UC, CSU Will Not Have In-Person Classes This August, But Pepperdine Plans To Resume
Written by 991KBU on May 18, 2020
Unlike public universities in California … Pepperdine University says it is going to hold classes this fall … in Malibu.
The school announced Friday it will use virus testing and treating and contact tracing … physical distancing practices and intensive and frequent disinfecting of campus communal spaces.
Cameras and screens will be installed … so that students who fall ill can be isolated but maintain learning.
Classroom configurations re being modified … the capacity of each classroom is being reduced …
Same story at other common spaces, including libraries, dining halls, lounge spaces, and work areas.
And persons with compromised immune systems or other reasons to avoid crowds will have opportunity to learn from remote locations.
Pepperdine University president Jim Gash made the announcement in an email Friday.
That puts Pepperdine’s policy at odds with those of the state’s two public university systems.
The California State University system … and the University of California system … both plan to cancel nearly all in-person classes through the fall semester to reduce spread of the coronavirus.
But Pepperdine’s current intention is to restore in-person classes to campuses beginning no later than the start of the fall term in August.
Most students will stay in dorms …
Safety measures will include appropriate isolation and quarantining of individuals who may have been exposed to the novel coronavirus
Gash says Pepperdine is currently in the process of procuring kits for onsite rapid testing … and will also be adding additional medical personnel to its existing full-time medical staff.
The Pepperdine University president says the school will reopen its Malibu campus … and we quote … “in a manner consistent with the health, safety, and distancing recommendations from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.”
Right now … there is a mandatory L A County order prohibiting public or private gatherings … period.
The University is apparently anticipating that this order will be lifted.
But Pepperdine says it is also anticipating predicted second COVID-19 wave late this fall.
The school may move up the beginning of its fall undergraduate semester by two weeks … to start classes by distance learning … early in August …
And Pepperdine says it considering delaying by a few weeks the resumption of in-person classes in Malibu.
Pepperdine usually has about 36 hundred undergraduate studnts … most of whom live on campus in dorms.
More information is available at the Pepperdine Univerisity’s COVID-19 website.
