CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There’s a high stakes decision happening in higher education as universities across the Carolinas grapple with whether to bring students back to campus this fall. In Charlotte, two universities reached very different decisions.
At Johnson C. Smith University, the archway at the entrance to the school will be empty, the grate gates symbolically closed as the school opted to cancel in-person classes for the Fall 2020 Semester.
Students will not return to campus as the university leaders initially announced back at the end of June. Instead, all instruction will be delivered remotely.
“We came to the realization that the safety and well-being of our students was critical and most important,” said Dr. Davida L. Haywood, Vice President of Student Affairs at JCSU.
A letter from the president of the university cited a drastic spike in Covid-19 cases and a virus that shows no signs of slowing down. Couple that with the fact that the historically Black university serves a population that is at greater risk of dire consequences from COVID-19 and university leadership decided the risks outweighed the gains.
“When others might catch a cold, we catch pneumonia,” Haywood said. “We think about where our students come from, all over the United States and also the world, and then returning to our community.”
Just 10 miles up the road, the University of North Carolina’s Charlotte campus will be welcoming students back to campus in just a few weeks.
UNCC will be offering a return to in-person instruction for some courses, hybrid delivery of other courses, and dorms and facilities that are open for the student body.
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Campus life will be different, however, UNCC created videos to help inform students and their families about what to expect when they return.
Among the changes: more cleaning in public areas, protective shields and sanitizing stations, distancing in the recreation center, gym, and other common areas, and mask requirements when people are indoors, or when they are outdoors and unable to be at least six feet apart.
Haywood said many of those same preparations and changes will be in place for the day students return to campus; they just don’t know when that day will be.
“We’re all sort of thinking ahead about some of the what-ifs: what if outbreaks happen? How do you recover from that?” Haywood wondered. “We don’t know what’s going to happen with the virus. ... We made the best decision for this moment now.”