MSU weighs plans for fall reopening

“Town Crier” newsletter – Briefs from the Region (1) – 5/1/20

In an April 30 statement, Montana State University President Waded Cruzado said MSU is planning to reopen the Bozeman campus to students this fall. In order to do so, the school is rapidly outlining measures to protect students, faculty and employees from the threat of coronavirus, should the disease rear its head for what many health officials expect to be a vicious and hard hitting second wave. Hope appears to be in abundance in the president’s camp: “Thankfully, as I write this, the state of Montana is showing progress in addressing the COVID-19 emergency, and we are thoughtfully moving toward restoring a new level of normalcy, under new practices,” Cruzado wrote in the statement. “We are actively working on careful plans to open our campus for the fall semester and to offer face-to-face course delivery, in accordance with health guidelines and protocols.” According to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, MSU has a number of groups actively planning for the tentative reopening, and on a daily basis, with teaching changes likely upon reopen.  Other challenges include how to safely provide tutoring, advising, mentoring and on-campus living and recreation. There is also a contingency plan to resume solely online educational offerings, should health officials mandate it. Forbes has called the possible closure of schools through the next academic year ““the death knell” of some small colleges already struggling financially, and MSU joins colleges across the nation that refunded millions of dollars in dorm and dining fees due to this spring’s closures.