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BOARD OF REGENTS ANNOUNCES INTENTIONS FOR “NORMAL” FALL SEMESTER
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President Gestring has outlined a plan for a “normal” fall semester. The new plans include no physical distancing, in-person classes, fall concerts, tailgates and no masks. Sydney Johnson
Sydney.G.Johnson@coyotes.usd.edu
College life at USD saw many changes during the 2020-21 school year after a surge in the COVID-19 pandemic. Life on campus was full of mask-wearing students who were told to stay six feet apart at all times. For many of the students, a schedule full of Zoom classes became a new normal, but that is soon to change. On March 16, all current USD students were sent an email from President Sheila Gestring outlining the new “normal” fall semester hopes of USD. Kevin O’Kelley, the assistant vice president of research compliance for USD and member of USD’s COVID-19 Task Force, has been working diligently with USD to get campus life back to normal operating procedures as quickly as possible. “The goal for the fall is to have no masks, no physical distancing, there will be football games, in-person classes, crowds, fall concerts, strollers, tailgates and everything else we know to be normal,” O’Kelley said.
While the discussion of whether or not Zoom will still be offered to students who are unable to attend classes in person is still ongoing, the vast majority of classes are expected to return to in-person instruction. “Teachers like to teach,” O’Kelley said. “We are trained and experience to teach in person, and we like teaching in person more than we like teaching online. We will continue to offer plenty of online classes but in general we’re going to go back to the way things were.” While as of now, the university plans to discard all safety precautions that were put in place because of COVID-19 regulations, O’Kelley believes there are certain health practices society as a whole has adopted during the pandemic that won’t change anytime soon. “I think we’re always going to expect you to wear masks when you’re sick,” O’Kelley said. “I expect we will have masks for people serving food. Some things are going to change forever, but they’re protective things, good things, not really restrictive things.” Along with masks being worn when
illness is discovered and kitchen personnel continuing to wear masks, the university has also discussed maintaining their deep cleaning regimen because of the low number of flu cases they saw this year, O’Kelley said. If the models and trends that O’Kelley and the university have been closely following continue moving in the right direction, USD is hoping to have all operating procedures back to the way they were two years ago, as soon as move-in day. There are still a lot of variables at play that will determine how fall semester will look at USD. As long as COVID-19 variants don’t get out of hand and the vast majority of people have the ability to get vaccinated, O’Kelley is hopeful that the return to “normal” operating procedures at USD is getting close. “We’re not there yet, we still have sick people in South Dakota. So until we beat this pandemic, we need to still be careful,” O’Kelley said. “Continue to wear our masks, practice physical distancing and be sane. Everything protective you do this spring and summer will help us return to our normal default procedures.”
USD Greek Life adapts to restrictions on social gatherings Jacob Forster
Jacob.R.Forster@coyotes.usd.edu
USD’s Greek Life organizations have seen a reduction in the number and types of official social events since the start of the pandemic last March. Laura Anderton, director of sorority and fraternity life at USD, said the university’s normal policy for approving social events for fraternities and sororities involves registration 10 business days prior to the event through USD Involved, or at the minimum 48 hours in advance. The chapter registering the event has to answer a series of questions, including a risk management question about whether there will be alcohol at the event, following the Board of Regents policies on alcohol consumption. Due to the university placing some restrictions on in-person social gatherings to prevent the spread of COVID-19, there are new guidelines this year. The USD Involved event registration also asks about how the group intends to implement social distancing, mask wearing and other COVID19 precautions. “We always reserve the right that if we don’t think that the submission is producing a safe event, we can deny the event,” Anderton said. “Most of the time, when we review it, we try and look and see if there are ways that we can help them to approve the event, and we’ll have some back and forth with chapters.” Josh Weisbrod, president of USD’s InterFraternity Council, which coordinates
events with Greek Life chapters, said social gatherings for Greek Life organizations have been severely limited this year. “Social gatherings under this policy have been nigh-on non-existent this year,” Weisbrod said. “I mean, if you compare, like the number of gatherings that have happened this year to a normal year, it’s been much, much slower.” Weisbrod said for the first few weeks of the semester after Christmas break, the policy was no events at all, other than chapter meetings, since chapters already live together. Greek Life chapters on campus range in size from between 60 to 80 members for the average fraternity and about 100 members for the average sorority. Anderton said the size of these groups makes things difficult, as the university is trying to discourage gatherings in large groups. “They are, at their root, social organizations, and so they want to be social, but do so in a safe manner,” Anderton said. COVID-19 has also posed difficulties for Greek Life chapters in terms of recruitment. Anderton said this comes from a general reduction in people meeting in person, as well as financial strains brought on in the past year. “Fraternities and sororities do have a cost to their membership,” Anderton said. “So we know that there has been a challenge for some.” Greek Life chapters have hosted outdoor events to accommodate for social distancing, including a recent chili feed.
