Matt Harmon: On this episode of Monmouth weekly university, president Patrick Lehe walks us through the last two weeks in the process of putting a fall plan in place for the upcoming semester. This is faculty member, Matt Harmon. It's time for episode 16 of Monmouth weekly. Thanks as always for joining us Matt Harmon: Last few weeks of the summertime here at the Jersey shore, which means that school is around the corner. And it has certainly been a little unique to talk about how things are going to become, uh, that first full week of September with the university president Patrick Lehe, I'm faculty member, Matt Harmon. We're good to be back with you. This is mom with weekly, uh, president Lehe. I wish you a good morning. We took, uh, last week off and, and I think actually that was probably a good thing because the way that the week started was a little bit different than the way that the week finished in terms of what Monmouth has planned. Patrick Leahy: Uh, good morning, professor Harmon, always good to be with you. Uh, yeah, things are changing, changing quickly. I'm glad that our, uh, Monmouth weekly is now Monmouth. Biweekly gives us a chance to clarify a few things in between our sessions. Matt Harmon: You know, it was crazy because I can remember, um, on Monday, I think of of a week ago, having the news coming out that Monmouth would be all remote. Um, and, and let's maybe start with that. Just the idea of trying to get the message out now that has, has changed, but let's start with the original thought plan and process of why the school was going to be, be starting all remote. Patrick Leahy: So, you know, this, uh, Matt, we've talked about it at our previous podcast that we've been working for weeks, weeks, months now on a fall reopening plan here at Monmouth. And, uh, the goal all along was a modified in person experience for our students. Certainly not reopening the campus in full, but nonetheless, a modified reopening and, uh, the state of New Jersey called that sort of stage three reopening. So we had to have a stage two plan and a stage three plan. And, uh, when we got outta stage one way back in June and moved to stage two, we all anticipated getting to stage three by September. So we were so focused on that. And then July came, came and went and we got into early August and we could not get that clarity from the state of New Jersey as to whether we would in fact, be moving as a state to stage three and allowing for that modified in person experience, we pressed, uh, the office of the secretary of higher ed. We pressed other people in the state government to try to get some clarity because we knew that the time was running out for us to make an announcement for our students and their families, and then our faculty and staff who support them. So in early August, we made one final attempt to try to get clarity from the state. And they basically told us that we would not be moving outta stage three in the state for weeks, maybe even months. And it was on the basis of that information, Matt, that mammoth and, and frankly, many of the other, if not, most of the other New Jersey schools decided we had a little choice, but to go to a mostly remote instruction, our stage two plan, that was what we were rolling out a week ago, Monday, um, and trying to get people comfortable with that and troubleshooting questions. Uh, it was on a, on a series of open calls with, uh, students and their families. I think all told we had over 1300, uh, students on those calls. Uh, so we were rolling that out and just as we were getting some traction rolling that out, quite candidly, we were surprised with, uh, the governor's announcement and the governor's announcement as you now know, was, uh, that, that he felt that it was prudent for him to allow colleges and universities to open much more fully and to go back to in person instruction and to open up more services on the campus. Um, so that was the surprise announcement of, of last week, Matt Harmon: Just to put the context, uh, in context for people the, the week we are talking about was August 10th, which was the Monday, uh, Monmouth made the announcement. And then I believe that Wednesday on the 12th is when governor Murphy said that colleges and universities could return to, um, in person. When you say that you were surprised and, and this is not to be critical at all of anyone. Um, what do you think changed between essentially? I I'm just thinking of schools, mammoth, Rutgers Princeton, Seton hall, um, a lot of the, the state schools, the Montclair's yes. Had all, had all announced to be remote. Wh what do you think changed in that the state essentially said after everyone had made most of their, their announcements and designations that it, it was then deemed that it would be okay. Patrick Leahy: Well, first of all, like you, Matt, I don't, I don't envy the decisions that our governor has to make. So I, I appreciate, uh, all the, uh, challenging scenarios that he's considering. Um, I don't wanna speak for him, but I, I did have a chance, uh, that all the college and university presidents across the state had a chance to, to visit with him the following day. Uh, and dialogue with him a little bit about that. Very question. And I certainly don't wanna speak for him, but my sense is that he thought a couple things. Number one, he knows that a lot of people wanted to, to reopen, um, this fall. It would a lot of students and their families were really anxious to have that, um, as much of an in-person experience as possible. So