As colleges across Michigan grapple with balancing students returning to school and containing the coronavirus on campus, Grand Valley State University has announced its plans for the fall semester, as some students will move into their dorm rooms on Sunday. As part of the university’s coronavirus safety and precaution plan, GVSU announced that nearly “90 percent of courses will be fully online or hybrid,” this fall, while students living on campus have been reduced by nearly a quarter compared to last year.
University President Philomena Mantella announced via email, that most in-person classes will move to remote learning after the Thanksgiving break; the reason being, that students are likely to go home for the holiday and risk potentially bringing the coronavirus back with them to campus.
Final exams will be conducted online as well.
Meanwhile the university announced that “randomized testing of 1,500 people on campus will begin two weeks after the start of classes and continue throughout the semester. Students, faculty and staff will be selected at random to be tested. School officials say the hope is to “help identify hot spots" and inform decisions regarding campus operations. The university says it will cover testing costs. .
However, GVSU is encouraging all students to be tested for the coronavirus before returning to class, which starts August 31st.