UD releases prospective plans for fall; complete decision to be made later this month

Franchesca Hackworth
Online Editor 

Although a final decision on how the University of Dayton will proceed with the fall semester has not yet been made, a summary detailing the recommendations UD has been given by health professionals was provided in an email to students Thursday.

Details on how health officials recommend handling the fall semester are below:

  • Undergraduate students will begin classes Monday, Aug. 24, depart campus at Thanksgiving, and complete the semester online, without the typical fall break.

  • Fall move-in will be a phased process during the first three weeks of August.

  • A robust plan to test, monitor and contain cases of COVID-19 will be put into place. This will include testing all faculty, staff, and students on campus initially and as symptoms warrant during the semester.

  • Faculty, staff, students, and visitors will be expected to wear face coverings in shared indoor environments and will be expected to maintain 6-foot social distancing requirements, except when students are in their residential household groups.

  • Campus will be open, and many classes will meet in person to the extent possible depending on available space. Some classroom activities may require a different model or be hybrids of in-person and online instruction.

  • Classes that are too large to meet face-to-face will be conducted primarily synchronously online and will be recorded. Synchronous components will occur at the scheduled class day and time.

“Following feedback on the draft recommendations from faculty, staff, and students, we expect to have more detailed plans for the fall semester later this month, with the understanding that a shift in the national or local health landscape could change these plans as we move toward August,” the email stated.

The Ohio State University announced that they will resume in-person classes in the fall. Along with returning to campus, the university says it will be using appropriate face coverings, physical distancing, hand hygiene, limited density in indoor spaces, control of the flow of traffic into and around buildings, continued employee teleworking when possible, testing, symptoms tracking and contact tracing.

Xavier University will also be returning to campus in the fall. Students will begin the semester early, Aug. 17 and the semester will end Nov. 24. The rest of the semester will be held remotely.

We will update you as final decisions are made about what the fall semester at UD will look like.

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