The COVID-19 pandemic influences all parts of life at the University of Idaho. We interviewed faculty and staff across the university to learn more about plans for fall 2020 and broke it down into several sections: health, housing, academics, student life and faculty impacts. Here’s what we know so far.
Last updated: Aug. 5, 2020
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Health | Mental health | Physical health
Housing | Housing and Residence Life | Greek Life | Dining
Academics | International Programs Office | College of Agricultural and Life Sciences | College of Art and Architecture | College of Business and Economics | College of Engineering | College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences | College of Natural Resources | College of Graduate Studies
Student life | Involvement | Financial Aid | Parking and Transportation | Additional Resources
Faculty impacts | Budget | Human Resources
Other relevant coverage for the upcoming semester can be found in the fall 2020 tag. The Talks with Torrey series has provided a significant amount of information on UI’s plans for fall. Our coverage of these events can be found in the Talks with Torrey tag.
This is a developing story. The Argonaut team welcomes feedback from the community on how we can improve this page. If you would like to submit a correction or additional information to this story, please email us at [email protected]. If you have questions for UI about topics related to its COVID-19 response, you can email [email protected].
Health
Mental Health
According to Director Gregory Lambeth, the Counseling and Testing Center has made major strides toward providing online services.
“We went from providing 100% of our services face to face here on campus to providing our services through telepsych,” Lambeth said.
Telepsych is the use of technology to provide psychiatric care virtually. CTC counseling appointments are now run through Zoom. The CTC had not used Zoom prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lambeth said most of the center’s therapy made a seamless transition to telepsych.
“I wouldn’t want to make the case that telepsych is somehow a diminished service relative to doing it in person,” Lambeth said. ”There are some tradeoffs, but it’s not automatically an inferior service.”
Some psych testing is unable to be carried out online, like the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for learning disabilities. To place individuals on the scale, they must manipulate blocks, puzzles and speed-tests which aren’t designed to be done virtually.
“You just can’t do those online,” Lambeth said. “You can’t just send someone the blocks to administer the test.”
Lambeth hopes to be able to continue in-person testing in the fall.
Due to the timing of the COVID-19 outbreak, there was limited impact on psych testing and other in-person-only services as UI was nearing the end of the semester and relatively few people were scheduled for testing.
The center has canceled its group counseling program and will instead offer individual counseling to those affected.
“It’s not like we’re adding telepsych as an adjunct service and changing nothing else,” Lambeth said. “We are trying to change everything to telepsych.”
The center has continued to use Zoom over the summer while deciding how to carry on in the fall. It is likely the CTC will continue most services online, Lambeth said. Counseling sessions are not planned with social distancing in mind. Traditionally, patients and therapists sit close together in the same room for a long period of time. The CTC’s rooms are also unventilated.
“We are looking at all these different kinds of concerns that are unique to our workplace,” Lambeth said. “And whether or not trying to sit six feet apart with both of us with masks on is a better way to provide a mental health service than by Zoom, where you can see someone’s facial impressions.”
Most returning clients continued attending counseling sessions through the transition online, but Lambeth is concerned about those who may be hesitant to start in the fall.
“Will students who have never accessed services before still access services through telepsych?” Lambeth said. “That may be a bigger leap for them.”
The past semester, the center saw fewer new clients, but this could be attributed to students leaving campus and not utilizing university resources while living elsewhere.
“What I want to stress is that we are still open, we are still operational,” Lambeth said.
Physical health
The Vandal Health Clinic (VHC) will continue to provide services in the fall and support students through the pandemic.
At the beginning of the fall semester, students will be required to sign the Healthy Vandal Pledge on VandalWeb when returning to campus.
The pledge includes the agreement to properly wash hands and disinfect, wear face coverings, practice social distancing, monitor symptoms and report concerns. Concerns can be reported through VandalCARE.
In addition, UI is working with Gritman Medical Center to provide testing for all employees and students. The testing center opens Aug. 6 at the Student Recreation Center and runs by appointment only. The site will be able to test approximately 75 people per hour, according to Special Assistant to the President Toni Broyles. Testing for UI employees and students not based in Moscow is being handled by Center Administrators.
