Higher Education FAQ
Panelists
- Brian Hemphill, President of Radford University
- Pat Huber, President of New River Community College
- Timothy Sands, President of Virginia Tech
Q: Our first series of questions this evening revolve around an item everyone has been monitoring closely in the news, and that is the higher education plans for operations in the fall. Can each of you start us off with an overview of your institution’s plans to operate in the fall?
BH – We made an announcement a few weeks ago regarding early opening on August 12. This will allow us to conclude the semester the week before Thanksgiving, including exams and commencement. We will be focusing on contact tracing, testing, PPE (personal protective equipment) and social distancing.
PH – Our classes will begin August 24, predominantly online, in synchronous and asynchronous formats. The first two weeks of classes will be held totally remotely, then on September 8 we will start bringing students to campus. This will be for performance-based classes, CTE (career and technical education). Students will come on campus for labs and clinics, following guidelines for social distancing and face coverings. We will run continuously until Thanksgiving. The last two weeks of classes and exams will be done remotely. Students will not be back on campus after Thanksgiving.
TS – We are following a similar set of principles, with a slight variation. We will start instruction August 24, and we will pivot away from in-person instruction. Most students will leave residence halls at the Thanksgiving break, and go online for last eight instructional days and finals. We all have a priority first for the safety, health and well-being of our communities. We want to maintain our mission, so that research and outreach continue, and that we make sure communities we serve are economically viable. What is it that’s really special about a Virginia Tech education? We really are a residential institution. It’s the student experience in person that is the distinguishing feature. We will try to do as much of that as possible. But when we look at the health guidance and constraints, about a third of the students’ educational experience will be in person.
Q: Can you share insight on the decision making process involved with the fall return to operations? Who has been involved in those conversations?
TS – We started to realize we had a problem in January, mainly with respect to study abroad. We had an incident management team, activated our emergency response process, mobilized our incident response team and started dealing with study abroad. Then it quickly escalated. We have many working groups and task forces, organized up through the President’s Cabinet. The work is ongoing all day every day, refining plans and making sure everyone’s on board. We’re also working with the Virginia Department of Health (VDH); the New River Health District has been incredibly helpful. The state, the governor, a task force working on higher education, the council of presidents, a public health working group … it’s been an incredibly intense experience, and will continue to be. It’s all about communication, getting many voices in the room. We have been involved with our faculty senate cabinet. We want to be aligned with our faculty. We have started to engage other groups.
PH – For us, it’s about collaboration, not only across campus but also across the state. New River Community College is one of 23 community colleges. Though we are only three percent of the entire community college population, we (Virginia Community College System) have more than 100,000 students every semester. The chancellor, presidents, leadership teams, groups across campuses meet regularly. Lots of entities.
BH – Our process is very similar to what President Sands described. As we realized we had a problem, our emergency management team came together immediately to deal with international issues of students and faculty abroad. We launched our COVID-19 contingency planning group, including every division, faculty leadership and the faculty senate. They provided all the recommendations. The work beyond the campus, to communicate with colleagues, governor’s office, SCHEV (State Council of Higher Education for Virginia), all has been very helpful.
Q: Have there been directives from Richmond or elsewhere on how each of your institutions should approach operations in the fall?
BH – We recognize Governor Northam for his leadership and insight, developing pretty early a COVID-19 education workgroup, including K-12, higher education and health care. They developed great guidelines for institutions to consider, and for connecting those guidelines to plans. We’ve had a great deal of support from Richmond and across the commonwealth. SCHEV is our governing body for higher education, public and private. It provides a great avenue for all institutions to come together and share insights.
PH – We have the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), and all work is funneled through the system office and SCHEV. We received wonderful guidance from VCCS and other entities, including the governor’s office. The thing about this is it changes so rapidly, every day.
TS - It’s a very collaborative situation with all our partners. Because it evolves so quickly, everybody treats everyone else as source of ideas and insight. We are fortunate on our campus to have experts - probably 20 or 30 faculty - that have been directly involved in consulting and providing guidance to VDH and to the Secretary of Education.
BH – The presidents have many calls back and forth that are very helpful, very collaborative.
Q: How have you been working with local agencies and the health department as you respond to COVID-19 concerns?
