Throughout the spread of COVID-19 within the state, the University of Idaho made the decision to move to online instruction indefinitely and postpone commencement this semester.
At the same time, other universities have taken similar actions. UI canceled commencement days after Idaho State University and Lewis-Clark State College canceled their ceremonies.
UI was also one of the last to indefinitely cancel face-to-face instruction, while students at other universities had already begun moving out.
Though UI has now planned a commencement ceremony for Aug. 1.
The response may seem slow to UI students, but Faculty Senate Chair Terry Grieb said there has been more going on behind the scenes.
Grieb said prior to President C. Scott Green’s update over spring break, the Office of the President made faculty aware there would be a large announcement.
“It was a case of ‘Here’s when to expect that communication because that’s when we’re going to have the information, we need to make the call,’” Grieb said.
When UI made the announcement to temporarily go online on March 23 and 24, they added additional communication would follow before the online test.
Understanding the rapidly changing situation was important to the process with a different initial take on addressing COVID-19.
The week before, when a trial run of online classes was announced, it was assumed students would return to face-to-face instruction after a few days.
“The thinking at that time was that we need to go to online instruction for a period if the COVID-19 case showed up in the immediate area of Moscow,” Grieb said. “The two days were really intended as a trial period.”
As COVID-19 became better understood, the university’s plan changed.
“As global news, and particularly, focus on what’s come to be known as flattening the curve practices have evolved, we’ve updated our position accordingly,” Grieb said.
Grieb said this added understanding of COVID-19 largely led to the indefinite extension of classes online and the cancellation of all events, including commencement.
“Canceling commencement was one of the hardest decisions we had to make,” UI Director of Communications Jodi Walker said. “At the time the decision was made, (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidance was to limit gatherings of no more than 10 individuals for a number of weeks.”
In the decision to moving online for classes, there were many factors.
“It seems to be no end of issues to look at,” Grieb said.
Grieb said the transition’s impact on aspects like financial aid, student advising, retainment and more had to be considered.
“Working with public health and following their guidance of helping prevent spread, combined with unified actions of higher education across the state, we determined the best response was to move all classes to online/remote delivery,” Walker said.
The Office of the President has been in direct contact with other universities on an almost daily basis the past weeks to determine the best course of action, Walker said.
This combination of considering the impacts of online classes, understanding the health aspects of COVID-19 and communicating both within and outside of the university resulted in UI’s response time.
“We seem to be sort of making announcements slower,” Grieb said. “(but) I think that really does reflect a University of Idaho approach of thoughtfulness and sort of a conservative approach to the changes.”
Haadiya Tariq can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @haadiyatariq