Kassie Zamora, left, takes a photo of Lauren Novak, center, and Staphanie Godoshian, right, as they pose for graduation photos by the Centennial Arch at Purdue University, Monday, May 4, 2020 in West Lafayette. (Photo: Nikos Frazier | Journal & Courier)
WEST LAFAYETTE – After weeks of Purdue President Mitch Daniels signaling that the university was prepared to do all it could to bring students back to campus as a coronavirus pandemic continued, the university’s trustees laid the groundwork Thursday with a fall semester that would end at Thanksgiving and other measures meant to make that happen.
Daniels said the six recommendations approved Thursday were a “first installment” from more than 100 being reviewed by his 15-member Safe Campus Task Force, who he said had been on a “crash course” since being appointed March 31 to come up with ways to make a fall 2020 semester happen, as Purdue anticipates a record freshman class.
“Everyone should expect many, many more as fast as we can vet them and determine that they are practical to accomplish,” Daniels said. “It weighs on us constantly that we need every day if we’re going to do this right by the end of August. That’s why we have not delayed. Obviously, we’re going to watch events. But we weren’t going to wait and watch events, because it would probably subvert our opportunity to make this campus the safest and best prepared it possibly can be.”
Trustees set a second round of meetings, the first coming May 26, to go through more details.
The first six recommendations
On Thursday, the six recommendations accepted were:
• Setting a calendar that started in late August and then cleared campus for Thanksgiving break, with any remaining parts of the semester finished remotely. That also would eliminate fall break to keep students from traveling away from campus, if possible. Purdue hadn’t set a firm start date.
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