University System of Maryland working on plans for fall semester

BALTIMORE, Md. – University System of Maryland (USM) officials say they are working on plans for operations of their universities for the fall 2020 semester.

All universities in the system will hold at least the first summer 2020 session online, with decisions coming soon regarding the possibility of offering a limited number of small, in-person experiential learning and laboratory courses over the second summer session, if conditions and guidance allow it.

USM Chancellor Jay Perman says that he is “reasonably optimistic” about in-person instruction resuming in the fall, however, that is not a guarantee. He clarified that this statement also does not mean that if students do return to campus on a certain date that operations will go back to normal.

Perman says that he is convening a group to draw up conditions that will need to be met before students can return to campus. He wants to start planning as though students will be able to return in the fall, maybe September or October, with plans subject to change. He says that flexibility will be key, because how universities meet the conditions established will vary from campus to campus.

The group will consider many factors, including:

• What conditions need to exist on the campuses themselves?
• How about in the communities in which the campuses are located?
• What modifications to the workplace, to the teaching and learning environment, and to campus living must be made to ensure and to monitor the safety of students, employees, and community residents?
• Which policies will need revision, which indicators should be tracked, and what conditions, if present, mean we must scale back our plans?

Perman also says that despite the fluidity of the situation, he does want the advisory group to decide on a date of when students might return to campus, and then from there establish the other dates by which certain milestones must be hit to make that possible, including the return of faculty and staff.

“This entire planning process will involve cascading decisions: “If this, then that.” I believe our return-to-campus date must be our first “if,” so that we can move ahead in a concrete fashion, so that we can plan backward, and forward, from there. I say “forward” because our planning doesn’t end on the return date. We have to have protocols in place that keep our students, our faculty and staff, and our communities safe. We must have mechanisms in place to monitor how we’re doing, to assess whether certain decisions have unintended consequences, and to determine when and where adjustments need to be made,” said Perman.