Opening Up? Taking a Look at Fall Reopening Decisions at HBCUs

In the age of COVID-19, starting the new fall semester will be like no other for the nation’s colleges and universities. In this roundup, we highlight plans that some historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) have cautiously devised to bring their students back to campus, teach them virtually or do a mixture of both — all during a relentless pandemic in the United States.

Since COVID-19 forced schools to shutter in March, HBCU campus leaders said they’ve faced difficult decisions and had to make some unpopular ones as they prepared for an uncharted fall. Some have had to furlough or permanently shrink faculty and staff, and enrollment numbers have taken a pandemic-related hit. 

For those who are reopening their campuses this month, student and staff safety are paramount, especially since there still is no vaccine to protect against the coronavirus. At Xavier University of New Orleans (XULA), in-person classes begin this month. But as students return to the Catholic university and to a city considered a pandemic hotspot, Dr. C. Reynold Verret, Xavier’s president, is clear about what he can do to keep them safe. 

“Our thinking was [to make] sure that what we we’re offering [on campus] — even though we cannot promise absolute safety in a pandemic — would be significantly safer than [life in our] surrounding states and communities,” said Verret, a biochemist and immunologist, during a recent virtual townhall hosted by the National Academies and Issues in Science and Technology. “We have to approach this without any illusions and ground it on sound science,” he said of XULA’s fall plan.

Dr. David A. Thomas, the president of Morehouse College, the only all-male HBCU, called this time in higher education “a pivotal moment.” 

This is how some HBCUs are planning to step into this new normal.