I think he was feeling, you know, that those, uh, uh, suggestions, uh, very, very regularly. I think the second thing was, um, he was seeing positive numbers in the state of New Jersey. I mean, what, when there was a little bit of a backward bump in July and that maybe, uh, caused some concern, I think over the last few weeks, uh, our public health numbers have been headed in the right direction. I, I think, and that's that's positive, but then the last thing he said was, uh, he had asked the secretary of higher ed to review all of the restart plans that colleges and universities were compelled to, uh, submit to this state. And upon reviewing those, I think he was comforted that, uh, all of us are taking this very seriously. We're all placing a premium on health and safety first and foremost. And I think when he saw those plans or heard about those plans, uh, he was, I think, comforted that he might be able to offer this, uh, enhanced reopening, almost exemption for the, for the colleges and universities. Um, and I think that's probably what prompted it, even if the timing's not great. And I get that, that the timing wasn't great. Uh, I think in the long run, this will be a positive thing for, for Monmouth. Matt Harmon: When you think that on Monday, Monmouth makes that announcement on Wednesday, the governor kind of changes course and allows schools and universities, uh, to open back up was that I'll say 48 hours give or take a little bit here or there. Um, was that a, was that a 48 hours of a lot of nail biting because I listen, I'm, I'm sure to be fair to the student population who, who does want to return to campus. I'm sure there were decisions that got made from a family perspective. Doesn't make sense financially. If I can't live on campus, do I defer, do I take a semester off? Um, I'm sure a lot of those questions kind of filled Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Patrick Leahy: Yeah. You can't imagine the, uh, energy, uh, around our enrollment office, our admissions office and how that spills over to our financial aid office and to our housing office and to, you know, academic affairs in general, very legitimate questions among students and their families about ex you know, making sure they understand fully what the experience will be like, what services are available to them, whether it makes sense for them to return to campus or, or not to live. Uh, these are legitimate questions and we've just tried to be as responsive as possible. I mean, you know, our, our mantra here is to, is rapid response and highly personalized responses to all those inquiries. You know, I've been selling to families over through the course of this Matt, that, that our, our relationship with students and their families, if you think about it is a lifelong relationship. I mean, yeah, we wanna bring them here and in four years, get them graduated successfully. But then as you know, every graduate of this university becomes an alum of, of the university for the re remainder of their lives. And, and be, if we take that long view that this is a lifelong relationship, we want to be as flexible as we can possibly be in a short run. So if students wanna defer their housing for the first semester and reconsider for the second semester, we're gonna allow them to do that. Um, in this enhanced, uh, offering that we can, uh, offer to students. Now, if students want to go a hundred percent online in the fall, we're gonna try to accommodate that if students want to have more of an in person experience so that it can more fully justify them coming back to campus, to live with us, we're gonna try to accommodate that as well. Just try to be as flexible as possible to, um, address what we know is, uh, a lot of anxiety among students and their families at this time. Matt Harmon: And then the announcement comes out, I think Thursday morning, which would be the, the 13th. You announced that Monmouth is, is essentially going back to the plan that they had, which is a combination of in person hybrid online classes, um, be because that was the direction that Monmouth was going. Was it, was it easy to just make that change and just say, we're, we're essentially going back to what we thought we would be doing Patrick Leahy: Easier. maybe not easy but easier. Yes. I mean, we immediately, once we decided that at the state of new Jersey's going to allow us to offer in person courses, remember overriding all of this, Matt is from the very beginning, was my, uh, dedication to making decisions here at Monmouth based on the public health officials in the state of New Jersey and Monmouth county guiding us. Um, you know, we, we have, uh, as I, I understand around this campus, some folks who are engaged in public health faculty members who teach in public health, um, but I, I, I've always said that I wanna rely on those public health officials who have jurisdiction over us here in the state and here in the county. And what they're telling us is, is feasible when the governor said it is feasible, it is safe. It is possible to have in-person instruction. We decided pretty quickly that we ought to try to go back to offering that mix for students, because we know some of our students desperately want that mix. So when we decided that we went right back to those faculty members who had already signed up for, in person or for hybrid offerings in the fall, went back to them first and petitioned them and said, Hey, look, it's still your decision, how best to offer academic programming in the fall for our