As WSU eyes fall reopening, students should add masks to shopping list, official says

After shutting down campus for the coronavirus, Wichita State University plans to reopen this summer and offer some in-person classes in the fall. It also could raise tuition to fill a budget hole due to the pandemic.

The university also plans to reopen its student housing facilities to pre-COVID-19 occupancy levels.

In March, Wichita State and several other state universities closed campus buildings and moved all classes online for the remainder of the spring and summer courses. Each university has been tasked by the state to set its own reopening standards.

The University of Kansas announced last week that its campus would be opening in the fall, and Kansas State University has proposed a phased approach that depends on specific criteria before it will reopen.

If a second wave of the virus hits in the fall, as has been predicted by medical experts, WSU is working to have a plan in place to keep the school operational. It’s training instructors and professors to quickly move their classes back online if the need arises.

“We’re hoping that we’ll have very robust offerings like we normally do in the face-to-face environment,” WSU Provost Rick Muma said in a online town hall meeting.

“But we also need a plan for the possibility of that being a little different, especially if there’s a re-emergence of the virus. We need to be prepared to be able to pivot in any way that we feel is appropriate,” he said.

Part of that will be setting clear guidance to educators and students, which is why the university has assembled seven working groups to tackle its reopening strategy, which is still in the planning stage.

“Probably the most important issue here (is to) make sure everybody understands what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and how we’re doing this in a safe manner,” Muma said.

For now, Wichita State plans to reopen its campus May 26 and follow state and local guidelines on gathering sizes. Kansas public universities have taken different approaches to reopening.

Student Body President Rija Khan asked university officials in the town hall meeting how exactly the university planned to protect its students’ health during reopening.

Muma said students should be prepared to take ownership of their own health.

“Knowing that there’s a lot more information available and a lot more resources available, I think we’ll find it will be a little bit easier,” Muma said. “And it’s always important for everybody to take a little bit of ownership themselves and be cognizant of your surroundings.”

For students, that means adding masks, hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes to their back-to-school shopping list, university officials said.

“I’ll be carrying a little bottle of hand sanitizer myself to make sure I’m constantly sanitizing my hands but also my work surface,” Muma said. “And I think everybody is going to have to do that because we’re not going to be able to be there at every moment that you need something cleaned,” he said.

“So you should be prepared for that, and we can help provide those kinds of resources if that’s not possible for individual students,” he said.

Teri Hall, vice president of student affairs, said students will be encouraged to wear masks or face coverings when they return to campus.

“Students should expect to have at least one mask to wear when they’re in confined spaces on campus and social distancing is impossible,” Hall said.

“So if they have not purchased one or made one, make sure that that’s considered one of their school supplies for when they come back to school,” she said.

“We will have some available on campus, or maybe there will be fancy Shockerized ones downstairs in the bookstore if students want to buy them,” she said.

Student housing is unlikely to change.

“We’re expecting to come back with the residence halls at capacity as we have been for the past year or so,” Hall said.

Student dining may be a bit different when students return, and the university is looking at to-go service and a limiting seating as possibilities, she said.

Wichita State, like other schools across the nation, faces a budget deficit to the tune of $6.8 million, President Jay Golden said.

Part of that will be a decline in students who choose to re-enroll after already taking classes at the school, he said.

“Our incoming freshmen is actually up,” he said. “We’re in a pretty good, healthy spot in that regard, especially compared to other universities.”

To make up for the shortfall, Golden said, the university has already begun making cuts to discretionary spending, such as out-of-state travel and may increase tuition.

“We are being very aggressive and very progressive in the way we approach this,” he said during a virtual town hall meeting.

“Tuition increases, that’s really up in the air right now. We have a number of strategies that we’re evaluating. A lot of this is going to be predicated on what happens ... what the state budget is going to be looking at.”

“If we do do a tuition increase, we’re going to try to keep it very minimal,” Golden said.

One tuition-increase scenario would cost full-time students an extra $140 a year, he said, but that number is subject to change between now and when it’s turned over for state approval around June 1.

Muma, who is head of academic affairs and enrollment, is discouraging students from waiting until the summer passes and plans for the fall are more solid to enroll in classes.

“I highly discourage you from waiting too long to decide whether you’re going to enroll ... I feel very confident that faculty will be able to do a good job in terms of delivering the content in the fall,” he said.