College students hoping for the return of a pre-pandemic normal this fall will have to wait, as a variety of health and safety protocols remain in place at campuses across the state.
Most students and staff will be required to wear face masks indoors, whether they’ve been vaccinated against the coronavirus or not. Health teams remain in place to trace the source of new infections and isolate those who come into contact with sick people.
And while many more classes, meetings and events will take place in-person, Zoom and Google Meet aren’t going away anytime soon.
“As long as there’s a pandemic, we will take all precautions as much as possible until the pandemic is over,” said Audrey Bergengren, vice president of marketing, communications and recruitment for Metropolitan State University.
ONLINE INSTRUCTION INCREASES
At the Minnesota State system’s seven public universities, 36 percent of classes will have some online instruction this fall, up from 19 percent two years ago.
At the system’s public two-year schools, 54 percent will have full or partial remote instruction, up from 28 percent in 2019.
At Metro State, that figure is around 75 percent of classes this fall, up from 40 percent. Bergengren said the use of online classes is higher, in part, because many of its students come from marginalized communities. People of color in Minnesota have lower than average vaccination rates and higher rates of infection.
Besides online classes, the school continues to seat students at least six feet away from each other where possible and is making hand sanitizer and wipes available.
“We have not let up on any of those protocols,” Bergengren said.
MANDATORY VACCINES
Other schools have eased up on precautions.
Macalester College has removed most signs urging social distancing and has gone back to pre-pandemic furniture arrangements. Although masks will be required indoors at least through Sept. 22, classes will be held in person and there will be no limits on the size of gatherings.
“Unless the situation changes significantly, we expect to operate in person this semester, including instruction and co-curricular programming,” the school said in an Aug. 5 letter.
Macalester was the first college in the state to require students to get vaccinated against the coronavirus before the fall semester begins.
Since then, 11 Minnesota private colleges have joined them, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Most of the mandates apply to all students, faculty and staff.
Private college leaders have emphasized the health benefits of mandatory vaccines but also the prospect of restoring the pre-pandemic college experience.
“It allows our students to enjoy all that one expects as a university student,” Hamline President Fayneese Miller said in her announcement.
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
The Board of Regents on Friday approved a vaccination mandate for students at the University of Minnesota, but it won’t go into effect until one of the vaccines gains full approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
Last fall, before vaccines were available, just 17 percent of classes at the U’s Twin Cities campus were fully in person. Revenue from student housing and athletics was way down, forcing significant spending cuts and the authorization of up to $50 million in loans to cover shortfalls.
U officials are intent on keeping campus life humming this year, and they see mandatory vaccines as the best way to ensure the happens.
“This will allow us the best chance to have normal campus activity this fall and uninterrupted in-person, on-campus instruction,” President Joan Gabel said in her announcement.
Dorms and classrooms are back to regular capacity this fall at the U. Still, about 22 percent of classes at the Twin Cities campus will be delivered fully or partially online — twice as many as two years ago.
VACCINE OPTIONAL
For Minnesota State students, vaccines are optional. The mandate for state employees, announced last week by Gov. Tim Walz, applies to Minnesota State faculty and staff but not to students at its 30 colleges and seven universities. That raises the likelihood of on-campus outbreaks that could force classes into remote instruction.
Metro State sought to avoid that hassle by relying heavily on online delivery.
“Not knowing what this fall would look like with the virus, we felt it safer to plan on a sure thing, on online courses, without the potential to have to move the format back and forth mid-semester,” Bergengren said.
The Minnesota State system is requiring all students and staff to wear face masks for the foreseeable future. They’re also encouraging students to get vaccinated, although they haven’t offered widespread incentives.
LeadMN, the advocacy organization for students at the system’s two-year colleges, thinks that’s a mistake. They’ve urged Minnesota State to offer $250 scholarships to students who get vaccinated.
“With the Delta variant ravaging communities with low vaccination rates, colleges and universities could be a ripe breeding ground for COVID-19 when students return in the fall,” LeadMN President Axel Kylander wrote in a letter to the chancellor.
Minnesota State spokesman Doug Anderson said they’re “working to understand and reduce hesitancy and any barriers to the vaccine.”
‘MORE NORMAL’
Bethel College was among the few that had full dorms and mostly in-person classes despite the pandemic last school year, and it’s no different this fall. The private Christian college has no vaccine mandate, and masks are optional — although that could change in the coming days.
Kristi Moline, the school’s director of COVID operations, said easy access to coronavirus testing and their experience last year with contact tracing gives school officials confidence they can keep the virus in check this fall.
Bethel did hold classes in its Great Hall and large conference rooms to allow for greater social distancing last year, but it won’t this fall. Students will have more in-person meetings and events this year, too.
“It’ll feel more normal for students,” said Miranda Powers, associate vice president of student life. “And for K-12 students coming in, that’s going to be a game-changer.”