U. of South Carolina resuming on-campus classes in August
In-person instruction at the University of South Carolina's main campus in Columbia will resume in August, USC officials announced Wednesday.
"After weeks of analysis and consideration, and in consultation with the Board of Trustees, I am pleased to report that the Columbia campus of the University of South Carolina will resume in-person instruction in mid-August," University president Bob Caslen said in a May 6 message to students.
USC officials plan to host a virtual town hall event at Wednesday at 6 p.m. to answer questions from students, families, faculty and staff about the decision to reopen, and what that will look like.
Caslen says the decision to resume on-campus activities and instruction comes after a month of planning by a group of public health, clinical medicine, academic and staff experts from the university.
Work by that group has given Caslen "confidence that in-person instruction can safely begin this fall," the university president said.
"This decision has not been made lightly. It is informed by the science of our excellent epidemiologists and health care specialists in our planning group, as well as the CDC and (S.C. DHEC)," Caslen said.
Caslen says student feedback also influenced the group to do everything it could to find a way to safely reopen campus in the fall. An "increasing number of students" reportedly told USC leadership they would "postpone or discontinue" their education if remote learning continued into the fall.
Caslen says students and faculty will be brought back to campus in phases of small groups starting this summer, although courses will remain online for the summer term.
"This transitional, phased approach will allow us to test our mitigation measures, pilot our initiatives and further build our confidence and capacity to open our doors to the University community safely in August," Caslen said.
Not all students and faculty will be required to return to the campus in the fall, Caslen says.
"We recognize that some would be uncomfortable coming back to campus in August. We respect each person’s decision to either return or delay their return, and we will expand our online course offerings to accommodate those who choose to remain away," said Caslen.
For those who do return, many aspects of campus life will be adjusted to deal with the threat of the coronavirus, Caslen says. As such, Caslen stressed returning to campus will require a "commitment to public health and safety" from students, faculty and staff, as health officials say risks from COVID-19 will be present for the foreseeable future.
In the meantime, Caslen is promising significant extra measures to protect the campus community and to closely monitor the presence of the virus on campus.
Among those measures Caslen announced Wednesday are:
- The ability to test everyone in the campus community for the entire semester
- The use of tracking apps for identifying people potentially exposed to the virus
- Increased use of single-student dorms
- Isolated housing and contactless or minimal-contact services for students who test positive
- More grab-and-go meals in dining halls to minimize close contact
- Continued social distancing protocols in place for classrooms, sports venues and other locations
- Splitting larger classes into small groups or online-only meetings
"The new normal on campus won’t be easy but judging by how well all of you have risen to the occasion during the challenges of the last many weeks, I have great confidence in you," Caslen said.
Currently, all face-to-face instruction in lectures and similar classroom settings have been suspended and moved to virtual instruction through the end of the summer.
All campus events are canceled through the end of the spring semester.
May commencement ceremonies have been tentatively rescheduled for August 7 and 8, 2020. The Schools of Medicine in Columbia and Greenville are also planning alternate ceremonies.
All regular season athletics contests are cancelled for the remainder of the 2019-20 athletic year.