Spearheaded by Nicholls State University President Jay Clune’s efforts, Nicholls has been working toward regaining a sense of normalcy on campus after the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Detailed in Clune’s updates, the university’s current plans for the student body’s return to campus prioritize safety and promptness. Remaining unchanged, classes for the summer term are scheduled to begin on June 1, as per the university academic calendar. With Governor Edwards’ stay-at-home order seeing an extension to May 15, is holding summer classes on campus feasible? 

Although students’ return to campus is to be determined, Clune has emphasized his interest in having classes return to campus for the fall semester, despite the extent of obstacles that the university will need to hurdle.

“In the fall, we’re back on our campus. The campus is our home,” Clune said. 

In order to make campus as safe as possible for both staff and students, Clune calls for extensive safety measures to be followed to mitigate risks for those returning to campus. In compliance with the stay-at-home mandate’s extension, Clune has set all procedural safety implementations to begin on May 15, postponed from the original initial date of May 4. 

Initial procedures are aimed at those university employees, who cannot telework, returning to campus. These procedures consist of: the assignment of personal protective equipment, a requirement to wear a mask indoors or in the presence of others, the implementation of a bracelet system that indicates whether people have had their temperature checked prior to entry and following a directed use of sanitizing wipes.

If a summer class is scheduled to be held on campus, the university’s current public plan reflects that the class will be held on campus. Although all plans are subject to volatile change during this time, the summer term’s start of classes is one of the final remaining, unchanged, university plans regarding on-campus attendance. 

Additionally, Nicholls is providing financial aid of $200 to all students enrolling in summer courses. Although this scholarship only amounts to nearly one-fifth of the tuition cost of one summer class, the university’s use of remaining funds in an effort to assist students in their tuition cost is evident.