BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The fall 2021 semester at all Indiana University campuses will be in person, the university’s president announced Wednesday.
IU President Michael McRobbie said the university expects to return to mostly normal operations in the fall.
“This decision has been made on the basis of advice from IU’s medical and public health experts who have been leading the university’s comprehensive and successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic for nearly a year now,” McRobbie said in a press release posted to the university’s website. “It has also been made possible because of the dedicated, determined, and creative actions of our students, faculty, and staff, to whom we are deeply grateful.”
Coronavirus health and safety precautions will likely remain in place on campuses this fall, but it is expected to be considerably different from fall 2020.
“As we have learned from the experience of the past year, in the face of this deadly pandemic we cannot set any of our plans in stone,” McRobbie said. “As long as the pandemic is with us, we must be ready to adjust course rapidly, and we will constantly review our plans, activities, and operations.
IU is encouraging all students, staff, and faculty to get vaccinated for the disease as soon as they become eligible.
“Having the vast majority of the IU community vaccinated against COVID-19 will be one of the keys to allowing an increase in in-person courses and activities on campuses this fall,” said Aaron Carroll, director of mitigation testing; and associate dean for research mentoring and distinguished professor of pediatrics at the IU School of Medicine, in the release. “All of the vaccines currently available are highly effective. Plus, our testing data continues to show very manageable levels of COVID-19 on our campuses. We are optimistic that should the current trends continue, we’ll be back on campus together this fall.”
McRobbie added he is “very confident” the campuses will be successful in returning to mostly normal operations this fall.