PH – I’d like to express appreciation to the New River Valley public health task force. Dr. (Noelle) Bissell (director, New River Health District) and (Blacksburg Police) Chief (Anthony) Wilson got the ball rolling. We have representatives on the task force. I appreciate that it’s a regional approach. When this started the first call I made was to Dr. Bissell. She has meet with us many times, to advise us on health expertise. With the involvement of our local college advisory board, and relationships with public schools, community, local governments, through our ACCE program (Access to Community College Education), and what that means to students … From our perspective as a community college, it has truly been a community effort.
TS – I would agree. The task force has been wonderful. Mayor (Leslie Hager Smith) of Blacksburg, Dr. Bissell and I have three-way zoom calls periodically, which has been incredibly helpful. These decisions can’t be made in a vacuum. They have huge impacts on the local community. The other really helpful collaboration has been for testing. There are two testing labs, really analysis labs, set up in Roanoke and Blacksburg, by our faculty and students. Through this partnership there are daily communications for where do we need to test, to do analysis.
BH – Being able to have conversations and consultations with Dr. Bissell has been really helpful. She is already thinking about and working on return of students and athletes. (New River Health District Epidemiologist) Jason Deese has not missed one of our emergency management meetings. His insight has been absolutely amazing. The relationships we have are so important and valuable in this work that we continue to do.
Q: How are each of you approaching COVID-19 testing with your students, faculty and staff?
BH – We are just days away from signing a comprehensive contract for large scale testing as students are returning. We’re working through the details of the initial groups returning during the summer -- athletes, resident advisors, other advisors -- to make sure we can provide testing for that group. Then we will think about groups that are coming from prevalent, hot spots. We are looking at the algorithms for ongoing testing. We hope to allow faculty, staff and students to self-report symptoms. This allows you to stay ahead of developing challenges. We’re taking guidance from health department and others, for key insights about testing models.
TS – We’re doing something very similar. It’s a comprehensive testing plan, including serologic and antibody testing. We’re not planning to test everyone; that would be unrealistic. There are opportunities to test students who are symptomatic, who have been symptomatic. We’re looking at quarantine and isolation space for those with symptoms. We’re working hard on the applications and testing tools, tracing tools, that we think will be useful. It’s all evolving very quickly. There are many assets around the state. We’re planning to announce our detailed testing strategy in July. We’ve published some of it already, at vt.edu/ready. We will be working with VDH. Testing at Virginia Tech will largely go through VDH. We are communicating with them for what we think we will need for testing capacity, day to day. All the institutions in Virginia are coming together to coordinate. We’re making sure we have everyone covered, not just the big health centers. There’s a commitment to it, all across higher education.
PH – Of course, we are a commuter campus. Our students are residents of the New River Valley, and testing is done in cooperation with the New River Health District.
Q: Aside from testing, what steps have you all taken, or will be taking, to protect students, employees and the community?
TS – Virginia Tech has sites across the commonwealth, but the Blacksburg campus is in the Town of Blacksburg. We can’t treat the campus as isolated from the Town. People are moving back and forth all day, every day. We’re trying to treat this holistically, and that’s where VDH and the New River Health District are coordinating. We are planning to set aside housing for students who are isolated, or in quarantine. We are working with faculty and staff to develop a process for those who are symptomatic, who are tested, who need contact tracing. We’re developing flexible models to keep those folks engaged, perhaps remotely. One thing is clear. We must take a very individual approach. Polices cannot address every situation. We’re working with our disability alliance and caucus. How do we set it up so people are comfortable reporting symptoms, not coming to work or not coming to campus when that’s not a good idea? We’re making sure there is incentive, or no disincentive, to take yourself out of the physical realm when you could expose others. We are focused on making sure those who feel vulnerable have minimal exposure. The culture is everything. Rules and policies don’t work unless there is a culture of protecting each other. We’re focused on coordinated communications with the community. Also developing that culture; it’s already there but must be emphasized. Are we going to be successful and protect each other, in the fall? Success depends on the entire community buying in.
PH – On campus, we are making a lot of changes; starting with the schedule, courses, how many students are on campus at any time, who is here and for how long. We’re modifying workspaces, the learning spaces, removing furniture in some places where we congregate. Providing wellness shields, sufficient supplies, cleaning, disinfecting supplies, even thinking about the flow of foot traffic, signage on floors and hallways. It’s big picture items, and little details, too. We want to protect. We want to be wise about it.
