University of Kentucky reveals campus reopening options and asks for public feedback
University of Kentucky administrators offered the public a first glimpse at the university’s potential fall restart plans in a campuswide email sent Wednesday night.
Three planning teams — comprised of administrators, faculty, staff and students — have been meeting to consider four different scenarios: Starting in-person classes on the original date; delaying the start of the semester; starting classes online and moving to in-person later in the semester; and having a fully online semester. The plans for each of the different scenarios were described in an email from President Eli Capilouto.
The plans are subject to change and the university has opened a public comment period on the plans through Friday at 5 p.m., Capilouto wrote. After the public comment period, the plans will be furthered refined, and university teams will produce a “final planning document” that will be opened up for another public comment period later this month.
The university has had online-only classes since March. UK’s summer courses were moved online in early April.
The three teams — nicknamed White, Blue and Wildcat — were each tasked with creating restart plans. Those dozen plans were presented to the campus’ deans and to a committee in the university’s Emergency Operations Center and were culled into the four restart scenarios.
In every in-person scenario, the university would hope to boost its COVID-19 testing capacity to the point where all students and employees could be tested before or close to their initial arrival on campus and be re-tested if needed later in the semester.
It’s unclear exactly what conditions would need to be met for the university to enter into one of the given scenarios.
Here are the highlights of each plan:
The normal restart plan
The “normal” restart plan would begin with in-person classes on the original first day — Aug. 24 — but the semester would be significantly shorter, an online edition of the plan showed. The proposed schedule would eliminate fall break and see the semester end at Thanksgiving, with students taking their final exams, either online or in person, the week before the holiday.
Classrooms would have lower seating capacity and be redesigned to spread students farther apart. All in-person classes would be recorded so students could choose to attend online. Large lecture classes could be offered online or in smaller sections. Faculty at risk for contracting COVID-19 would have the option to convert their courses to fully online. Outdoor classes would be encouraged, if they could be properly recorded.
Gatherings in dorms would be minimized. Dining halls would have no self-service buffets and only offer food prepackaged by the staff. The use of gym equipment would be scheduled and staggered and indoor sports would be restricted. Pedestrian pathways — both indoors and outdoors — would be rerouted in such a way to limit contact between passersby.
According to the planning document, the normal start plan would make the university more susceptible to a possible COVID-19 spike.
Delayed start plan
In the delayed start scenario, in-person classes would begin on Sept. 14 and would continue through Thanksgiving. After the holiday, the final three weeks of the semester would be online only.
The in-person portion of the semester would see the campus operate similarly to the normal start plan. The delay would allow university employees more time to plan courses, secure personal protective equipment and modify classrooms.
Class meetings may have to be lengthened and a compressed schedule may be cumbersome to student workloads, the planning document stated.
Hybrid restart plan
The semester would begin with online classes on the original first day of Aug. 24 and transition into in-person classes on Sept. 14. The semester would end on Thanksgiving.
According to the proposed plan, the hybrid start may give the university the most operational flexibility as the university could quickly transition back to virtual classes in the event of a COVID-19 spike. The in-person portion of the semester would be similar to the normal start plan.
However, the increased flexibility could cause “heightened confusion” among students and employees caught in the midst of the schedule changes, the planning document stated.
Online-only plan
Under the fully online plan, the university would continue its online course instruction from the spring and summer. The plan would not cause any changes to the overall academic calendar — classes would begin and end on their previously scheduled dates and students would get a fall break.
The online-only plan is described as the safest and would allow instructors time to build on lessons learned when transitioning classes online this spring.
But, according to the planning document, the plan would cause a myriad of financial concerns for the university. Freshmen would have a “diminished first-year experience” and may be less likely to return in the future. Enrollment would be significantly reduced.
The university is already expecting a significant revenue decrease in the fall from an expected freshman enrollment drop. Many universities and college admission counselors say that potential college freshmen are considering gap years or are considering taking basic courses online at cheaper community colleges instead of risking paying for tuition for what may be a fully online semester for large universities, Inside Higher Ed reported.
Expanding online offerings would be costly, as the university would have to hire more tech support and purchase more equipment. On-campus dining and housing services — which represents jobs for the university’s staff and a large chunk of revenue — would be reduced.
At the same time, instructors would have to battle a student perception of “low-quality instruction” and virtual teaching burnout among employees and students, the planning document stated.
What happens next?
Anonymous comments can be left at https://bit.ly/UKrestartplans.
After this week’s public comment period, the university will consider public feedback and ideas from a separate university team — made up of health professionals — that is tasked with considering the health concerns associated with a restart, the email stated. Those ideas and changes will be presented again for public comment later this month.
Then a collection of 19 other university committees — which have been working on UK’s virus response since February — will work with the administration to put operational plans into action.
This story was originally published May 14, 2020 at 12:04 PM.