Only two classes allowed at a time on campus
The initial reopening plan issued June 15 had stated the start of classes would begin Aug. 24. That has now been pushed back one full week to Aug. 31. It is just one of the new plan’s major changes, which also includes canceling all athletic participation for the fall semester.
“For the 2020-21 academic year, Kenyon College will offer a mix of in-person and remote instruction, welcoming every student to campus for at least one semester,” Decatur writes in the letter. “First-years, sophomores and new transfer students will be in residence for the fall semester; we hope to be able to invite all students to campus for the spring, but if conditions do not improve we invite juniors and seniors.”
Decatur continued: “We will reserve space on campus both semesters for international students, regardless of class year, and for other students with exceptional circumstances.”
Decatur offered that changing course on reopening in mid-July “creates disruption in an already volatile time.”
“But one of the guiding principles of our work has been following data and best public health practices, and as these evolve, we must be prudent and flexible in our plans,” he offered.
Decatur said allowing underclassmen on campus in the fall, and upperclassmen in the spring, accomplishes several things, including the opportunity to maintain physical distance. It allows the freshmen to enjoy the on-campus Kenyon experience, while allowing seniors on campus with juniors in the spring, ensuring seniors have a final semester that transitions well into graduation.
“With this model, we are able to offer students their own single-occupancy room, expand our capacity for quarantine and isolation, retain limited dine-in service in the dining hall, and teach classes in spaces that are optimized for both learning and safety,” Decatur wrote.
Nick Becker, a Kenyon College junior majoring in political science, said learning about a new reopening plan just a month before all students had made plans to return to campus “has made it an absolutely chaotic week.” And it has also been a disappointing one for upperclassmen, he said, many of whom provide mentoring and friendship to underclassmen who decide to participate in offerings such as student organizations.
There are many issues to which upperclassmen wanted to become involved in on-campus this fall, Becker said, such as dialogue with all students on national issues including how to move forward as a nation in a time of racial tension surrounding law enforcement practices, and impressing upon younger students the importance of their vote in the American presidential election in November. Now that opportunity will be greatly reduced. The new reopening schedule has also placed pressure on faculty to adjust quickly on what is taught online and in the classroom, he noted.
Becker said students often make a decision based on an option available to them, which is to defer, or postpone going back to school for a semester or even a full year due to varying circumstances in their lives. The new reopening plan gave little time to decide.
“Our decision regarding which classes to invite to campus this fall was not made lightly,” Kenyon spokesperson Mary Keister said. “We recognize that being away from campus this fall is a tremendous sacrifice for juniors and seniors. In making this decision, we were guided by two main considerations, the first being complications posed by the pandemic and Kenyon’s housing capacity. Kenyon, even with the addition of some residential space, cannot house more than about 1,000 students in single-occupancy rooms and simultaneously reserve some for quarantine or isolation housing.
“Consequently, we concluded we could invite only two full classes to campus at one time, in addition to international and transfer students, and students with exceptional circumstances for whom remote learning is not a feasible option,” she continued.
Keister said the second main consideration “concerned the curricular experience.” First-year students would miss the most by not having in-person classes and campus life. Also, freshmen and sophomores are more likely to take courses together while upperclassmen “tend to cluster together in smaller, more advanced courses,” she added.
Kenyon’s fall semester classes will begin Aug. 31 with the last day of in-person classes to be Nov. 24. The two weeks following Thanksgiving will be used for make-up classes and reading days. Final exam week, done by remote means, will be Dec. 14-18.
Spring semester classes are scheduled to start Feb. 4, 2021 and conclude May 12 with a final exam week immediately following.