Gritman nurses will administer Polymerase Chain Reaction tests through nasal swabs, Broyles said. As of Aug. 4, the SRC testing site is only available to UI employees and students, not family or community members. The site allows testing for students, faculty and staff Aug. 6-7 and 10-12. Aug. 13-21 is reserved for students only while Aug. 24-26 is reserved for faculty and staff only
When getting tested, students and employees must bring a photo ID and the QR code from the online sign-up to the appointment. All students will receive a kit with a face covering and hand sanitizer at the site. Employees will receive kits through their department or unit.
Negative results will be sent via email within 24-48 hours after the completion of analysis. Positive results will be communicated over the phone by a Gritman physician. Those who test positive will be required to isolate until cleared by a negative test, a doctor or the Public Health district. A negative test is required to enter a UI classroom.
COVID-19 Manager Seth Vieux said the university will only alert individuals who have had close contact with people who test positive for COVID-19. Close contact means spending more than 15 minutes within six feet of someone else while neither person wears a face covering, Vieux said. Students and instructors who share classes with the individual would not be contacted unless they have had close contact with the individual.
VHC practitioners could not be reached for comment.
Housing
Housing and Residence Life
First-year students will be required to live on campus this fall, but the waiver program allowing students to opt out is still in place.
Since July 6, students planning to live in the residence halls have the ability to schedule a move-in time on the Housing and Residence Life (HRL) website. The move-in day options for new students are Aug. 19-21 while returning students may move-in Aug. 21-23.
Any volunteers present will only be responsible for providing directions and guidance to students. They will not be actively participating in moving or touching others’ belongings.
“(Students) have really stepped up. I have to stop and really put myself in their shoes, especially the first-year students,” John Kosh, marketing director of Auxiliary services, said.
In June, Kosh said Housing is the residence halls consisted of about 60% of enrolled freshmen. Housing is preparing for a 20% decrease in residents, but they haven’t noticed a decrease of that degree at this point.
Kosh said HRL has seen about a 13% decrease in enrollment from incoming freshmen, but this number is probably higher than what it should be due to uncertainties.
The university will follow guidelines put out by the state and the CDC for housing. All students and visitors are required to wear masks in residence halls, including in hallways, laundry rooms and lounges. They will not be required to wear masks inside of their respective rooms. Those who decide not to be tested for COVID-19 will not be allowed to live in the residence halls, Vice President for Finance and Administration Brian Foisy said.
“It is very frustrating to hear someone say the university is not doing this or that. Everyone is trying to find a solution to keep the students and everyone else safe,” Kosh said.
As far as enforcement of social distancing policies goes, Kosh said HRL plans to rely on peer pressure and constant reinforced information to keep students following guidelines.
“It’s going to be an information game and with that, there is going to be peer pressure,” Kosh said.
Resident assistants will not be able to throw people out for not wearing masks, but Kosh said coughing on someone without a mask is a form of battery, a situation which would be handed over to the police.
If social distancing or stay-home orders become an obstacle in the fall, the university still plans to make housing and residence halls available to those who live there. The situation would revert to what happened last spring.
Kosh said HRL has several plans to prepare isolation areas in case someone living in HRL gets diagnosed with COVID-19. HRL will provide someone to help the quarantined students get food and classwork.
“No one is going to be put out on the street, under any circumstance. At all,” Kosh said.
HRL is working consistently with the public health department to keep a close eye on guidelines put out by the CDC, Kosh said. HRL is also maintaining a partnership with Gritman Medical Center to prepare for a possible outbreak.
Greek Life
Nick O’Neal, director of Fraternity and Sorority Life, said while Greek members will be able to live in their houses during the coming semester, the university put out a ten page recommendation guide for the chapters to discuss and reference while each made decisions about how they will operate safely this fall.
Each chapter has since released their own plans for fall 2020. These plans are available on the Fraternity and Sorority Life Engage UIdaho page.
The documents walk through every aspect of chapter operation and propose having discussions about how lenient or strict protocols should be depending on the pandemic situation.
