Kayla Brooks
May 21, 20201 min
MARTIN, Tennessee -- The University of Tennessee System said in a press release Wednesday, May 20, that each campus implemented a task force in April to look at unique needs regarding returning to campus in the fall.
The system wide task force led by Dr. Jon McCullers, senior executive associate dean of clinical affairs at the UT Health Science Center, will help decide what actions will best prioritize safety and wellbeing of UT’s students, faculty and staff.
“The task force agrees with national experts that we will not return to campus life just as it was before,” said McCullers in the UT System release. System President Randy Boyd announced earlier this month that students would return to campuses in the fall; however, campus life won’t necessarily look the same.
“I think there will probably be less density,” Boyd told WUTM News of standard classroom size. “You probably will not have large auditorium classroom lectures. You’ll probably have hybrid classes where maybe only have the students come to class on a given day.”
Boyd clarified that no decisions have been officially announced.
Wednesday's release says that updates will come out in the upcoming days.
Phillip Smartt, co-chair of UTM’s task force, says that the group is primarily concerned with the UTM community. “We are also thinking about the local community, the communities we come from, and our extended families.”