By Leah Wilkinson
Bellarmine has announced all classes will be online-only for the remainder of the semester. Tuesday evening President Dr. Susan Donovan sent out an email notifying the Bellarmine community of this change.
“As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) situation rapidly evolves, we have made several very difficult decisions,” Donovan said in the message. “I know these precautions will be met with frustration and sadness, and believe me, everyone in the faculty and administration shares these feelings.”
Donovan said Academic Affairs is working with faculty to plan how to deliver the final exams.
“Finals will take place to verify that course learning objectives have been met,” Provost Dr. Paul Gore said.
Gore said professors are encouraged to use their best judgment when it comes to how they will alter courses.
“Each faculty member is free to determine the method of ensuring learning,” he said.
Gore said this could be everything from a piano recital to a term paper.
Finals and face-to-face learning are not the only things being affected by today’s announcement.
The 2020 commencement ceremony, scheduled for May 9, will be postponed, and the graduation regalia distribution event scheduled for April 9 has been cancelled.
“We are sorry we will not be able to deliver the meaningful experiences that are normally part of the spring semester,” Donovan said in the email message.
Additionally, all university events scheduled through May 15, including Senior Week activities, have been cancelled or postponed.
In the email, Donovan said: “We will be in touch with the Bellarmine Society and graduate students to seek guidance on our Commencement in late summer. We hope to announce the new dates for Commencement activities by the end of this week. Official graduation dates and availability of official final transcripts will not be affected by the postponement.”
Students also were notified that the residence halls will close to students on Saturday at 3 p.m. to allow for maximum social distancing.
“I’m in kind of a weird position with all this as I was about to leave for study abroad at the end of the month, but that’s been cancelled, which sucks, but also it was necessary,” junior Jacob Scobee said.
Other students, like junior Emily Tirocchi, were planning to stay on campus until Bellarmine’s initial return date of April 1.
“I’m super stressed and I feel bad for my senior friends because their last semester went in a completely different direction,” said Tirocchi, a Rhode Island native. “I know people who have jobs in Louisville but live far away like myself, and right now we don’t really know what to do.”
Tirocchi, like many, said she is trying to stay as safe as possible.
“I don’t wanna get on a crowded airplane and expose myself to large groups of people at the airport, but that’s the only way I can go home,” she said. “I also need the money from my job [here] and I don’t wanna abruptly leave it.”
Although Tuesday’s announcement may have come as a shock to many, students said they understand the shift needed to happen, even if there are a variety of unknowns.
Scobee said: “The whole thing is upsetting and worrying, but I understand the measures being taken and the importance of them. It all makes you wonder if at the rate things are going, if next semester will be normal or not.”
Hardship requests for students who hope to remain on campus beyond March 21 — even those who previously received permission to stay — must be completed on this form https://bellarmine.wufoo.com/forms/hardship-request/ by Thursday at 3 p.m.
“We will work on the premise that our students should be at home unless it is a risk to personal safety,” Donovan said in the email message.
Residential students may return to campus to move out as early as April 4. Students are being asked to use this link to request a check-out time: https://bellarmine.wufoo.com/forms/spring-2020-express-checkout-sign-up-request/. Students who are unable to return to campus in early April can request alternatives. Students who have essential items that they need sooner than April 4 in their rooms can email reslife@bellarmine.edu.
Students who are experiencing financial hardship as a result of these sudden changes may find support through the student emergency aid fund.
“We are working to address the issue of housing and meal plan credits,” Donovan said in her message. “We know this is important, and we will communicate with you as soon as we have answers.”
Limited campus services will be available to those who remain on campus after March 21. This includes boxed meals available for pick-up from the Palio. Additionally, Café Ogle will close, and the bookstore hours will be reduced to 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and it will be open weekdays only.
Most faculty and staff have been asked to work from home. “Our plan remains for most employees to work from home while essential employees work on campus as needed,” Donovan’s message said.
Standard office hours for on-campus employees will shift to more limited time slots of 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. until further notice. According to Donovan’s message, Bellarmine vice presidents are talking with their employees about these work plans.
All academic and administrative buildings will lock at 6 p.m. and will require swipe-card access. Those who need assistance after hours and have authorization to access a building, can contact Public Safety at 502-272-7777.
Donovan attached answers to common COVID-19 questions given by one of the university’s faculty experts, Dr. Karen Golemboski, and those answers can be found here. Members of the Bellarmine community are also welcome to contact Golemboski with questions.
“It does suck, but I have immunocompromised friends and obviously older family members are at risk, too, so it’s better to take all these precautions and have them be safe than to not, even if it means all this,” Scobee said.
Donovan said the university will continue to update its coronavirus information page with the latest information for students, and that includes up-to-date info on how to access campus services. Students may also email questions@bellarmine.edu if they’re having trouble finding an answer to a question. Donovan said the university set up that address so it could be utilized specifically in response to this situation.
“We will work with [faculty] on a one-on-one basis to make sure they assess learning with integrity using whatever technology we have available — a task hundreds of universities have accomplished who offer more online courses than Bellarmine,” Gore said.
Donovan ended her email with a reminder of solidarity to everyone in the Bellarmine community.
“Use technology to keep in touch,” Donovan said. “We may not be together physically, but we are all in this together.”