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MSU Task Force Outlines Campus Reopening Guidelines

MSU Sign
Amanda Barberena
/
WKAR-MSU
MSU officials say individual campus units will largely decide their reopening procedures.

Michigan State University continues to adjust its plan to reopen for the fall semester.  However, officials say employees hesitant to return to campus may have other options.

In May, MSU President Samuel Stanley, Jr. announced fall classes would resume as a combination of in-person and online instruction. 

 

The university will require face masks, social distancing and rigorous cleaning protocols.

 

Now, as MSU monitors a recent COVID-19 spike, Stanley says faculty and staff who don’t feel safe returning to campus will be allowed to continue to work offsite whenever possible.

 

“If people have been successful doing their jobs – and it’s a job that doesn’t necessarily require them being on campus – we’re going to encourage them to continue to work remotely during this time,” Stanley says.  “We want to be as flexible and creative as we can.”

 

Officials say decisions about when and how to re-open will largely be made by individual campus units. 

 

Norm Beauchamp co-directs the MSU reopening task force.  He says the university has developed a safety checklist each unit must review prior to opening.

 

“It’s really at the unit level that the decision that something needs to be done in person (is made),” Beauchamp explains.  “But then there’s a process where we walk through that checklist, and once that’s in place, then it’s possible for those units to go forward.”

 

Beauchamp says MSU will be flexible in its decision process as it monitors the track of the coronavirus.

 

Classes are slated to begin September 2. 

 

3:20 p.m. Editor's Note:This story and headline have been updated to more accurately reflect MSU's reopening procedure.

Kevin Lavery served as a general assignment reporter and occasional local host for Morning Edition and All Things Considered before retiring in 2023.
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