Maryville College administrators are staying optimistic about the prospects of having students return to in-person classes for the fall 2020 semester.
President Tom Bogart made the announcement Monday, wishing students well on their final exams and calling the spring semester a 'very strange and stressful spring' after the campus moved to online classes following the COVID-19 outbreak.
“I know you are hopeful that in-person classes will resume, that residence halls and dining rooms will reopen, and that the Maryville College community will be together again, physically,” he said. “College leadership is hopeful, as well. After weeks of monitoring local infection rates and the guidance from federal, state and local health authorities, we are cautiously optimistic that Maryville College will be able to open in the fall, though exactly what the semester will look like is uncertain at this time.”
Bogart announced a Contingency Planning Force of faculty and staff was formed and would meet in May to make recommendations for fall.
He said he hopes to have a broad plan for the fall semester announced by early-to-mid-June with more details over the summer.
“For a while, we will have to live with a level of uncertainty that feels uncomfortable, but I’m confident that we will make the right decisions for our campus community,” Bogart stated in the memo. “At Maryville, we say that we prepare students for the everyday and the unexpected, and I have seen even more proof of this—and of our faculty and staff members’ adaptability—since March.”
Campus facilities, including the Clayton Center for the Arts, will remain closed to the public through at least May 31. Bogart said he will announce when faculty and staff can return to campus for work later this month.