University of Wisconsin planning for return to campus in fall 2021
(The Center Square) – The students, the teams, and the teaching will be back at the University of Wisconsin this fall.
UW System President Tommy Thompson on Thursday announced plans to get as close to back-to-normal as they can after the summer break.
“I have directed our universities to ensure that students attending a UW campus in Fall 2021 will have as classic a UW campus experience as possible – including a goal of at least 75 percent of all classes being in person,” Thompson said in a letter to students and faculty members.
The UW System, most notably the flagship campus in Madison, have largely been shut down since last March when the coronavirus first appeared.
Students returned to class in the fall of 2020, and again in January, but were met with online classes, complicated coronavirus restriction, no in-person athletic events, and countless rounds of coronavirus testing.
It’s not clear how much of that will continue into the fall. Thompson said the university will continue to focus on campus safety.
“As we look to the fall, we’re not naïve. We know the pandemic still hovers over all of our lives. Yet, we also have hope that the vaccine supply will increase and know that our efforts to maintain a safe and healthy environment for students, faculty, and staff will persist,” Thompson wrote.
It is not just UW classes that are returning. UW-Madison Athletic Director Barry Alvarez on Thursday said they will be welcoming fans back to football games and other sports this fall.
“We are planning to have our fans back in the stands,” Alvarez said in a video announcement. “We really don’t know how many people we’ll have in the stadium but we do know we have a great schedule. We’re really looking forward to getting people back in the stands.”
Getting back to normal at the university is not just about giving students and fans a normal experience. The UW System has lost nearly $200 million since the coronavirus outbreak began, and the school started shutting down. UW Madison has seen the worst of those losses.
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