CLASS ACTION
MANY DELCO COLLEGES PLAN IN-PERSON EDUCATION THIS FALL — AT LEAST TO START
Most colleges and universities in Delaware County plan to return for in-person teaching this fall.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit this spring, the 11 major colleges and universities in the county switched to remote learning. Now as they plan for the fall, most are looking to have students, wearing masks, back on campus and sleeping in dorms. Schools are rearranging classrooms for physical distancing, reducing the number of students in classes, and cancelling some activities such as club sports.
A major change from the typical school year will be what happens after the Thanksgiving holidays, when most schools will return to a virtual format. They are all prepared to go virtual sooner should the pandemic return.
“This semester will be in-person and on-campus, but it will be unlike any in our 178-year history,” said Villanova University President Rev. Peter Donohue OSA, Ph.D., in a video message to students and parents posted on Tuesday. “It will look different, it will feel different and how we do things will be different.”
Donohue detailed key areas the school, which has an enrollment of 11,000 plus 2,500 faculty and staff, will approach education while keeping students and faculty safe. Classes at Villanova will begin Aug. 17 and will end Nov. 24 before the Thanksgiving break. Final exams will then be given on-line after Thanksgiving. Donahue said he expects everyone on campus will follow the Centers for Disease Control recommended measures including physical distancing, staying at home when sick, hand washing and wearing a mask. Classrooms have been reconfigured for physical distancing. The university is looking at possible longer class days and hybrid approaches, such as having half the class meet at a time. Some courses may be totally on-line.
“In-class instruction is the plan and our priority,” said Donohue. Students living on campus will have a roommate but the dining halls will include physical distancing measures, which will also be put into place for staff office spaces.
Donahue said the situation for athletes was “very fluid.” They do expect to have varsity sports teams competing; however intra
mural and club sports are on hold.
The university will be able to test and quarantine at the student health center. They also have the ability to do contract tracing. If a student tests positive, the student can continue classes remotely. “If we all do our part, I know we can have an incredible fall semester.” said Donohue. “I look forward to seeing you in the fall, with your mask.”
Delaware County Community College, on the other hand, has gone in the opposite direction. In a notice dated June 24, the college announced it had made the difficult decision to continue offering most courses in an online format for the fall semester. A small number of courses will be scheduled in a hybrid format, which includes limited class meetings on campus with other work assigned online. DCCC has an enrollment of over
12,000 at campuses in Delaware and Chester counties.
Fall classes at Neumann University begin on Monday, Aug. 31, on campus with the use of face masks. The fall break has been eliminated and all classes will shift to fully online after Nov.
20 to eliminate travel to and from campus during Thanksgiving break. They are following state and CDC guidelines, limiting classes 50 percent capacity, 15 to 20 students with distancing in place, extensive use of hand sanitizer and keeping density of classes low and adapting the schedule. They have 2,000 undergrads and 500 grad students with residence halls for 650 students. Students who need COVID testing will receive it at AFC Urgent Care in Aston.
“We are adapting our schedule, modifying it in a way that makes sure we have a safe healthy environment, at the same time having in-person instruction to help our students in the learning process,” said President Dr. Chris Domes in a phone interview Tuesday. “We had good experience with online but students would like inperson.”
Domes said in dorms they have reduced some three-person dorm rooms to two-person rooms.
Neumann had a number of international students who have stayed on campus throughout the pandemic and who will be returning this year. Domes said they have a number of Canadian students who returned home and should be able to return to school in September; however it is uncertain if those other international students who left in March will be able to return to campus.
Neumann reduced its summer tuition and kept 2020 tuition at same level as 2019. They did take a hit financially from the pandemic,
Domes said. There were some furloughs and layoffs of staff which are continuing. After students left mid-semester this spring, the school reimbursed over $1.3 million in room and board.
Despite the issues created by COVID-19, Domes said he was optimistic about the future. “These kinds of moments give people and organizations a chance to re-evaluate, What can we do here in the future that helps us to become better? I think we’ve done a lot at Neumann University to lean in to our strengths which is the Franciscan tradition, our care for each person. We personally called our undergrad students (during the pandemic). We had a whole team of people who called and reached out to them while they were at home doing their course work. We did a lot of follow up with our students. Our students and families said they appreciated it a lot.”
“The faculty and staff at Neumann has done an extraordinary job of adapting to the moment. In a couple of days they went from what was in-person instruction into on-line instruction. We are continuing to ask them to adapt to change. Everyone has stepped up and really done their part to make this a great experience for students,” Domes said.
Cheyney University will begin fall in-person classes with an early start of Aug. 10 and ending Nov. 20 with the aim of reducing the risk of infection, helping avoid a possible spike of COVID-19 during influenza season in late fall and winter. President Aaron Walton issued the following statement regarding the university’s current plans for the fall
2020 semester:
“The health and safety of Cheyney University’s employees, students, and campus partners are the greatest importance as we move toward the fall semester. Our decisions are guided by our two key principles: What is in the best interest of our students and what preserves Cheyney University.”
Several safety protocols will be in place on campus such as screening for the coronavirus infection, distribution and required use of personal protective equipment, social distancing restrictions, modified campus services and additional sanitization of high-touch areas. These protocols are in adherence to health and safety standards established by federal and state agencies and comply with Pennsylvania Department of Education guidelines.
Widener University will reopen to its 6,200 students on Aug.