“I think that what we are seeing in return is our chapters stepping up to the plate,” O’Neal said. “They are doing a really great job looking at if we were to return and everything was identical to what it was in March, would they have things in place that they are ready to grab and go and an actual plan ready.”
O’Neal said Greek Recruitment will look a little different this year because the chapters invite back the minimum number of members they need during rush week and ask others to come back to campus at a later date. UI will provide personal protective equipment, such as masks, for the event because the university is hosting it. Afterwards, each chapter will be responsible for providing PPE for its members.
There are no housed chapters which will be transitioning into a non-housed chapter for the semester. O’Neal said if a house later decided to become a non-housed chapter, the university will be prepared to make the needed accommodations.
Nina Clark, a recent UI graduate, was a part of the Greek community and said many chapters have transitioned from sleeping quarters and figured out a way to have more of a dormitory-style house.
“The desire is to put whatever protocols are needed in place to have them come back,” O’Neal said.
Dining
Students will have the option of dining on-site in The Hub or taking a to-go box to another location. Tables at The Hub will be six feet apart and only six people will be allowed to sit at each table at a time.
“My biggest disappointment is that this 17- or 18-year-old, who doesn’t know what the college experience is, their first experience will be muted,” Kosh said. “There won’t be any of the traditional, raw college experience they will get to witness.”
Academics
Undergraduate and graduate students alike should follow the same protocols if they test positive for COVID-19. Students in on-campus housing will be quarantined in a quarantine-specific housing while students in off-campus housing will be expected to self-quarantine in their homes. University guidance on how to continue coursework after contracting COVID-19 has not been released.
UI expects 75% of instruction to be held in-person and 25% online. Hybrid models like HyFlex would allow online and in-person delivery simultaneously. A minimum of four feet of distance between individuals will be provided in classrooms and masks will be required in all campus buildings.
A presentation of the HyFlex classroom set-up is scheduled for 10 a.m. Aug. 6 over Zoom and in TLC 223. The Argonaut will provide further coverage.
In classrooms where it is possible, one door will be labeled as an entrance and another will be labeled as an exit in order to help direct traffic flow between classes, Provost and Executive Vice President Torrey Lawrence said. Disinfectant, towels and hand sanitizer will be provided in all classrooms. All classrooms will be cleaned at least once per day, although higher-use rooms will be cleaned more often.
When UI switched to remote instruction in the spring, the pass/fail grading option was approved due to the abrupt transition, Dean of Students Blaine Eckles said. That option will not be available for the coming semester.
UI will switch to remote, online-only instruction following fall break.
International Programs Office (IPO)
Many students have pushed back planned study abroad trips in response to COVID-19, IPO Director Kate Chettri said. If a trip is seen as unsafe, the program or university may decide to keep students home instead of allowing the trip to proceed. Some programs have shifted to offering online internships instead.
UI will still host new and current international students on campus. UI does not have official host families. Instead, individual study abroad programs link students to local families. Chettri did not see host families backing out of hosting international students. She was, however, concerned about updated visa requirements for students entering or leaving the U.S. This has caused some programs to change their timelines.
“It’s definitely one of those situations where we have to work together as a Vandal family and stay on top of it and respond to students’ needs,” Chettri said. “Whether they are domestic or international.”
International travel is not supported for UI students while staff and faculty are encouraged to only make essential trips, according to an email from Vice Provost for Strategic Enrollment Management Dean Kahler sent to UI students, faculty and staff. This is due to information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and the US Department of State Level Four Health Advisory/Travel Alert.
“Your student experience is comprised of rich and diverse opportunities. One of the most wonderful, life changing opportunities is to study abroad for a period of time as a part of your education,” Kahler said. “Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the safety of these programs to be significantly compromised. We do not feel that it is safe for a student to study abroad during the fall semester.”
Students who decide to study abroad regardless would not be affiliated with UI, although they would be able to work with IPO to amend their plans. Faculty and staff members whose travel is deemed critical and have approval from a college dean, vice provost or higher must register through Chrome River and the International Travel Registry. Approval of travel should be forwarded to IPO.
College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS)
A full selection of classes is available through CALS for the fall, according to Agricultural Experiment Station Director Mark McGuire. There will be a significant amount of activity in labs, fields and farms for agricultural research, McGuire said.
