After shutting for COVID-19, University of Kansas will reopen campus for fall
The University of Kansas will open its campuses for in-person classes “in some capacity” for the fall semester, university officials announced Friday.
“Reconnecting with each other in person and rebuilding our community is what we’ve looked forward to for months,” KU Chancellor Douglas Girod and Provost Barbara Bichelmeyer said in a note to the campus community.
“It is important that we orchestrate the revival of our Lawrence and Edwards campuses in a way that preserves and protects the safety of our people,” the note said.
KU and other Kansas City area colleges shut down campuses in March to combat the spread of COVID-19. Students continued with classes online.
Last month, KU and several other campuses, including University of Missouri and University of Missouri-Kansas City, announced they would continue with all classes online for the summer semester.
Then last week MU announced it would reopen its campus with in-person classes in the fall.
Friday’s announcement comes just one day after Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly released details of her plan to begin reopening businesses across the state, starting Monday.
But that will not affect the KU campus shutdown. For now university employees who have been working remotely will continue to do so.
A KU public health planning team is developing a framework for reopening the campus in five phases. It will follow local and state social distancing guidelines, include more frequent deep cleaning of reopened spaces, and requirements for the use of personal protective equipment.
The plan, university officials said, “is flexible,” subject to change if necessary.
The university has no timeline for how the phase-in will progress. But rather, “We will use key indicators to help identify when we are ready to graduate to the next phase of revitalization,” the note said. At each phase more faculty, staff and students will be allowed to return to campus and more campus activities will resume.
“Fully restoring our operations will require our patience, careful consideration, and deliberate implementation.”
Research is the first area that the university wants to get running at full swing. Labs are set to “reopen strategically,” after buildings are appropriately staffed with custodial crews.
The note does not address student housing or lecture halls, but it does say that officials expect that some students “may not be able to” return to the campus in the fall.
“This pandemic has pushed us — pushed everyone — in directions we didn’t want or expect to go,” the notice said. “If there’s a bright spot to this experience, it’s that we’ve learned a lot about ourselves, our community and our operation.”
The university is also juggling the financial impact of COVID-19. KU officials said last month they expect to lose tens of millions of dollars of revenue through the end of this semester and the summer.
This story was originally published May 1, 2020 at 7:32 PM with the headline "After shutting for COVID-19, University of Kansas will reopen campus for fall."