24 with a blend of in-person, hybrid, and online classes. Masks covering the nose and mouth will be required with ADA exceptions reviewed as needed.
The university’s Crisis Management Team worked to develop plans for a safe return as stated on the university’s website. They are guided by public health data, recommendations from local, state, and federal agencies, and a dedication to providing all graduate and undergraduate students the best possible learning experiences. With the additional expert guidance of an industrial hygienist, officials are reconfiguring spaces and how they will be managed part of a safe return to campus.
Social distancing
will be re
quired in all campus spaces with some exceptions for specific labs and clinical settings. Everyone living on or coming to campus will participate in daily health self-assessments using a screening tool provided by the university, and will be required to report any COVID-19 symptoms. Testing will be available and contact tracing will be conducted with the assistance of public health officials. Anyone experiencing symptoms, anyone testing positive for COVID-19, or anyone who has been in close contact (within 6 feet for more than for 10 minutes) with a person who has tested positive for
COVID-19 will follow mandated quarantine requirements.
All meetings at Widener will be held electronically so that students do not gather in offices or meeting rooms. The school will not host visitors on campus during the school session. As with other schools, dorm space will be reduced. Some returning students will live in single rooms, while others will be offered the option of a roommate. The end of in-person campus instruction will be Nov. 20, after which classes will shift online in order to minimize exposure to the virus at a time when health experts expect a surge. Guidelines for sports programs are still developing.
“Being a member of the “We’re All Widener” community means we are part of a culture of respect, mutual understanding, and unity,” the website states. “It also means we have a responsibility to each other. We will return to campus committed to following the new guidelines, which are designed for the health and well-being of all, and to growing together as a community of learners.”
Swarthmore College has not yet announced plans for the fall. Andy Hirsch, vice president for communications, stated officials are working to finalize plans for the upcoming academic year and expect to share them with the campus community sometime next week.
Pennsylvania Institute of Technology near Media is on a quarter system and generally starts new classes in July, October, January and April. They hold limited clinical experience instruction on-campus in small learning groups. All non-handson curriculum will remain online. Online classes have traditional class meeting times during which students experience live lessons with their course instructor; allowing for student-to-student and student-toinstructor interaction. Attending a live class is optional since each live class lesson is recorded and uploaded to an online platform. In addition, instructors maintain regular “virtual office hours” to answer the questions of students who were not able to attend the live class session.
Penn State Brandywine will return as originally planned with on-campus, in-person classes on Aug. 24 as well with other activities in a limited fashion. More than 250 faculty, staff and administrators comprised 16 task groups to develop Penn State’s Back to State plans, guided by faculty scientific and public health experts.
Residential instruction will end Friday, Nov. 20, with the remainder of the semester and exams delivered remotely and online.
“I am pleased that the hard work of our task groups over the last few months has led us to this plan that will allow us to bring our campus communities back together,” Penn State President Eric J. Barron told students. “The Penn State experience may look somewhat different this fall, but I am very much looking forward to seeing our campuses busy with students, faculty and staff once again. I know I speak for the leadership at each of our campuses when I say we are looking forward to welcoming our students back and greeting, for the first time, our new students.”
Penn State will begin to have students and employees return to campuses in phases, starting this summer, and will have comprehensive prevention and public health procedures and strategies in place, including maskwearing and social distancing. The university will have a testing and contact-tracing program and will hire additional staff to serve as contact tracers as needed to support all campuses and plans to enhance access to early health-care consultation and treatment. Classes will be taught through a mix of in-person, remote and online instruction throughout the semester, with all classes of more than 250 students delivered online and/or remotely. Students who are unable to return to campus will have flexible options to continue study.
Some students may have already returned to campuses and more will join for the second Summer Session, although the vast majority of Summer Session II courses will continue to be delivered remotely or online.
The university encourages all students who can to self-quarantine prior to arrival. It is in everyone’s best interest that students arrive after taking precautionary steps to reduce the likelihood of community exposure. Over the summer, the university may have further guidance, depending on developments with COVID-19. The university has strategies for quickly adjusting the academic calendar and course delivery if the pandemic were to worsen in Pennsylvania or if the counties where campuses are located should move back into the “unopened” red phase of Gov. Tom Wolf’s red-yellow-green reopening plan.
Haverford College will resume in-person classes on Sept. 8 and will follow a regular semester. There will be no fall break and the final 10 days of classes and exams will be held remotely to minimize travel back and forth from campus. The school will spread classes across a longer day to reduce density in buildings. Health and safety is the primary concern. Universal mask wearing is expected. Officials call it our “vaccine,” supported by social distancing, hand washing, symptom checking, and contact journaling.
Cabrini University plans to resume on-campus instruction on Aug. 31, to be conducted with a mix of in-person, hyflex, and remote modalities and with intentional safeguards and mitigation measures that follow the best practices and guidelines from the CDC. Following the Thanksgiving break, classes and finals will be conducted in an onlineonly. Residence halls will open for Move-In prior to the semester start, with modifications for mitigation measures. Residence halls, Holy Spirit Library, and dining services will remain open after the Thanksgiving break to provide options for students when classes change to an allonline modality.
Eastern University plans to be on-campus for traditional undergraduate students beginning Aug. 24 for undergrads. There will be no fall break and on campus instruction will conclude Nov. 24. After that all classes and finals will be on-line. Most non-traditional undergraduate and graduate classes will be conducted in an online format during the fall semester. Students will be contacted if there are any modifications.