The upheaval caused by COVID-19 ravaging Kentucky and the rest of the country is slowly making its way into the annals of history. The number of daily deaths and positive cases has plummeted. Families can reunite. Businesses have reopened their doors. Students are now in front of teachers in person and not on a computer screen.
Kentucky’s colleges and universities are launching their 2021-2022 school year with the goal of creating as normal a campus life as possible—no masks, no social distancing, no crowd restrictions. But they’re also going into the new academic year with new wisdom gained from a pandemic that forced everyone to think outside of the box.
Morehead State University
Morehead State University President Jay Morgan acknowledged that August 2021 is a far cry from August 2020.
“This time a year ago, we were just trying to get to the next day,” he said. “Our students, and to some degree some of our employees, have never known a stressful event like World War II [or] the Great Depression like our parents and grandparents did. So, I would tell students, ‘This is your Great Depression. This is a stressful time for everybody, and we’re going to work through this as a team.’ ”
That team, Morgan said, included faculty, staff, students, the local community, and state and local health departments. From July 2020 to the end of the spring 2021 semester, Morgan said the school logged a rolling average of eight to 10 positive COVID-19 cases a week.
“Comparatively speaking, we were very fortunate,” he said. “I think we hit a home run, and through a team effort, we pulled through it.”
Now, students are returning to an open campus without a mask mandate or social distancing restrictions. The Healthy at MSU webpage (moreheadstate.edu/healthyatmsu) continues to update the campus and public on MSU’s COVID-19 policies. But, for now, Morgan said the school is returning to, what he calls “99.5 percent” normal.
“For the fall semester, unless something really, really bad turns around, we’re saying everything is normal—normal crowds, normal classes, normal athletic events, normal performing arts on campus, concerts, [and] normal food and dining,” he said. “The only thing we are continuing to message is our recommendation going forward that everybody considers being vaccinated. We will not require a vaccination, but we highly encourage people to go see their medical provider and talk to them about being vaccinated.”
The university also will utilize new processes it was compelled to learn in 2020.
“Oftentimes, as dreary as COVID was, and as maddening as it was, I think most people believe that it pushed us forward first and foremost in creativity. We had to get creative; we had no choice,” Morgan said. “We taught a lot of online courses before COVID came, but when COVID came, it really pushed our faculty to get more training—professional training—on delivering distance education. So now we’ll see a good mix of some hybrid courses.”
MSU also learned that small things that “used to matter” don’t really matter anymore.
“People on our campus really learned to work together for a common goal,” Morgan said. “We saw a lot of our employees and students really rise to a level of leadership … and as a team, we moved through COVID, as frustrating as it was. We did excellent … We turned lemons into lemonade.”
Western Kentucky University
Like MSU, Western Kentucky University is fully intending the fall of 2021 to look as much like the fall of 2019 as possible, while still following all mandates and guidelines from state government and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We know everyone is hungering to get back to what we consider as normal, back to a pre-pandemic state, if you will, and our campus is no exception,” said Bob Skipper, WKU’s media relations director. “We’re anticipating that the masks will be gone unless there’s a reason to have them, those with special needs. Social distancing will become a thing of the past. We won’t have to space our desks 6 feet apart anymore, and we will be able to return to our normal gatherings such as cultural events, athletic events, lectures, things of that nature. We really hope and are preparing for a normal fall semester.”
The Bowling Green institution will still have its Healthy on the Hill program in place, including its webpage (wku.edu/healthyonthehill) containing the latest information regarding COVID-19, a frequently-asked-questions section, and the current guidelines for someone who tests positive for the virus.
“We will have contingencies in place should something happen that we’re unable to do what we want to do,” he said. “Our first priority remains keeping our WKU family safe and protected.”
Skipper said the school also is building upon the lessons learned in the past year.
“There are always lessons we can learn when we endure a crisis, and the pandemic is no exception,” he said. “It would be a shame to not put these lessons to use after what we’ve all been through.”
Among those lessons is that not everything has to take place in person.
