SRU moving toward a full return to campus
The administrators of Slippery Rock University have spent more than a year implementing safety measures to slow the spread of COVID-19.
While many of those measures will remain in place this upcoming fall semester, university president William Behre said it will more closely resemble a school semester prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We've built the infrastructure already,” he said Wednesday. “We have a lot of plexiglass in place, but in terms of student experience, the ability to use the library or the recreation center, all of that is going to be more like it was pre-pandemic.”
According to Behre, planning for the upcoming semester is “always evolving” because of the changing guidance coming at the state and federal level.
SRU is implementing its plans beginning with a phased full return of campus staff and faculty by July 6. Having staff return early allows them to reintegrate themselves to their old routines, and also prepare for ongoing guidance changes.
The university offered regular COVID-19 testing opportunities over the past year, and offered vaccine clinics to students, faculty and staff in the mid-spring semester. Behre said these clinics are currently planned to continue this fall, but their necessity may also change in the coming months.
“The situation is going to have to dictate it,” Behre said. “We'll start the semester with the assumption that we'll have to have vaccine clinics, and if we start to not need them, we'll shut them down.”
Behre also said despite the implementation of more virtual and distanced learning options for students, the university will remain a primarily in-person institution. That doesn't mean the virtual options won't still be utilized by teachers and students, however.
“The joke I have been saying is, there's no such thing as a snow day ever again,” Behre said. “There will be faculty who will find out how to enhance their classes with a virtual environment. But Slippery Rock is not going to become a primarily distanced institution, at least, as long as I'm here.”
Students begin moving onto campus Aug. 19, and classes begin Aug. 23. Behre said that although there may be some readjustment pains, many people and especially students are looking forward to returning to the university.
“They should expect a college experience,” Behre said of SRU students.
