UCF to resume some in-person classes
UCF is planning to resume some activities on campus this fall, including in-person classes on a limited basis, and intends to tell students which courses will meet face-to-face by July 1.
President Alexander Cartwright told students and employees during an online forum on Wednesday that reopening the campus, which has been mostly shuttered for three months because of the coronavirus pandemic, will require a number of changes, including continuing the online-only format for classes with more than 100 students.
Campus life will be much quieter when the fall semester starts on Aug. 24. Most dorm rooms will have a single occupant; fraternity and sorority recruitment will be completed virtually; and social events will be restricted. The university has ordered 100,000 face masks to be distributed to students and employees, who will be required to wear them inside buildings when they’re close to other people.
UCF does not plan to require virus testing for all, Cartwright said, but will test specific groups, including student-athletes and students living in dorms and in Greek organization housing. The university will also test students and employees who show symptoms of the virus. Inperson classes will end just before Thanksgiving. The final weeks of the semester, including final exams, will be conducted online, though dorms, dining areas, libraries and study spaces will remain open.
UCF’s plans are tentative at this point: The Board of Governors, which oversees the state university system, must approve them, along with those submitted by UCF’s peers across Florida. The board intends to take up the plans on June 23 during a meeting conducted in-person on UCF’s campus.
University
leaders fielded questions on Wednesday from students and employees, who asked about topics ranging from athletics to finals. Cartwright said the university had not made any decisions regarding whether or how football will be played this fall and is working closely with the conference and NCAA on the matter.
One participant in Wednesday’s forum asked about whether homecoming activities, including the Spirit Splash ritual, where thousands of students run into the reflecting pond and try to grab a small number of rubber ducks, will continue this fall. Cartwright and Maribeth Ehasz, the vice president for student development and enrollment services, hinted they will not, at least not in the same manner they have during past years.
“We know traditions are very, very important to our campus,” Ehasz said, adding the university “is really looking at a way to provide some celebration but safety will need to be the number one guiding point.
That might mean, Ehasz said, sharing videos of past Spirit Splash events. Cartwright suggested maybe students and others “will need to all participate in our own little Spirit Splash” virtually.
Another participant asked whether the university was prioritizing revenue over students’ health by reopening the campus this fall. Cartwright said that wasn’t the case, pointing to a survey done by the Student Government Association that showed many are eager to return to in-person classes.
“If you look at what is happening, the entire state is reopening and we are looking at, how do we continue to do this in as safe of a way as possible,” Cartwright said, adding financial considerations were “not a big part of this decision.”