PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Temple University is making plans to return to the classroom in the fall. The majority of classes will be in person.
Temple spokesman Ray Betzner says the fall semester could look a little closer to normal than it has over the last year on North Broad Street.
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"With the vaccines coming online and a number of other changes taking place, we are looking toward a fall semester that is primarily in person, with a substantial number of students returning to our campus," he said.
He says many faculty and staff will be back on campus. He adds the goal is to provide the vibrant, interactive community that college life is all about. Betzner says COVID-19 protocols will still be in effect, and many details are being worked out.
"One of the big questions that we don’t know the answer to right now, for example, is how many students we can have in any classroom at one time," Betzner said. "Will the 6-feet restrictions still be with us in the fall? Don’t know."
He says, even though masks, social distancing and other protocols remain in place, it will still be better than the last 11 months.
"There will be remote classes offered. It will not be 100% in person. And indeed, before COVID, Temple was not a 100% in-person campus. We were teaching courses online. So there will be online education options available for our students."
He says, essentially, the plan is a work in progress.
"If there’s anything we’ve learned out of COVID, it’s 'expect the unexpected.' These are the best projections we have right now, working with the experts at the university, with our health system, working with the city, working with the commonwealth," he said.
"Exactly what it’s going to look like has yet to be determined, but we have a lot of cautious optimism here that we’re going to make the experience significantly different in the fall than what students have been through so far."
Betzner says the plan will allow residence halls, dining halls and other public areas, including sports and recreational spaces, to be open this fall.