By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Benedictine College students will return to campus in Atchison, Kansas this fall.
Benedictine President Stephen Minnis made the announcement during a virtual Honors Convocation.
“We will be open in the fall; we will start on time; we will have students in the classrooms; we will have vibrant student life and ministry programs; and we will have athletics,” Minnis stated. “All of those things are important for a dynamic Benedictine education.”
Minnis asserted the best way to conduct education is in person and in community, which was established with Plato’s Academy in 380 BC. He added nearly 900 years later, St. Benedict expanded on the idea to include education within a community of faith and scholarship, which continues today within the mission of Benedictine College.
“But this will take responsible and prudent safety and mitigation strategies to ensure the health and wellbeing of our community.”
Safety measures are being considered by campus leadership under the working title of Raven Safety. Standards will be finalized by the fall to protect the entire Raven Community.
Benedictine says among the strategies being considered are social distancing in the classroom, adjusted classroom or course schedules, the use of masks, the possibility of testing, rules for use of common areas, rules for watching athletic events, and many other things.
In his message to students, Minnis expressed confidence the college could return to some degree of normalcy in the fall.
“We have faced tough things in the past, and we will face tough things in the future. But it has always been our mission of community, faith and scholarship that has brought us through.”
Founded in 1858, Benedictine College is a Catholic, Benedictine, residential, liberal arts college located on the bluffs above the Missouri River in Atchison, Kansas.