By Wynn McDonald and Leah Wilkinson
On Wednesday, Bellarmine joined the rising number of universities around the nation moving to alternative operations in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
In effort to prevent the spread of the virus on campus, President Dr. Susan Donovan announced via campus-wide email a plan to suspend all classes until March 18, at which point they will resume exclusively online. The current target date for a return to on-campus classes is April 1.
“We’re concerned about [students’] safety, and the safety of all our faculty and staff,” Donovan said. “That’s why we went to these measures.”
The announcement was made at approximately the same time as news broke that the University of Louisville and University of Kentucky were initiating similar plans, but the announcement was not coordinated with either school.
“We’ve been working on it this week,” Donovan said. “We wanted to be able to have a plan that was thought through and provide sufficient time for our faculty to be prepared.”
Per Donovan’s announcement, residential students are asked to leave residence halls by 5 p.m. Saturday “if at all possible.” In a faculty and staff meeting Wednesday afternoon, Provost Dr. Paul Gore said he expects many exceptions to be made for residential students, including those who have internships, need a place to stay, or are seeking one-on-one advising.
“It’s really important that we maintain the student experience for them, and that’s what we hope to do,” Donovan said.
Gore echoed this sentiment, stressing the importance of being prophylactic in dealing with the virus.
“Our guiding principles are the health and well-being of our students, faculty and staff, and instructional continuity,” he said. “We’d rather get out ahead of this.”
Gore encouraged professors to teach classes in ways that would be most beneficial to students’ learning. For some professors, that might mean Skyping students during class time. For others, it might mean giving assignments and exams electronically, using software like Moodle or Microsoft Teams. The university will spend the next week working with professors on how best to restructure their classes.
“The upside of this is we’re going to be in a much stronger place to supplement our in-class learning with digital learning,” Gore said.
Both Donovan and Gore said the main concern is to avoid having large groups of people on campus. Donovan said any event that would typically draw a crowd will either be cancelled or held without an audience.
“As we reduce the frequency of people gathering together in closed spaces like classrooms, then we can potentially reduce the transmission of the virus in our state,” Gore said.
Sporting events will continue as planned for now, but little to no fan attendance is expected. The library is tentatively expected to operate on a limited schedule of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for students who may be seeking a quiet workspace or computer access. As of Wednesday afternoon, this was developing information.
“Today’s email from the president was definitely surreal,” student Molly Jett said. “As a senior, I think the campus is doing what they think is best for the Bellarmine community; however, it is a pretty stressful time for all involved.”
The decision caught many students off guard.
“I was definitely surprised that Bellarmine is closing and doing online classes for a couple weeks, but it makes sense with so many other universities doing the same,” said junior Emily Engel. “I’m worried about having all online classes and missing so many labs, but the health of everyone at Bellarmine needs to come first.”
Others, like sophomore Jacob Kratzwald, agree with how the situation is being handled.
“Honestly I’m happy about it, because COVID-19 is really infectious,” Kratzwald said. “It doesn’t seem like an overreaction considering how fast it would spread through the dorms.”
The plan to return to in-class instruction depends on the status of COVID-19’s containment. The April 1 date is tentative, and Donovan said university leaders will evaluate the situation on a day-to-day basis.
Gore said the goal is to provide the closest thing possible to a normal experience, especially for seniors whose last semester on campus may have been interrupted.
“We want the students who are graduating to walk in May, [and] maintain the integrity of the educational experience,” Gore said.