However, Weisbrod said to his knowledge there haven’t been any official events where alcohol has been served at all this semester. “There’s not a good way to social distance and serve alcohol at the same time,” Weisbrod said. The Board of Regents intends for USD to return to normal next semester, with limits on social gatherings lifted and a return to a pre-COVID-19 life. Weisbrod said if that works out, he would like to see a return to social events indoors. “We’re hoping to return to a new normal. Of course, I don’t know that anything will ever be completely back to normal, but we’re hoping to return to as close to normal as possible,” Weisbrod said. “Go get vaccinated.” Anderton said the university is working on two plans for the fall semester: a first priority plan and a contingency plan. For now, regular events are being scheduled on the calendar for next semester. “Our Executive Council looks very closely at the local numbers and takes into consideration how Clay County and how Vermillion and the state of South Dakota is doing as we decide whether or not we’re going to implement certain policies,” Anderton said.” Anderton said the challenge will be going back to a normal that involves bringing back this year’s leaders and students haven’t seen. “We have an entire year’s worth of leaders and students that have not seen normal,” Anderton said. “And so all they know is how we do it in a COVID world.”
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Greek life chapters have been able to host outdoor events to accomodate social distancing including recruitment events and philanthropy events.
Coyote Volleyball gears up for Kansas City in Summit League Tournament Women’s Volleyball will face the Kansas City Roos in the opening of the Summit League Tournament on Friday, April 2. Learn more about the tournament on page B1.
Dean of Arts & Sciences resigns, interim dean named Miles Amende
Miles.Amende@coyotes.usd.edu
After serving as dean of the College of Arts & Sciences since 2017, Michael Kruger has stepped down from his position. Kruger is departing USD to become dean of the College of Science and Engineering at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. USD Provost and Vice President for Academic affairs Kurt Hackemer said John Dudley, who has been associate dean of Arts & Sciences for seven years, has been named interim dean of the college. The Dean of Arts & Sciences, Hackemer said, has to have the skill to balance a range of programs including humanities, the social sciences, mathematics and the natural sciences. Additionally, he said the college delivers everything from remedial education to doctoral degrees, so the dean must have an appreciation for the variety within the programs. “Arts & Sciences is interesting because it’s so complicated compared to the rest of the university. Not only is it the largest college on campus, but there are 16 different departments in there,” Hackemer said. “Dr. Dudley was kind of an obvious choice to fill that interim role, simply because you want someone who understands all of that complexity.” Normally when looking for a new dean, a college puts together a search committee comprised of representatives from different departments, though Hackemer said such a committee hasn’t been put together yet. “We need to… let things settle down a bit. It’s a matter of talking to people. We’re ‘taking the temperature’ of the college, and then deciding what our path forward is going to be,” Hackemer said. Part of the dean’s job is connecting with donors for fundraising, which Hackemer said is a process of cultivating relationships which might sometimes last for years. When a dean moves on and a new faculty member comes to take their place, Hackemer said the new dean doesn’t have to start from scratch. The USD Foundation staff helps introduce the new dean to alumni with whom the university has longstanding ties so new relationships can be developed and new donations secured. See Dean, Page A3