Contingency Planning

Activation criteria

One or more of the following occurrences/situations could activate this contingency plan:

• State or federal agencies suggest delaying bringing students, faculty or staff back to campus
• Campus officials request additional time to ready the campus for the arrival of students
• A surge in cases in the Bowling Green or surrounding communities indicate a delayed start would be in the best interest of public health
• Preliminary results from other universities that begin classes before WKU indicate that we should pause before resuming in-person instruction

Academics and Inquiry

• In-person classes would not resume until after Labor Day. Classes would still begin on August 24, but would occur via remote delivery until September 8, 2020.
• Similar to the calendar outlined in the Big Red Restart plan, in-person instruction would end before the Thanksgiving break and instruction and assessment would be done remotely for the remainder of the semester.
• Requests to bring students on campus earlier than September 8 will be reviewed by the academic dean and communicated with Academic Affairs and other appropriate offices including Housing and Residence Life, Emergency Management and the COVID-19 Response Team. 

Campus Operational Norms

• University offices would remain operational, though they may function with limited or no staff on campus.
• Operational norms (pages 7-12) would be followed during the period of remote learning. 

Student Experience and Engagement

• WKU Housing and Residence Life will communicate changes to move-in with residents. 
• In-person student events/activities will not take place until after in-person activities resume on September 8, 2020.  
• Dining operations would be limited until residence halls open and students arrive on campus.  

Athletics

• WKU Athletics will develop contingency strategies for the summer and beyond in relation to the state’s phased reopening and how it affects operations, as well as any changes to the intended in-person instruction model for the fall semester. 

Activation criteria

One or more of the following could activate this contingency plan:

• State or federal agencies recommend not resuming in-person classes in fall 2020
• A surge/second wave occurs and public health/university officials deem it necessary to conduct all fall 2020 instruction remotely

Academics and Inquiry

• If this contingency plan is activated, all fall 2020 courses would transition to online modality.
• If activated, this contingency would provide support and student experiences associated with purposeful and effective online learning with support from DELO, CITL and ITS with special focus on the three main principles of Universal Design for Learning: engagement, representation, and action & expression. 
• The start date, end date, and instructional breaks would continue as scheduled throughout the remote instruction period
• Ad hoc requests for in-person activities would be reviewed by the academic dean and communicated with Academic Affairs and other appropriate offices including Housing and Residence Life, Emergency Management and the COVID-19 Response Team. 

Campus Operational Norms

• Offices would remain open, but would function with very limited staff working from campus.
• Cleaning and sanitizing procedures would be focused on areas where in-person activities are occurring.
• Face mask and social distancing norms (pages 7-12) would continue to be enforced for anyone remaining or working on campus.

Student Experience and Engagement

• WKU Housing and Residence Life will communicate changes with residents. 
• In-person student events/activities will either be cancelled, postponed, conducted virtually or held in-person with alterations made to adhere to CDC guidelines. 
• Dining operations would be amended to support students living on campus. 

Athletics

• WKU Athletics will develop contingency strategies for the summer and beyond in relation to the state’s phased reopening and how it affects operations, as well as any changes to the intended in-person instruction model for the fall semester.