Ohio Wesleyan University is appointing a Safe Campus Opening Task Force to develop the plans necessary for students to return to campus in the fall, President Rock Jones announced on Friday.
“Here at Ohio Wesleyan, we strongly believe the most comprehensive, most inspiring, most transformational learning takes place on a residential campus, where students learn not only in classrooms, labs, and studios,” said Jones, Ph.D., “but also from interacting with the diverse OWU community in dining and residence halls, along the JAYwalk, on practice fields, in club meetings – and all across our vibrant campus. Together, we will work to restore this environment for the fall semester.”
The Safe Campus Opening Task Force will be co-chaired by Dale J. Brugh, Ph.D., Ohio Wesleyan’s associate provost for institutional effectiveness, and Dwayne K. Todd, Ph.D., vice president for student engagement and success, and will engage expertise from across and outside the university, including faculty, staff, and county and state health and safety experts.
“The task force will establish protocols, practices, and systems that minimize the risk of spreading the virus in all OWU operations, including classrooms, residence halls, dining facilities, locker rooms, and work spaces,” Jones said. “While we intend for our primary work in the fall to be on campus, we also must consider how we educate students who are unable to return to campus, including but not restricted to international students who may be unable to obtain visas by August.
“We also will respond to requests from individual students, faculty, and staff in need of accommodation who are particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus,” Jones said. “Our goal is to restore the vibrancy of our residential campus while ensuring that each member of the OWU community is able to teach, learn, and work in a setting that is safe for the individual and for our community.”
