them uncomfortable. Therefore, all athletes have the choice to ‘opt out’ of the fall workout phase and retain their athletic scholarship for the year.”
The plan
Before the COVID-19 pandemic even hit the United States, at the direction of UMary President Monsignor James Shea, they became one of the first universities to assemble an on-campus, 10-member COVID-19 emergency response team chaired by Richter and assisted by retired Brigadier General Dave Anderson, coordinator of Military Student Services at the UMary. The team developed the “Returning to Campus General Guidelines, Protocols and Monitoring System,” an 18-page document that features a five-level color-coded risk/action levels monitoring system which allows the university to turn the dial up or down depending on infection rates on campus and in the community.
Each progressive level involves increased precautionary measures. For instance, Level 1-New Normal would resume usual activities under heightened hygiene and cleaning standards. Level 2-Low Risk reduces seating and self-service in the cafeteria, and online instruction becomes available upon request. The tightest restrictions would be at Level 5-Critical where all classes move to online with only essential employees working from campus.
The goal, according to Richter, is for the college experience not to be interrupted and for it to take place in an atmosphere most conducive to learning.
“We are fully committed to have as much of a normal school year as possible and looked at the totality of what is best for the students,” Richter said. “A lot of study, discernment and prayer went into this. Life needs to go on and we believe that they can be safe and healthy.”
In a statement, Msgr. Shea pointed out some of the advantages at UMary during this time such as its location outside of the city and the fact that it is one of only a handful of campuses across the United Sates to offer 24/7 dining. Its Crow’s Nest restaurant seats over 600 people for less crowding and allows students to eat wherever they wish.
“With large-sized classrooms, but a small 14 to 1 student-to-faculty-ratio, the University of Mary doesn’t have huge, crowded, elbow-to-elbow learning quarters with large auditorium-style classes of 200 to 300 students, that could otherwise cause safety challenges,” Msgr. Shea said. “Our strong online capabilities, remote location, on-campus healthcare services and spacious campus with overflow residence hall capacity, give us the capabilities to quarantine students, if needed, for a mandatory period of time, while still allowing them to learn online, before transitioning back into the classroom.”
He also noted that last spring, before students left campus and among the small number that needed to stay, there was no outbreak among their students and or any community transmission traced to the University of Mary.
“Our campus is meant to be experienced as a true home for students, a place of stability where they can learn and grow, not a temporary place of residence,” he said.