Northern chancellor reports opening going well so far

Montana State University-Northern has started school back on campus and Chancellor Greg Kegel said things went well.

“We had a very what appeared to be a normal come back,” Kegel said. 

Northern returned back to campus by doing face-to-face interactions, but with safety precautions and caution.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the state last March, right as the system went into spring break, the university system ordered campuses to shut down and finish the spring semester using distanced learning.

Northern spent the summer setting up the programs so students could return to the campus this fall.

A team this summer went into each classroom and looked at its designated occupancy load, Kegel said, and then looked at what the load would be with the distancing standing that that school wants to establish for safety.

“We had asked to follow all of our safety protocols,” he said. “It seemed that all of our students were eager to help us keep the university open, doing the things we ask them to do.”

He said all of the classrooms were set up for social distancing to occur by having the students all six feet apart.

Seating is designated, he said, so the university is able to perform contact tracing if need be.

An option of live broadcasts will be available to people who cannot make the class for whatever reason, he said.

The fall semester began Aug. 31 and will run 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.

“I think, overall, we were very happy with the attitude of faculty, staff and students that they were all compliant and eager to help us keep this place face-to-face,” Kegel said.

He said he did not see challenges as of right now, but knows that this semester is going to be full of challenges.

“I think our challenges are going to be presented when we have an issue, and at this point and time there is no issues on our campus,” he said during last week’s interview. “We have nobody in quarantine or sick, or anything like that.”

As for enrollment numbers, he said, he hasn’t gotten the specific numbers yet, but the numbers have been increasing every day.

Tuesday was the last day to add or drop classes, he said. 

“(We’re) pleasantly surprised through all of what we have been dealing with that in fact last spring all of our recruiters were grounded,” Kegel said. “We haven’t been able to recruit the way we normally would recruit into this year. I guess, we’re pleasantly surprised that our numbers have held as well as they have.”