Lake Superior State University has announced it will hold continuous fall and spring semesters in a move to reduce spread of the coronavirus.
The university had already announced plans to hold in-person classes, citing the low number of COVID cases in Chippewa County.
Now, university officials say they plan to end fall semester before Thanksgiving and hold spring semester without a spring break.
Fred Pierce is the Dean of Admissions and Marketing at LSSU. He said the hope is to reduce the amount of student travel that might bring the virus to campus.
“It occurred to us if we started early and finished early students wouldn’t need to travel for holiday break and that would limit our risk of exposure as well as theirs.”
Pierce said he’s hoping students will stay on campus throughout the semester.
“We’re going to make the recommendations to them to consider minimizing their risks of coming into contact with it. We’re trying to structure things where they can make that choice if they want to.”
Instead of classes beginning the fall semester on August 24th, Lake Superior State will begin on August 10th.
Pierce said to his knowledge they are the first university in the state, or nation, to do this.