Social distancing, gloves and masks will be required, but there will not be many more restrictions. McGuire assumed undergraduates will be in the labs just as much as graduate students.
CALS is offering several webinar series, including Ag Talk Tuesdays and Corona my Cash. Education extension programs like 4H have also become virtual and other educational information, like PDFs and handouts, are spread over email so those in rural areas or those without internet access can still access information.
Vandal Brand Meats, which provides instruction for the CALS Department of Animal, Veterinary and Food Sciences, already required personal protective equipment (PPE) for much of its processing. Masks, gloves and frocks are still required for both food safety and to prevent the spread of COVID-19. VBM is open for retail through a curbside pickup service.
College of Art and Architecture (CAA)
Some studios in CAA allow students to access personal desks 24/7. To continue to provide this service, students will be shown how to properly sanitize their spaces before and after use. The HyFlex model will be used to allow students into the studio at least once a week, CAA Dean Shauna Cory said. Instead of students and instructors standing next to each other to discuss a piece, they will likely pass sketches back and forth to maintain social distancing. Sharing artistic tools will also be more carefully considered in the fall.
“Even with international students, we’ve been very successful because they are always learning the language,” Cory said. “But we can sit and speak in our common language, which is sketching.”
College of Business and Economics (CBE)
“We have a significant number of faculty who are over 50 and 60 (years old),” CBE Dean Marc Chopin said. “I expect that they’re more nervous than some others may be.”
Chopin said most CBE courses will be provided as normal, with some changes to instructional methods to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, he is concerned about providing students with a typical residential UI experience amid the pandemic.
College of Engineering (CE)
CE began manufacturing its own PPE for local nursing homes, hospitals and students needing to enter campus-based labs, Larry Stauffer said. Engineering students must use specialized equipment, like laser cutters, which are only available in campus labs. PPE will be provided for students who use these labs for classes in the fall, Stauffer said.
The use of college-manufactured face shields allows individuals to stay in closer proximity to each other than the recommended six feet, Stauffer said, but the college is still restricting how many people can be in a room at a time. The college is focusing on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance to inform its guidelines.
College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS)
CLASS Dean Sean Quinlan said the college prioritizes health and safety first and academic integrity second. The college is working to ensure classrooms have the technology and equipment to provide a positive academic experience. He said the key to making the upcoming semester work will be communication with instructors and giving each other patience and flexibility.
However, many of the subjects taught through CLASS are group-oriented instruction, like language and music. Music auditions, usually held face-to-face, have moved to pre-recorded videos or Zoom sessions. Conferences have been cancelled and rescheduled across CLASS industries, so arts and social science faculty have experienced a fair amount of disruption to their fields, Quinlan said.
College of Natural Resources (CNR)
CNR has used 25Live, a room scheduling service, to ensure room occupancy in classrooms and workspaces stays at safe levels. Some labs will not be able to be held online. However, CNR Dean Dennis Becker said the college will work to accommodate graduating students on a case-by-case basis, possibly with short, intensive studies with faculty or more lab offerings the following semester.
“We’re certainly willing to make accommodations for students to ensure that they graduate on time,” Becker said. “There will be some situations where students will probably need to do something a little different if they are not able to be here in person.”
CNR takes a lot of field trips, so Becker said the college is working to figure out how to safely get students to these destinations. One solution is trips closer to campus than hosted in the past, to mitigate cramped travel conditions. Once in the field, it will be easier to maintain social distancing.
College of Graduate Studies (COGS)
Graduate student research slowed earlier in the pandemic, Jerry McMurtry said. Research began resuming in the summer with online meetings and in-person lab work, including precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. McMurtry said research should continue into the fall with adapted protocol.
The pandemic may impact professional development work for graduate students but will likely not impact requirements for programs of study. Instead, the college is focusing on maintaining the quality of education it provides.
This is an ongoing project and The Argonaut has not yet successfully reached out to the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences, the College of Law, the College of Science or the WWAMI Medical Education Program.
