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Northern releases plans for fall semester re-opening

Montana State University-Northern has adjusted its fall schedule to safely re-open face-to-face instruction because of COVID-19.

The fall semester begins Monday, Aug. 31, and runs through Tuesday, Dec. 8.

Face-to-face instruction courses will be offered through Tuesday, Nov. 24.

After Thanksgiving, students will not be returning to campus and their courses will be accessed through alternate delivery methods.

Finals will also be accessed through alternative delivery methods between Wednesday, Dec. 2 and Tuesday, Dec. 8.

To accommodate the shorter semester, courses that normally are 50-minutes classes will be increased to 55 minutes.

Lecture and lab will courses will be a front priority to make sure the most important contact is taught early on in the semester.

“Our goal for this fall is to provide every MSU-Northern student a safe, high-quality learning experience, no matter how the circumstances unfold,”  Chancellor Greg Kegel said in a statement. “This challenge provides us with an opportunity to model the value of flexibility for our students.”

The school website says Northern has guiding principles on returning to campus and is forming workgroups to ensure the campus has a safe re-opening as well as setting plans and protocols for this to happen.

Some of the workgroups include Campus Safety Workgroup, which the campus website says its purpose is “redesigning labs, classrooms and offices to facilitate social distancing as well as providing cleaning kits in every lab and classroom and Plexiglas shields around people working at counters.”

Others are a Student Affairs Workgroup, Academic Programs Workgroup, Health and Testing Workgroup and Athletics and Campus Events Workgroup.

The campus website says each workgroup will develop best practices and protocols for the campus to utilize in multiple scenarios and contingencies. 

For more information about the workgroups and guiding principles, people can visit https://www.msun.edu/covid-19/Fall_Semester.aspx .

 

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