After more than a year of remote learning, UNC is looking ahead to a “traditional” fall semester. With rigorous COVID-19 precautions and more students having received their vaccine, university leaders said they look forward to welcoming students back on campus.
UNC is planning a return to normal campus operations by mid-July – allowing a month between students returning to campus in August and employees returning in July. During the summer session, most classes will remain remote with select classes like labs meeting in-person.
At a Campus & Community Advisory Committee meeting on Thursday, UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said he understands the complications and frustrations of remote learning.
“Right now we’re sort of in that complicated time on our campus where we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but we’re not yet at the end of the tunnel, but I’m confident we’re going to be able to get there,” Guskiewicz said.
One factor in reaching the light at the end of the tunnel is increased vaccinations. Through the campus vaccination clinic, more than 2,800 students have received a COVID-19 vaccine – not including other students receiving vaccinations elsewhere.
UNC is currently not requiring its students and faculty to receive the vaccine, but is asking members of the community to self-report vaccination status.
Due to emerging COVID-19 variants and more people coming to campus regularly, Guskiewicz said students who are vaccinated are still required to test regularly in the Carolina Together Testing Program.
“Even if the majority of the classes are being taught remotely our dining halls are still open, our libraries are open [and] the student rec center is,” Guskiewicz said. “I think we will begin to see more people coming to campus. So, we want to be sure we can protect everyone.”
The testing program – which has completed more than 150,000 COVID-19 tests over the spring semester – will continue into the summer, with students living on campus testing twice per week and other students attending classes in-person testing once per week.
The university is working with UNC Health and the Orange County Health Department to determine what coronavirus testing may look like in the fall.
“If that testing program is in place during the fall I’d be surprised if it looked the same way and had the same requirements that it does today,” Guskiewicz said. “If I were a betting man I would say yes, we’re going to probably have that testing program available. We’re just going to wait to find out what the requirements would be.”
For the fall semester, the university is planning for near full capacity of residence halls – with 7,500 students living on campus and one or two dorms available for quarantine or isolation. Guskiewicz said in-person instruction will likely require students and instructors to wear masks as an extra precaution.
The planned start date for UNC’s fall 2021 semester is August 18.
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