USD is looking ahead
President Harris emails update to students on where USD is at, and where it is going
Mikaela Foehr / News Editor / USD Vista
In a lengthy email, President James T. Harris III, D.Ed. outlined the impacts, both present and future, that the global pandemic has and will have on the University of San Diego. Although the message is the most thorough coronavirus-related email from the administration that students have received so far, it still leaves many pressing questions unanswered weeks later.
According to the email, returning to campus for the Fall 2020 semester is still up in the air. Harris made it clear the university plans to do everything in its power to make that happen, but nothing is certain.
“Please understand that our goal is to return to campus in the fall,” Harris said. “However, we must also be prepared for any number of other scenarios including remote teaching and the possibility of a sudden disruption should the virus flare up again.”
Making plans to return in the fall includes theorizing what a college classroom will look like in a post-outbreak and, likely, pre-vaccine world. Harris’s email gives no definitive pieces of information, but references discussions among academic deans about evaluating hybrid in-person/online classes.
“We miss having our students and faculty on campus in person, and we are preparing for their return to campus in the fall with new measures to provide our high-impact learning practices while implementing safeguards and new social distancing practices,” Harris said.
Presumably, the hybrid classes would be created to minimize the amount of students in a classroom, allowing them to adequately social distance from each other. However, with no specifics given, this piece of information raises questions of how the university will determine who is in the classroom when, and how they will be able to maintain the financial worth of the classes.
As personally disrupting as the COVID-19 outbreak has been for the USD community, it has also been financially debilitating. President Harris estimated that the total losses to the university, after all COVID-19 impacts, “likely will exceed $30 million.” Despite this, Harris insists that USD is “strong” financially, but will have to make decisions going forward.
A loss of $30 million has the potential to negatively impact the financial aid that many students depend on to afford the high price of tuition at USD. To minimize the impact to financial aid funds, Harris intends to recommend five courses of action to the school’s Board of Trustees.
“No merit or wage increases for USD employees in 2020; Continue the university wide hiring freeze; Significantly reduce or defer discretionary spending; Place most deferred maintenance projects on hold; Re-evaluate and accelerate decisions associated with many cost-saving initiatives already identified and proposed as part of StrideTo2024@USD,” Harris said.
Harris gave no details as to which campus projects were continuing as planned. However, Senior Director of Media Relations Lissette Martinez confirmed that the Camino and Founders Halls projects were continuing as planned and will be closed for the upcoming academic year. This will place nearly all first-year students in the Valley housing areas, raising questions about whether there will be enough space in dorms for students to practice the social distancing that the school plans to implement.
Personally, Harris has decided to take a 15% pay cut in light of these difficult circumstances, and a few other administrators have agreed to a 5% pay reduction.
Despite the long list of information provided, some students wanted Harris to provide more specific information to allow them to think through their personal options for the coming fall.
Tyler Young, a sophomore student, is hoping for the best, but is already prepared in the case that classes are online in the fall.
“If classes are online in the fall but tuition remains the same price I will just defer for a semester,” Young said. “Online classes are definitely not of the same quality as in-person classes are, and I fear that my education would simply not be viable if all my classes were online again.”
However, Young also recognizes the challenges that may come with that unfortunate decision, and hopes that the university is coming up with a plan to meet those, if they haven’t already.
“I do worry that scholarships could be affected by (deferment), however, which would put a lot of students in a really difficult position,” Young said. “I understand the school is in a difficult position financially and a large amount of students deferring could greatly impact our financial standing as an institution, but ultimately it is not feasible for students to pay a tuition of $52,000 for an education experience they did not sign up for.”
Even though Young is expecting more difficult decisions to come, he remains hopeful and compassionate about the tense situation.
“I think we are all feeling a sense of anxiety and anger at this situation,” Young said. “Losing another (semester) would be disappointing but I know if it is necessary we will adapt as we have this spring.”
Adapting college education to a world now defined by a contagious virus is not an easy task. As Harris pointed out, the rules of the game are changing rapidly.
“The health emergency information we are using to help us plan is changing weekly, if not daily, and we are not yet certain of what we will be facing in August,” Harris said.
What is certain is that a plan will be made, and that plan will determine the course of current students’ education at USD.
“While it is frustrating to not be able to provide a clear answer at this moment, our current strategy is to prepare for the worst and pray for the best,” Harris said.
It is unclear at this time when the final decision will be made about the upcoming academic year.