Purdue University Provost Jay Akridge said while the school has been monitoring the new coronavirus developments for months, the approach of next week’s spring break prompted the announcement Tuesday of more stringent restrictions to protect students, faculty, and staff.
Akridge said the new guidelines--which address not only in-person learning but campus residences, limits on domestic travel, and the cancellation of events for the immediate future--reflect the breadth of the issue.
“The general point was: how does one lower the potential transmission of COVID-19? So there’s a lot of pieces to that, and that’s why the message had to cover a number of bases,” Akridge said.
As of Wednesday morning, the Indiana State Department of Health had identified 10 people statewide with a positive test result for COVID-19. Akridge said if a Purdue student, faculty, or staff member is diagnosed with the new virus, the university will continue to follow recommendations from the Centers for Disease Controland local public health officials.
“We obviously have taken these steps prior to any active case on our campus, to hopefully prevent or at least dramatically lower the risk that that might happen,” Akridge said.
Tuesday’s statement linked to a resource pagefor faculty and staff with guidelines on remote instruction. Akridge acknowledged that courses with a lab component would be more challenging to teach than lecture-based classes.
“We fully recognize that it’s not a substitute,” Akridge said. “That’s why they are on our campus, to engage in these hands-on, experiential activities.”
Akridge said the goal is a return to in-person learning before the end of the semester, but the university will continue to monitor events before deciding if that’s a possibility. He said he understands disappointment over the decision.
“We will sort out how to navigate this in the best possible way, and we’ll get back to business as usual as quickly as the broader situation around this virus allows,” Akridge said.
Purdue’s spring semester resumes on Monday, March 23.