BH – It really comes down to social responsibility. We are sending clear messages to students, faculty and staff. Are we truly caring about each other, knowing the broad implications if we don’t? We have many of the same strategies in place, but it begins with social responsibility, and what role we will play in helping to guide them, and ends with communications and action.
Q: Both Radford University and Virginia Tech have plans for students not to return to the NRV after the Thanksgiving break to prevent the spread of COVID-19. What precautions will be made for students who travel back home every weekend of the fall semester to not spread COVID-19 to the NRV community?
TS – We’re discouraging students from doing that. That’s part of our communications strategy. Realistically, we know people will move around. We’re telling folks if they are going to places with an outbreak, they really need to report it, and we’re going to expect them to go into quarantine, and perhaps be tested. To President Hemphill’s point, it’s really about a culture of supporting each other. If someone goes home or to a place with high prevalence, we want them to feel comfortable when they come back, and help avoid exposure to others. That worked really well when students returned from study abroad in March. Students voluntarily went into isolation or self-quarantine. We worked with the health department and our student health center, and we didn’t have an outbreak. It can work but will require a culture of supporting everyone.
BH – We take a similar approach, encouraging students not to go home. I’m cautiously optimistic on another front. Radford University developed a survey for students traveling for spring break. We were shocked at the number of students who responded and shared that info, which allowed us to follow up and things we need them to do. I think people will be responsible, but we to continue to communicate.
Q: How will each of your institutions be monitoring compliance with the protocols being implemented?
TS – It’s certainly about culture. We have a Hokie Wellness commitment that we ask residents of residence halls to sign. It’s really about making sure everyone is making a commitment to follow procedures designed to protect the health of everybody, so everyone has a sense of being part of a community. When masks are recommended or required, it should be others - fellow students, faculty, staff - who ask people to comply. Another challenge is that there are some who cannot or should not use face coverings. We must treat everyone with respect, continue to communicate, and be respectful of differences. We’re in this together. It will be a massive cultural experience. Everyone starts from a good place, we have to take it to another level in the fall.
Q: What can students anticipate as it relates to dining facilities and residence halls in the fall?
BH – It’s going to be a very different experience. We’ll make sure our student are well taken care of. Traditional buffets likely will go away. We may see more individual servings, masks and gloves, changes in hours, more food pre-packaged. For residence halls, typically we move in over a two- or three-day period. One of the things that will be different, we will be moving in over a 10-day period by appointment, reducing the number of students and families on campus at the same time. We just don’t think that’s wise.
TS – Maybe the smartest thing is to have single occupancy only. We realized it would put so much pressure on the community it would create a problem. The balance took us back to housing about 9,000 students (1,400 fewer than last year) on campus in single and double occupancy. Roommates will be part of a pod or family, and help to be responsible for each other’s health. Roommates will need to trust each other and be open with each other. For dining, we will have a lot of grab-and-go opportunities. Dining facilities will be occupied at much lower densities, following public health considerations so we don’t see outbreaks as a result of congregate settings on a college campus.
BH – To illustrate how some students and families are now thinking, normally we have requests for 300 singles out of 3,500 beds. This year we received requests for 600. We are looking to see how we can support those communities.
Q: How will you be communicating with your faculty, staff and students in the coming months about your operations?
PH – We are going to use every means we have. Communication is so important because things change so quickly from day to day. We’ll use email, websites, online student information systems, awareness campaigns, media campaigns, social media, news releases and old fashion technologies like the telephone. The frustrating part is so much cannot be face to face. We wish everybody could hear everything at the same time.
TS – We’ve been doing town halls frequently, and will continue to do so with specific audiences. Our website at vt.edu/ready has all of the information and answers to questions. We published a detailed plan for the fall on Monday, and were immediately flooded with insights and new ideas. The plan is a living document; it’s going to evolve. We are changing the way we’re thinking about some of the policies we put in place, so it’s important that everyone stay in touch. Students, parents, faculty, staff and alumni should visit the website because that’s where the latest information will be, but we’re going to use every means available.
BH – We have been very intentional in publishing information and continuing to communicate at our website. We’ve had many Zoom conversations, with faculty senate, student government association and others. We held focus groups with faculty, staff and students, got lots of great feedback and made some adjustments. Next, we will have a number of town halls coming up next week and in July; just continuing the conversation as we prepare for fall. There are so many questions; we want to keep them all on the table for a broader discussion.
Q: If someone in the community has concerns about aspects of operations at your institutions, whom should they contact?
