ST. LOUIS — Fontbonne University officials on Wednesday announced plans to resume in-person classes, on-campus events, activities and athletic competitions this fall. The semester begins Aug. 23.
The continuing rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, declining infection rates and Fontbonne's mitigation and containment strategies were taken into account when making the decision to return to campus, officials said. Last fall, Fontbonne implemented several protocols, including temperature checks, a face mask requirement and changes to its dining and residence hall capacity.
"The entire Fontbonne community has come together to support one another during a difficult and unusual year," Joe Deighton, vice president for student affairs, said in a statement. "It was an all hands-on-deck endeavor across campus to implement the plans.... We are so grateful for the team effort to quickly move to remote learning and implement wide-ranging mitigation efforts that allowed us to keep outbreak incidents to a minimal and manageable quantity."
Fontbonne plans to offer nearly all of its remote classes in a face-to-face format this fall, and students organizations will be allowed to gather and hold on-campus events. The university's residence and dining halls will return to normal operations and capacity, and its 20 NCAA Division III athletic programs will hold regular practices and a normal competition schedule, the university said.
Beginning last fall, Fontbonne offered about 75% of its classes in a remote or hybrid format, while resident hall capacity was reduced by 10%, and most of its events took place virtually. The fall 2020 athletic competitions were all postponed.
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