During the past year, people around the world made personal sacrifices to protect the health and wellbeing of their communities.
Those of us who are part of the Anderson University family were no exception. After all, ours is a community marked by great hospitality. More than that, we embrace the spiritual challenge to love others as Christ loves us. That played out in remarkable ways during the 2020-2021 academic year, with each of us sacrificing our own temporary comfort so that our friends and loved ones remained as healthy as possible. In short, despite COVID-19, we maintained a safe, active, and welcoming campus for our students, staff, and faculty.
For those who may just be starting their academic pursuits at Anderson University—and as a reminder to all AU students—review the bulleted list below. It contains some of the steps we took as part of the Journey Ahead. It’s not a comprehensive list, but there’s a reason we’re highlighting these protocols specifically (more on that later).
- To maintain social distancing, some in-person, seated classes used a hybrid model for delivering instruction. That means students alternated between attending class in-person and participating via Zoom.
- In the Culinary Center, we gradually expanded seating capacity as conditions improved.
- Again, as the public health environment improved, we gradually increased capacity at on-campus events, allowing more students to live in community with one another.
- We relaxed our mask and/or face covering protocols in response to the availability of vaccines, and as rates of infection decreased on campus and in our community.
- As for our Residence Hall environment, while at first we made the necessary move to limit guests and visitors, we changed that as conditions improved by returning to our normal guest/visitation policy.
All of that being said, the Anderson University Senior Leadership Team, its Board of Trust and the COVID-19 Task Force fervently desires a return to normal operations—just as we’re sure you do.We are meeting regularly, monitoring public health trends and reviewing our policies. Our posture is to take what we learned from our shared experience last year, solicit input from key stakeholders (like you!) and make prudent decisions on our Journey Ahead protocols and policies for the 2021-2022 academic year. The ultimate goal, and our baseline assumption, is a responsible return to normal operations.
Back to that bulleted list. What would you have done differently? What policies would you put in place for this academic year? We truly want to know. It’s why we’re asking you to fill out this brief survey, please. It’s that simple. It will require barely a minute of your time, it’s completely anonymous and you get to be king or queen for a day (or the chair of the Task Force, at least.)
Make your voice heard. Click here to help inform our 2021-2022 Journey Ahead strategy. Please complete the survey before 5 p.m. EST on Wednesday, July 28.
So…will you help us out? Thanks in advance.
The Journey Ahead resumes in just a few short weeks! We can’t wait to travel with you once again.
Just one more thing: As a reminder: we are not requiring Anderson University students be vaccinated against COVID-19 before returning to campus. Whether or not to be vaccinated is your personal choice. Now, that being said, the University strongly encourages vaccination. Many members of our campus community have already done so. We hope all students, faculty, and staff members will do the same after consulting with their doctor or another medical provider. One final thought: COVID-19 Task Force members remain in contact with local, state, and federal public health authorities, just as we have from the beginning. As we consider their guidance, currently the University is observing the CDC’s recommendation that individuals who have been vaccinated do not need to wear a mask or face covering. However, wearing a mask or face covering still is recommended for those who have not been vaccinated.