NEW ORLEANS — The University of New Orleans remains in shutdown mode.
The Lakefront campus closed in early March when COVID-19 cases spiked in Louisiana.
Students finished the spring semester taking classes online.
UNO President John Nicklow is now planning to reopen for the fall semester.
“I’m announcing now, we’re going to be face to face, with the understanding that we have contingency plans in place to prioritize safety,” Nicklow said.
UNO is part of the nine-member, University of Louisiana system.
UL President Dr. Jim Henderson admits there will be some changes on campus because of the continued threat of the virus.
“You won’t see auditoriums filled with masses of students,” Henderson said. “I think that’s a given. In a typical classroom where you might see 20 students, they’re going to be spaced out.”
Dr. Nicklow is telling students to plan for a hybrid approach to classroom instruction.
“If I have a Monday, Wednesday, Friday class on Monday I’m going to take the course in the room, right in front of the faculty member,” Nicklow said. “On Wednesday, maybe I take it in the room next door and have it streamed. Maybe Friday, I take it in my residence hall.”
Nicklow is also telling faculty members to be prepared to pivot quickly from face to face to distance learning if the virus spikes again.
“When we get to that first day of class, if the circumstances or landscape isn’t such that we should be doing that for the safety of our students and faculty, then we move to a contingency plan that is prepared,” Nicklow said.
The reopening plan includes a requirement that masks be worn and some degree of temperature checks and COVID-19 testing on campus.
There is expected to be limited access to university recreation centers and some common areas.
Students should also expect restrictions on fraternity and sorority rush events and other social gatherings.
“That communal life for students, that social life is a part of the learning experience,” Henderson said. “I hope we get to a place where that’s going to be much close to what we traditionally have expected in the past. It’s not going to be this fall. I think that’s a pretty safe assumption.”
There is also no clear guidance yet from the NCAA as to what intercollegiate sports will look like.
“What I would say is, if we’re back on campus, we want our student athletes to be competing, to be practicing, so that will remain to be seen,” Nicklow said. “Our goal will be to have them competing, maybe with limited fans certainly in a place like the Lakefront Arena we can social distance.”
“I think anyone who tells you with any certainty what that’s going to look like is probably getting ahead of what we know,” Henderson said. “I do expect sports to return in some form or fashion if we can do so in a safe way. I don’t think you’ll see stadiums packed with people sitting side by side in close proximity.”
University leaders say the goal is to return things to as close to normal as science and the virus allows.
The University of Louisiana system also includes Nicholls State and Southeastern Louisiana University in the New Orleans area.
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