SALISBURY, Md. - Salisbury University says it plans to get students, faculty and staff back on campus for the fall semester. There are a number of changes SU will implement to make it a safe return for everyone.
Dr. Charles Wight, president of Salisbury University, laid our four different levels, or scenarios, this week to return fall semester. Each level varies in degrees of what can remain open, with level four looking much like how this last spring semester ended.
"But in the fall, we're planning to come back at level two, which would be normal operations. Everyone, students, faculty and staff, welcomed back on campus but with reduced density and putting a lot of things into place to control the spread of the virus," Dr. Wight says.
The university says it's working on a number of solutions to get students back into classrooms this fall. Some of those options include moving classes to bigger rooms or offering more courses online. It may even include taking a 30-student class, dividing the number of students, and rotating the days of the week that some of those students could come to class while the others watch it online. Dr. Wight added that each course and discipline is different, and the entire staff is working towards finding creative solutions.
Another area of campus that may also look different is the residential halls.
"At the start of last fall semester, we were at 100% occupancy, every room. And this fall, we are going to have to hold back a significant number of rooms for students, who for one reason or another, need to be isolated from others students but want to be on campus," Dr. Wight adds. "We're going to have to hold back rooms to isolate students, or faculty, or staff, who become symptomatic or test positive and need to be isolated from everybody else, even on a temporary basis. And, we're going to have to prioritize the allocation of those rooms according to individual situations."
The university says it's residential halls vary widely in how they're laid out and they will choose the best appropriate places to isolate people.
Dr. Wight says they will be using the summer to start bringing back staff, implementing and testing various safety protocols, working to get college athletes back on campus, and preparing for the fall semester. He says their plans are fluid and SU will make adjustments in accordance with the best guidance and science through the fall.
Read SU's full plan here: https://www.salisbury.edu/news/SU-Return-to-Campus-Overview.pdf