Student Life
This section will provide pertinent information about on and off campus student life, including the effect of COVID-19 on involvement opportunities, financial aid and parking.
Involvement
Student organizations will be allowed to meet in the fall if they follow UI, Idaho and CDC guidelines, Department of Student Involvement Director Shawn O’Neal said. Each organization will have to take different precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Everything will focus on minimizing risk, maximizing safety and having fun, according to O’Neal.
O’Neal said he has not heard any concerns about student organizations not being able to function as the pandemic continues. DSI put in an order for personal protective equipment for staff and others.
ASUI will likely adopt protocols like those used university wide, ASUI President Lauren Carlsen said. ASUI Senate may not meet all in one room like they have in previous years, but nothing is set in stone.
Some ASUI work can continue online, like the alumni mentorship program and resource app, because the projects do not require much in-person contact. Other ASUI projects and typically in-person events are more difficult to continue online.
ASUI will likely continue discussing COVID-19 and its impacts, Carlsen said. In the spring, ASUI passed a resolution regarding the CARES Act stimulus checks which supported some students but missed others entirely. The organization also assisted in providing money to emergency funds for students.
Palousafest, the annual street fair held on campus, will still be hosted, although not at the time originally scheduled. Palousafest Deconstructed will occur 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 14-18 in the Idaho Student Union Building Plaza, according to an email sent to ASUI Affiliated Student Organization club officers and advisers. If the event is cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns, groups will be refunded for table reservations, the website stated.
The Argonaut and The Vandal Nation summarized fall 2020 plans for athletics regarding schedule changes, practice changes and more.
Financial aid
The Dean of Students office created the Bruce and Kathy Pitman Emergency Fund this spring to provide funding to students in emergency situations. Dean of Students Blaine Eckles said over 130 students applied. In the summer, the federal government provided UI with several million dollars, with half of it designated as emergency aid funding for students, Director Randi Croyle and Associate Director of Scholarships Laurie Barker said. It was divided between nearly 6,000 students.
For now, the Financial Aid office is focused on raising money for scholarships. Loans are available in the meantime as well, Croyle and Barker said. Vandal Giving Day and CARES money do assist the office in providing aid to students.
There will be no massive tuition relief for students the fall semester, Croyle and Barker said. Instead, possible financial struggles will be managed through scholarships. If a student finds themselves financially struggling due to a COVID-19 diagnosis, they can contact the office remotely to receive further advisement.
Parking and Transportation
There should not be changes to parking lot designations this year. Parking and Transportation Services staff has been reduced and the office hopes to hire temporary student employees to staff events, parking lots and the Vandal Access Service, PTS Director Rebecca Couch said.
PTS lost approximately $130,000 for the 2019 fiscal year due to parking permit refunds, lack of permit sales and lack of parking meter funds at the end of the spring semester, Couch said. In addition, 50% of all parking citation payments made between late April and the end of June were donated to the Bruce and Kathy Pitman Emergency Fund.
All parking permit sales for the 2020-21 academic year will be handled online. Permits will be mailed to those who order them, instead of the permits being available for pick up at the PTS office in Moscow. The pick your permit tool on PTS’s website allows buyers to see which permits they are eligible to purchase before deciding.
Since some students do not know where they will be living until the fall semester nears, PTS will allow students to print off free temporary permits for the first week of school. These will be used until students can order and receive their official permits.
Zipcar service has been discontinued on campus due to COVID-19. PTS is exploring other options to replace the service. Couch hopes a replacement will be ready within the next academic year.
The Vandal Access Service and fixed routes for SMART Transit will be in service for the start of the academic year and the Gotcha Bike program is still on track to begin in the fall, Couch said. The Dean of Students Holiday Break Bus will still likely run for academic breaks, with some changes to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Sanitation for the Gotcha bikes, SMART Transit and the break buses will be handled by the companies which manage the programs, not UI. Policies will likely be run through the bus company, which is a chartered service.
Additional Resources
Students with limited access to technology can connect with the Student Technology Center for information on laptop checkout and other opportunities. In spring, UI provided internet access in campus parking lots in Moscow, Boise, Twin Falls, Idaho Falls and Coeur d’Alene for students who relied on campus internet. Students can also use eduroam, a service which allows students to use their UI login information to access wi-fi on other college campuses.
