As COVID-19 cases across the country spike to new highs as Americans reopen businesses and continue with their social gatherings, the UW System announced that students will be returning for the fall 2020 semester in a news release sent on June 14.
UW System President Ray Cross and Regent President Andrew S. Petersen said they will welcome students back to campuses this fall, despite plans for the 2020-21 calendar continuing to be in the works.
“We are preparing an environment that reduces risk so that students, faculty, and staff can return to campus in person this fall,” Cross said. “We know the on-campus experience is what our students want. At the same time, we must all recognize that our universities will be different this fall than what we’re used to and there will be campus-based decisions on how to best address particular issues. But students will be back on campus this fall.”
In April, the UW System formed a Plan Ahead Team to prepare for the reopening of UW campuses made up of representatives from UW schools. They will also rely on medical experts when planning for the 2020-21 academic calendar.
Best Practices
The Plan Ahead Team aims to identify the best practices to ensure students and employee health and safety along with student academic progress at the forefront. Decisions that are made by the state of Wisconsin, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health professionals, and other universities and university systems throughout the nation will factor into the team’s planning as well, according to a UW System news release on April 30.
“Preparing for an in-person return to campus this fall is a tremendous undertaking, and I thank my UW System and campus colleagues, our chancellors, and the Plan Ahead Team for all of their work,” Cross says. “I especially thank our faculty and students, who made the transition to alternative instruction so meaningful. We appreciate their flexibility and understanding as we approach the fall semester.”
Alongside the announcement of reopening UW campuses in the fall, the Plan Ahead Team disclosed a series of recommendations from its sub teams that focus on public health, personal protective equipment, and facilities modifications.
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However, the recommendations do not include testing and tracing, which is a subject the UW System claims is still under study. This may come as good news to students who did not gain much from online learning, but is it too soon for these students to celebrate their return to campus?
Plans Could Change
On July 2, University of Southern California had to reverse an earlier decision that allowed their students back on campus for a hybrid model. The university announced that they will no longer have all undergraduate students return to campus, amid California’s alarming surge of COVID-19.
Although the number of COVID-19 cases is not as bad in Wisconsin, the state is not trailing too far behind California. According to the CDC website, Wisconsin has approximately 20,001 to 40,000 reported cases whereas California has 40,000+ cases. On the CDC U.S. map, Wisconsin is only one shade lighter than California when it comes to the number of reported COVID-19 cases.
If anything is to be learned from the University of Southern California, it is that nothing is completely off the table in the midst of a global pandemic.
As of now, the UW System is anticipating students back on campus, but the details of what this return will look like is dependent on each university. President Ray Cross and Regent President Andrew S. Petersen said they are confident in their Plan Ahead Team.
“Our UW System universities are vitally important to our students and our communities,” Petersen said. “The Board of Regents has engaged on this issue in our meetings, and I am confident in our prudent, thoughtful approach to providing educational services this fall.”
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