Duquesne University plans to open on schedule this fall with 3 scenarios in place

Megan Tomasic | Wednesday, May 13, 2020 9:30 p.m.

Old Main on Duquesne University campus is shown, Thursday, June 8, 2017.

Duquesne University plans on opening as scheduled this fall, according to a letter from the school president, but the semester may look far from traditional.

In a letter sent to parents, university President Ken Gormley said the fall semester will begin as scheduled Aug. 24. However, he also laid out three scenarios for how students could attend classes and live in dorm rooms dependent on circumstances surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.

Duquesne is planning to open for the fall semester as scheduled on Monday, August 24, 2020. We will work to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of our students, faculty and staff. Learn more about our "moveable" contingency pieces and task forces. https://t.co/hUP1oEYbcp pic.twitter.com/GQyLw3gulq

— Duquesne University (@duqedu) May 13, 2020

“The health, safety and well-being of our students is our highest priority,” he said. “We also want to ensure our students’ academic continuity, so there is no disruption of their ability to achieve their academic goals and earn their degrees.”

• In the first scenario, students will return to on-campus classes and housing, although modifications would be made to university buildings as per directives from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Students with underlying health issues would be able to attend classes virtually.

• The second scenario would consist of a mix of in-person and online classes and scaled-back on-campus housing.

• For the third scenario, all classes would be online. This scenario would be in place if there was a spike in covid-19 cases and another shutdown was ordered. If those orders were lifted throughout the semester, Gormley said, officials would move students to on-campus activities as soon as possible.

To help move through the different scenarios, seven task forces were created, including health and safety protocols; academic affairs and online learning; housing and auxiliary services; student success; athletic programs; finance and budget; and faculty and staff re-entry.

The school has been closed since mid-March when coronavirus cases in the area increased. At the time, students living in dorms were asked to return home and classes were completed online.

As the state begins to reopen from stay-at-home orders and other regulations, Gormley said he is “optimistic … that the virus will have abated sufficiently to permit some version of on-campus classes and residential housing in the fall, as long as appropriate modifications are made.”

Those modifications include social distancing, enhanced hygiene measures, thinning out common spaces and contact tracing. Details were not immediately available for how those measures could be taken.

“None of us has a crystal ball,” he said. “We do not know how much the virus will be mitigated by August, or what parameters health experts and government officials (including the governor of Pennsylvania, the mayor of Pittsburgh and the executive of Allegheny County) will place upon colleges and universities. But there are hopeful signs.”

He added that under the plan, “We are confident that Duquesne will be fully operational whatever comes our way.”

Further information will be provided in June once guidance from the government is issued.