Southeast compresses Fall 2020 schedule due to coronavirus

Southeast Missouri State University’s fall semester will have a much different schedule than in years past.

Southeast president Carlos Vargas informed the university’s Board of Regents on Monday of significant changes in the Fall 2020 semester, prompted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Vargas, president since 2015, announced faculty and students will have class on Labor Day, Sept. 7, and the scheduled Oct. 8 and 9 fall break has been eliminated.

Additionally, the last day of face-to-face classes for the fall will be Nov. 24, just before Thanksgiving break. Students will not return to campus after Thanksgiving but will instead receive virtual instruction until the end of the semester and final examinations will be online.

The semester, due to the changes, will end a week early, on Dec. 11.

Virtual instruction is a teaching model other than face-to-face, including online learning, Zoom meetings and returning assignments via email and through the learning management tool known as Moodle.

Due to the pandemic during the Spring 2020 semester, all learning at Southeast became virtual in mid-March, with students not returning to campus after a previously scheduled weeklong break.

The plan was put together by Vargas’ team, which included Deborah Below, vice president for enrollment management and student success. Below also spoke about the plan’s specifics.

The roll-out of the fall semester’s changes was information-only for the regents and the schedule revision was not put to a vote.

Vargas also said the dates for December commencement likely will be changed.

Considerable discussion, led by regent James P. Limbaugh, followed Vargas’ announcement.

“This (plan) is a head scratcher for me,” said Limbaugh, regional president of Montgomery Bank, who took his seat in 2019.

Vargas explained the compression of the semester reduces the risk of students leaving campus and potentially returning with the coronavirus.

“(Our) plan, we felt, is the least problematic for (Southeast),” he added.

Limbaugh called the revision “inconsistent” and wondered about the considerable number of Southeast students who leave campus on weekends.

Other regents indicated support for the changes.

Regents president Edward P. Gargas of Dexter, Missouri, called on his military background in the National Guard to signal his approval.

“We can’t get rid of all the risk,” said Gargas, appointed by former Gov. Jay Nixon in 2015.

“Reduce and minimize exposure (should be) our risk mitigation,” added Gargas, who applauded Vargas’ team for being proactive and announcing changes far in advance.

Regent Vivek Malik, a St. Louis immigration attorney, called the Vargas plan “a good, workable strategy.”

Board vice president Tina L. Klocke of St. Louis said the changes were “comprehensive.”

Regent Phillip Britt of Kennett, Missouri, signaled his comfort with the new schedule, saying the university should “err on the side of caution.”

Student regent Lauren Kohn, a senior undergraduate, worried about the “real homesickness” freshmen, away from home for the first time, may experience.

Vargas told the regents the coronavirus-driven schedule changes have the support of Jane Wernsman, R.N., director of the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center, and Dr. John Russell, also of CGCPHC.