Faculty Impacts
Budget
The University of Idaho could lose an estimated $33 million if campus closed for a full academic year, UI President C. Scott Green said. This number would not include students who left the school after the beginning of the school year or the money spent on COVID-19 preventative measures. We covered this potential loss more thoroughly in our coverage of the Aug. 4 employee town hall.
UI is considering mandatory furloughs for faculty and staff to deal with the financial impacts from COVID-19, according to Trina Mahoney, UI’s Assistant VP for University Budget and Planning.
The university has since finalized its mandatory furlough plan. The Moscow-Pullman Daily News covered this story on its website. The Argonaut is following this story.
Mahoney’s office, which is responsible for setting budgets across the university, recently worked to cut $22 million from the operating budget for fiscal year 2021.
“There will be some impact financially at the individual level as everybody takes the required hours off, but our intent is that there won’t be impact to students,” Mahoney said. “Meeting the needs of our students is a huge part of our mission.”
Furloughs mean a reduction in pay and the hours employees are required to work.
In addition to COVID-19 and UI’s lingering financial crisis, state funding has continued to diminish.
“As a result of the pandemic, the state is reducing their funding to the university by 5% in fiscal year 2021,” Mahoney said. “So far, that’s a one-time reduction, but we’re all thinking there’s going to be more coming.”
The university has six different appropriations from the state and among those six, the 5% reduction amounts to nearly $6.9 million.
Mahoney said the speed at which the economy rebounds from COVID-19 will affect future funding from the state.
“We’re going to have to be ready to hear from the state that maybe there’s going to be permanent reductions in fiscal year 2022, but we just don’t know yet what those dollar amounts will be,” Mahoney said. “There’s still a lot of unknowns, but the $22 million budget reduction can get us to what would have been a good, solid, balanced budget had COVID-19 not happened. If the pandemic hadn’t come along, I was feeling pretty darn good about fiscal year 2021.”
Much of the unknowns come from not knowing how many incoming freshmen will chose UI, Mahoney said.
“We feel pretty strongly that when you come to the UI campus, you’ll see how awesome it is and how great Moscow is. It’s one of our big selling points,” Mahoney said. “Not being able to bring students to campus this past spring was a challenge. The pandemic is changing our recruiting.”
Human Resources
The UI human resources team has been working to understand the federal laws which have come in the wake of COVID-19.
With so little time to receive and implement those laws, HR had a difficult time letting employees know what was happening, according to Executive Director of HR Wes Matthews.
As many employees were encouraged to return to campus for work beginning June 15, HR used a reporting system to keep track of who was still working from home. Matthews said UI is relying on a Flexplace Flextime policy while Idaho remains in Phase Four of Idaho Gov. Brad Little’s reopening plan.
“The Flexplace Flextime policy allows employees to work from home if they or someone they care for is at high risk for contracting COVID-19,” Matthews said. “If an employee is diagnosed with COVID-19, it becomes a matter of taking sick leave rather than utilizing the policy.”
Interim Provost and Executive Vice President Torrey Lawrence said the university wants to allow employees to work from home so long as they’re able to get everything done, but he does expect more people to come back to campus for work as the fall semester nears. HR had approved 436 accommodations plans as of Aug. 4.
“If someone has, for example, a health condition that puts them at greater risk for COVID-19, that’s an accommodation we’re going to work with,” Lawrence said. “There’s a process to work through that which usually requires some documentation from a doctor or physician of some sort.”
Matthews said each employee’s supervisor who decides whether they can keep working from home or not. Whether the employee can still fulfill the job’s responsibilities from home is a big factor.
There are no current plans to lay off employees due to budget challenges, according to Matthews.
“The furlough plan will not affect employees’ insurance benefits, but it will affect their leave accrual as well as their retirement plan,” Matthews said. “A big part of HR management is following federal management and making sure people are in touch with what rights they have that can help them navigate their personal circumstances.”
Lex Miller, Angela Palermo, Anteia McCollum and Haadiya Tariq contributed to this report.