June 10, 2020
Contact: Christian Basi, 573-882-4430, BasiC@missouri.edu
Following discussions with faculty leadership and the Board of Curators, University of Missouri System President and Interim MU Chancellor Mun Choi announced today that classes at MU would start the fall semester as previously scheduled on Monday, Aug. 24.
“We are all looking forward to opening for in-person classes this fall,” Choi said. “I’m incredibly grateful to the large team of people that have been working on detailed plans to make this a reality for our campus. We have been slowly moving more people on campus and looking at how we will have to do things a bit differently, but we will be ready for in-person classes in the fall.”
Choi said that university officials would continue to monitor the pandemic situation closely and would be ready to make any adjustments, including moving to remote or other models for delivering instruction, should that become necessary.
“We had considered changing our original start date, but after hearing concerns from our faculty, staff and student leadership, we felt that staying with our original opening date was the least disruptive,” said Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Latha Ramchand.
Additionally, students, faculty and staff should expect to see changes in the fall, which will include new practices for personal monitoring of health, social distancing practices, and potentially the use of additional technology to provide options for both instructors and students.
“Our No. 1 priority is ensuring the safety of our campus,” Choi said. “We will be ready and, importantly, we will have the flexibility in place to make any necessary changes should the situation change. We will ask and expect the cooperation of every individual to create a safe campus.”
As of June 8th, MU had received 5,581 deposits from freshmen, up 1.5% compared to the same time last year.
