IWU extends spring break due to COVID-19

Posted on March 12, 2020
IWU will evaluate and determine by March 26 whether classes will return to campus on March 30. Campus offices will remain open during this time. (Photo courtesy: WJBC/File)

By Blake Haas

NORMAL – To further prepare for COVID-19, Illinois Wesleyan University has extended spring break until March 22, then transitioning to distance learning methods.

“As we continue to assess the escalating impacts of the Coronavirus outbreak, we are committed to taking responsible action toward mitigating the potential spread of the virus, to proactively safeguard the health of our community and the resillience of our healthcare system,” IWU President Georgia Nugent said.

The actions include: 

  • All domestic students must remain at their permanent home residence until further notice. Students, including our international students, can petition for an exception on their MyHousing page. Food service will be offered for students approved to be on campus. Sodexo is following best practices for enhanced food safety. There will be restrictions including limits on social gatherings, travel, non-IWU guests, etc.
  • All student events, including athletics, will be suspended through March 29. Other university-sponsored campus events with over 50 attendees will be prohibited. At this time, no decisions have been made about events after March 29, including Commencement.
  • Students may not return to campus without permission until March 29. Faculty will be providing materials for course instruction electronically as part of distance learning.
  • We’re requiring all students studying abroad from Europe to return home. They are expected to self-quarantine at home for 14 days prior to a return to campus, no sooner than March 29. We are recommending that all other students studying abroad return home and self-quarantine as well.
  • Arnold Health Services will remain open.
  • Students abroad for athletic trips during Spring Break have returned to the U.S., and a Collegiate Choir tour of South Africa is being shortened so that students can return as quickly as possible.
  • All non-essential travel by employees will be restricted until further notice.
  • Decisions about May Term and summer travel will be made no later than April 15.

“This extended break is intended to allow our faculty time to develop alternative methods for delivering course instruction. As you know, we value our culture as a residential University and the importance of faculty-student interaction, and hope to return to in-person learning as soon as possible,” added President Nugent.

Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected]. 

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…