State universities plan to reopen in the fall
Board says it remains unclear how classes, activities will be run
Florida’s public universities are planning to reopen in the fall, but to what extent classes and other activities will resume remains unclear.
Next month, the Board of Governors, which oversees the state university system, will consider individual plans from each of the 12 campuses for how they will operate in a world altered by the global coronavirus pandemic.
The state’s approach will be based on science and advice from medical professionals, said Syd Kitson chairman of the Board of Governors, in a news release. Board members plan to take up a set of overarching guidelines on May 28, while individual universities will be asked to submit their plans by June 23.
UCF is already showing signs of slowly coming back to life: The school said last week the privately owned UnionWest housing complex at its downtown campus will reopen for students, even though classes will still be online-only. Many UCF employees have worked remotely since confirmed local cases of the virus began soaring in March and some will start returning to campus on June 1. Researchers who require access to their labs could come back this month, President Alexander Cartwright said last week in a statement.
But with a traditional fall semester of crowded lecture halls, football games and club activities still in doubt, incoming students are waiting to find out if their first college experience will at all resemble what they expected just months ago.
Amanda Craig already submitted a housing deposit, selected two suitemates and ordered custom Knights T-shirts.
The senior at Vero Beach High School said she looked forward to living in a dorm and enjoying the trappings of college life, like football games and Pegasus Palooza, an annual event at UCF that includes a carnival and concerts.
“I understand that it comes down to safety,” she said, adding “If it’s online, I’d be pretty devastated.”
While the Board of Governors’ announcement Monday likely means students will gain more certainty next month over what the fall semester will look like, across the country students are grappling with evolving norms for campus life.
Some schools are considering converting dorm rooms intended for multiple students into single-occupant units, scaling down huge lecture classes and installing plexiglass barriers in busy areas that provide services like financial aid, said Mildred García, the president of the American Association of State Colleges and universities.
She said students who return this fall are likely to discover their campuses look a lot different than when they left in March.
García, whose organization counts as members more than 400 public colleges, universities, and systems, said she’s heard from more than 40 institutions that have decided they will have in-person classes this fall. The location of the campus often plays a role in the decision whether to reopen, she said. Some of her member institutions, which mostly are regional public schools, are located in areas where there have been few reported virus cases.
Many fear the pandemic will hurt enrollment or result in state funding cuts, she said.
“This is real uncharted territory. There is no precedent here,” García said.
The University of Florida has appointed nearly a dozen groups to look into how the school could reopen and probing matters ranging from health concerns to the financial effects, spokesman Steve Orlando said.
“We know that students are very eager to come back this fall,” he said. “We fully anticipate that whatever form fall takes, we will have students in Gainesville, so we need to be prepared for that.”
But, he said, “at the end of the day, that decision is going to be made in close coordination with the state university system.”
Some schools, including UF and the University of South Florida, have hinted they’re considering a phased-in approach that could include measures like limiting class sizes.
Others have already decided to call off campus activities for the fall. The 23 California State University campuses, which comprise the largest four-year university system in the country, said earlier this week classes will largely remain online this fall. The system made that decision because even if the system opened the fall semester with inperson courses, it would need to switch to an onlineonly format if a second outbreak of the virus occurs this fall, Chancellor Timothy White said in a statement. Some students and employees might be unable to travel safely to campuses, he added.
But institutions take a financial hit when students are away: UCF said it expects to lose $48.7 million in revenue through August, in part from refunding or forgoing fees typically collected for housing and meal plans. UF expects to receive $42 million less than it would have during normal circumstances.
Rollins College intends to hold in-person classes this fall, but has delayed the start of its semester from Aug. 24 to Sept. 14, President Grant Cornwell wrote last week in an email that went out to students and families. He cautioned, however, that “given the changing landscape of COVID-19 across the globe, we may be forced to change plans.”
The small private liberal arts college in Winter Park also is “reimagining” dorms, assessing classroom occupancy levels that would allow for 6 feet of social distancing space and has reserved quarantine spaces for students who become ill. Rollins will also ask students to detail their plans for leaving campus if it needs to close mid-year for any reason.
For Craig, the pandemic has already interrupted the going-off-to-college experience she has imagined since she was a kid. Her campus tour was called off; her freshman orientation was moved online.
Though she was admitted to a dozen Florida schools, Craig chose UCF in part because she was accepted into the Burnett Honors College and she liked the idea of being part of a small program on a large campus.
Now, with restrictions on large gatherings in place across the country, the 18-year-old said she worried her school’s size will be a liability and that “UCF is so big they not might open.”