PH – For us, the person is Dr. Mark Rowh, vice president for external relations, at mrowh@nr.edu.
BH – For Radford, it’s Ashley Schumaker, chief of staff and vice president for university relations, and quickly developing into our COVID-19 coordinator, at 540-831-5401.
TS – For Virginia Tech, email askvt@vt.edu. Obviously for emergencies, contact the Police Department. And I can be reached at president@vt.edu.
Q: Can you share some of the positives you’ve observed with communities during this time? This could be your campus community, or the surrounding communities.
BH – One of the things that I’ve appreciated about the New River Valley and the Commonwealth is the caring spirit that we have within the community. We seem to rally around each other in amazing ways, in the most troubling times. You’re going to run into challenging times and complex issues. When you go out, to the grocery store or the pharmacy, you see the care and compassion. The “How are you doing?” The “Hang in there, we appreciate the work that’s going on.” It’s the amazing support and care for what we have to do and are trying to do to support the community, as well and the faculty, staff and students.
PH – I would like to zero in on our campus community. I’ve been overwhelmed and humbled by the positive spirit and the work ethic of the people at New River Community College. They have a “what do we need to do, let’s get it done” type of attitude. Out of that comes innovation creativity and new ideas. It’s emotional at times, and exhausting. When we look at what everyone has done, and the support of the community, it’s more positive than negative. I appreciate the warmth and attitude. Let’s take care of students, let’s take care of each other, let’s get this work done.
TS – The thing that impressed me the most, was when we announced we were extending spring break and move students out of the residence halls, there was a lot of concern for about 10,000 students remaining in town. Everybody, including the community, the residents of Blacksburg, jumped at latest public health guidelines and followed them. The fact that people were so compliant really saved us from a major outbreak. Our faculty and researchers and students pivoted their entire operation to COVID-19 in a split second. I mentioned the two testing labs; they were taking research equipment and dedicating it to analysis for COVID-19. Researchers stepped in to a make PPE and modify ventilators. Our public health experts switched to communications. A couple of our faculty became global stars in sharing their expertise: Lindsey Marr and her expertise in aerosols, and virus particle transmission. It was a moment of pride to see their expertise shared willingly, and not to be popular, or for their own purposes, but because they cared about our society, our community and our campus community.
BH – Our faculty pride themselves in teaching excellence, and they pivoted quickly over one week to online instruction. To this day, I have not received one complaint about what we had to do to convert to online. The compassion the faculty shared for their students and their experience was powerful. To hear the students talk about how wonderful the faculty have been, it was heartwarming.
PH – We are looking at spring data, and we’re seeing some very positive outcomes. Our course withdrawals were the lowest they’ve been in six years. Good things have come out of very difficult circumstances. They turned these courses around in a flash. As we continue to look at the results it’s still as positive and in some cases, more so.
TS – We have the same experience; 4,500 course sections flipped (online) in a week or so. The challenge will be maintaining the quality in the fall. It will be different than going remote. It’s about providing quality experiences along with that. Some of our faculty turned it into a positive, and the way they enhanced their teaching and learning is effective. There is a lot of creativity, passion, and support for the institutions.
Q: Can you all discuss how decisions are being made for fall athletics and perhaps other in-person events?
PH – For us it’s easy. Club sports are on hold. We’ll have no large activities and no outside groups on campus until further notice.
BH – The National Collegiate Athletic Association did a great job providing guidelines for the conferences. The conferences are taking a significant leadership role and institutions are developing individual plans and protocols. The health and safety of student athletes are first and foremost. We will have some form of athletics. The timing, and the spectators’ experiences, may be different. We don’t know at this point. We are working through the process for returning student athletes. The conferences are taking a strong lead.
TS – I’m pretty optimistic. Our early onboarding of some of our student athletes over the summer has gone well. Our athletic director is very impressed with the protocols in place. For football, we must be in practice by mid-July in order to give the student athletes sufficient preparation. If we think it’s safe in mid-July, there’s a good chance the season will start on time. We don’t yet have a clear idea about how we’re going to populate Lane Stadium and Cassell Coliseum. It’s going to be the big challenge. We want to make sure we are able to do safely and if we can’t we’re not going to do it. Personally, I don’t think a TV version of playing in an empty stadium makes sense. It will evolve and we’ll keep everyone informed. But I’m optimistic.