Facing a spring semester in an ongoing pandemic and an increasingly divided country, is Purdue ready?

He thanked faculty and staff for operating campus under the “toughest semester ever” and students for adhering to the Purdue pledge

“I wish I could use this message just for celebration and congratulation, but we all know a new year doesn’t mean we’ve left old problems behind,” Daniels said in the video. “In fact, for all we can tell, this semester could be as tough or tougher than the last one.”

More:Read an annual open letter from President Mitch Daniels to the Purdue community

In March, Purdue was one of the first wave of colleges to announce a shift to virtual classes as the coronavirus pandemic began to become a great concern in the U.S., and an unofficial leader in schools pushing for an in-person reopening plans in the fall.