“We found ways of completing paperwork without having to shuffle paper from person to person and actually having to travel across campus physically,” Skipper said. “We also found that sometimes you can learn in these remote settings when you may not have thought so beforehand. But we’ve also learned you can’t replace that in-person contact. So we have to look at how all of this balances out.”
Kentucky Wesleyan College
The administration of Kentucky Wesleyan College began to hear rumblings of the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2020 and began a contingency plan with the hopes of never having to use it. Weeks later, those hopes were dashed, but the college adapted.
“We pivoted very quickly and very easily,” said Rebecca McQueen-Ruark, KWC’s vice president of student affairs. “That wasn’t easy for [faculty] to do, but they did it. And they did it with a smile because they knew that was what was best for our students.”
The students adapted to the changes that included wearing masks, social distancing, and other guidelines put forth in the college’s Panther Promise, its COVID-19 response.
KWC implemented a “threat level” system based on the number of positive cases and the number of students quarantined. Most weeks, the campus stayed on Level 1 with roughly 10 students in quarantine. The only exception was one week in March 2021 in which 28 people were in quarantine on campus, all campus activity ceased, and students temporarily shifted to remote learning.
“There was a lot of unknown, and it was overwhelming to some extent, but our students picked themselves up by the bootstraps,” McQueen-Ruark said. “They finished that semester well, and they really adapted this past year to the policy changes to get through it.”
Now, the Owensboro campus is looking forward to an academic year free of masks, social distancing, and threat levels. All faculty and staff are required to get the COVID-19 vaccine, but there are no such requirements for students at this time.
“But we are encouraging that as much as possible, so that we can go back to life as normal as we can,” McQueen-Ruark said.
That normal will feature the inclusion of more technology—namely, online streaming of meetings, classes, and special events such as awards ceremonies and graduations.
“Moving forward, we will stream those events even when we’re holding them in person, because what we learned is that families of students who aren’t local were able to tune in and join in on those things when they weren’t able to before,” she said.
But after a year and a half of restrictions, social distancing, and fewer in-person gatherings, the 2021-2022 academic year will be a breath of fresh air. The college also re-opened its new student orientation to in-person visits this summer.
“It was so nice to stand in that room and to ... actually see smiling faces looking back at me of these students and parents,” McQueen-Ruark said. “You can tell people are excited to get back to doing things as normal as possible.”
Eastern Kentucky University
The 2020-2021 academic year wasn’t at all what college students expect their campus life to be, and Eastern Kentucky University recognizes that.
“It wasn’t everything that a student would want because there weren’t the socializations that we all come to know about a college experience,” said David McFaddin, EKU’s president. “But we kept everyone safe. We kept everyone as healthy as we possibly could.”
The Richmond campus developed the Colonels Comeback Plan that involved “robust” testing, social distancing, masks, online learning, and contact tracing. Since July 2020, EKU had a rolling weekly average of 10 positive COVID-19 cases.
“I would be lying if I said everything was perfect, but we learned a lot on the way,” McFaddin said. “It really gave us a chance to connect with students and talk about the experience.”
That connection and communication, McFaddin said, revealed a campus community that looked out for each other.
“Universities are steeped in traditions and legacies, and we have a deep appreciation for who we are and what we do,” he said. “But there are things that, prior to March of 2020, we said we couldn’t do—it can’t be done that way. What we proved is that we can. When a crisis arises, and if you pull together and think about what’s possible, and when you think about what is at risk, it really brings people together. What we learned is that just about anything is possible.”
McFaddin believes that sense of community will carry the university beyond the pandemic focused on delivering on its educational promise while guiding students to a new sense of normalcy.
“There’s this hunger for normalcy, and I think, for students, it’s what’s the ‘next normal?’ How do we deliver on what it is they are looking for?” he asked. “There are some who had not put their toe in the water of online education, and they loved it. Similarly, we had students who are longing for a very traditional, very communal residential experience, and we have an amazing year planned for those students. They’re going to have engaging activities where they are going to build community, where they’re going to learn, but they’re also going to have fun.”