CU releases plan to re-open campus this fall

The University of Colorado’s Boulder campus will be open this fall, according to a letter from school chancellor Phil DiStefano. DiStefano emailed the letter to all of the school’s faculty, staff and students Tuesday morning.

Among the key points are:

• Classes will begin on-campus on Aug. 24 and last until Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving, students will remain at home to finish the semester online, unless granted an exception.
• All students, staff and faculty will be required to wear masks.
• The school day will extend until 9 p.m. each day, in an effort to curtail the number of people on campus at any given time.
• Dorms will be open and first-year students will be given a “first-year academic experience.”
• Class sizes will be smaller.
• More courses will be offered online or in a hybrid form.
• Zero tuition increases.
• On-campus testing capability, “both to continuously monitor for the potential spread and to test individuals with symptoms.”

This was an important step, as the NCAA has stated in the past that college athletics are only viable if schools have open campuses.

Here’s what NCAA President Mark Emmert said about the issue earlier this month:

“College athletes are college students, and you can’t have college sports if you don’t have college (campuses) open and having students on them. You don’t want to ever put student-athletes at greater risk than the rest of the student body.

“All of the (conference) commissioners and every (university) president that I’ve talked to is in clear agreement: If you don’t have students on campus, you don’t have student-athletes on campus.

“That doesn’t mean it has to be up and running in the full normal model, but you’ve got to treat the health and well-being of the athletes at least as much as the regular students. So if a school doesn’t reopen, then they’re not going to be playing sports. It’s really that simple.”

Buffs fans received good news last week as well when Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork told the media that he had spoken to the athletic directors of two non-conference football opponents — Colorado and Fresno State — about whether the games will still be played. Both told Bjork they expect to play.

“We’re monitoring the landscape of college football, monitoring fall sports and all those things,” Bjork said. “You just rely on the word and the confidence of those athletic directors when they tell you that they want to play and they’re planning on being here.”

This note is particularly important for Colorado because the Buffs are also scheduled to host Fresno State in September. Schools in California are expected to have the toughest time playing a 2020 football season, so hearing that Fresno State is still planning on playing is big news.

Things are looking up.