By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Missouri Western State University continues to prepare for fall classes, hoping to return the St. Joseph campus to operations as normal as possible as the coronavirus pandemic lingers.
Missouri Western Vice President for Student Affairs, Melissa Mace, says remote learning via the Internet was novel, at first.
“So, we’re going to study online for a little bit,” Mace says of the initial reaction to learning through the Internet. “But it’s also very difficult. You miss that interaction. You don’t have the body language that you have in the classroom. That shared experience becomes very different.”
Mace says Missouri Western hasn’t yet decided whether to require masks be worn indoors this year. Missouri Western will not require vaccinations.
Mace says the university is working to make the St. Joseph campus as safe as possible.
“Our goal is to have an engaging collegiate experience for our students,” Mace says during a visit on the KFEQ Hotline.
Mace says that if it takes masks to return students to the classroom, then the university will require masks.
“I would much rather put my mask back on that have to work remotely,” Mace says.
Mace serves on the university’s COVID-19 response team which advises the administration on its coronavirus response. Mace says the team is weighing various factors, trying to decide whether to require masks.
“We gather as much data as we possibly can,” according to Mace. “We sit on conference calls every week with other institutions around the state, thinking about what they’re doing, talking about whether or not they’re requiring a mask versus strongly suggesting a mask. All of those play into our decision making as well.”
Fall classes begin on the St. Joseph campus August 30th.