students, but we're now allowed to offer more in person. Would you be, uh, you know, interested in flipping back? And, uh, the good news is we got most of those, all those courses back right away, and we were able to add them to the mix. So I, I know it's perceived by so many as you know, well, we're vacillating. Well, we're only vacillating to the extent that we are reacting to new information. And, uh, I don't consider that vacillating. I consider that, uh, being flexible. Matt Harmon: Okay. So if, if you think of it from, um, plan plan one to plan two back to plan one how has, how has plan number one been, um, I I'll, I'll say received from what will be the incoming mammoth population? Patrick Leahy: Uh, well, so, so here's the here's the, here are the distinctions. So all this talk of, well, we decided to go remote and now we're going back here. It all boils down to just a few things, Matt. Um, this is what we're allowed to do now, based on the governor's most recent executive order, we can offer more in person and hybrid courses. Great. And we've got those restored so that we can meet as many of the preferences of our students as possible. And then on the campus life side, all computer labs will open now that they weren't allowed to be open in the previous plan. Indoor dining is allowed now that wasn't allowed in the previous plan, the library is, can now be more fully open now, and it couldn't in the previous plan. So when you, you know, this, it seems like a, a major change back and forth. It's really not. It's, it's, uh, a more full reopening of the campus here in the fall. So when we tried to do another round of calls with students and their families, and we talked with faculty members at length and with our staff members at length, when we, when we got that distinction, uh, established the feedback from our students has been very positive. They feel like when they petition for either more online classes so that they might be a hundred percent remote, as I mentioned, we're trying to accommodate that. But now we have that flexibility for those families that say, you know what, we, we, we wanna send our son or daughter back. We feel confident that you're gonna take good care of them. Now we can offer more to them. And it's showing up in our numbers, I'm knocking on wood here, but, um, our registrations, uh, for the fall continue to be robust. I mean, we have lost some housing contracts, no question. I mean, for a lot of our students who have decided to go online, I, I don't begrudge them. The fact that they don't want to pay to come to campus and live in our dorm to do that. They can do that from home. Um, so we've lost some housing contracts, but, um, knock on wood to this point. We haven't lost many students. So, uh, it is my hope that our, our manner in which we are offering this flexibility will turn out to be a good thing in terms of, uh, hanging on to students this fall Matt Harmon: University, president Patrick Lehe, faculty member, Matt Harmon, this is Mamba weekly. Uh, let's continue talking about the reopening plan. Um, president Lehe, as of now, the semester gets up and going on, uh, September 8th, that first Tuesday after labor day, which is traditionally when Mammouth reopens its doors. Um, has there been any alteration or change to the current academic calendar or as it sits right now is, is, is, and would be the plan come September. Patrick Leahy: Not yet Matt, we are starting, uh, the day after labor day, as you point out, uh, we will run the traditional length of the semester, which would mean, uh, we will, you know, finish sometime in mid-December as we normally would. Uh, we have not changed the, the, the academic schedule right now. What we retain the flexibility to change is at any point, do we think it makes sense to, you know, sort of densify the campus and clear out the campus and send students home from their residence halls and maybe migrate sort of the end of the semester, uh, more online. We we've, we will retain the right to make that decision as we get into the fall, but we had decided weeks ago that we wanted to start on time and try to finish on time and, uh, just give ourselves the flexibility to adjust as public health information, uh, warrants throughout the course of the fall. Matt Harmon: I'll ask this question, uh, to you knowing that not only are the university president, but that you have, um, kids that are at this age and in college, how concern have you been reading the reports of places like the university of North Carolina, like the places of, of Notre Dame, where they have gone back and it's been an immediate outbreak of, of COVID 19. Patrick Leahy: I'm very concerned about it. I read the trade press, uh, daily, uh, you know, to try to find out like everyone else what's going on around not only our state, but around the country. Um, you know, a couple things I'll, I'll note about those high profile cases. First of all, I don't have any idea what the health protocols that are in place either at those institutions or in those states. Um, so I don't, I don't want to comment on, uh, something that might be happening at happening at another university since I don't know how they operate their university, if you know what I mean. So, um, I'm watching it carefully. I, I am of course, very concerned, uh, about the, the possibility of bringing students back to live with us and ensuring compliance with our, um, uh, healthcare protocols throughout the fall, uh, particularly worried about, uh, off campus activity like everybody else. Uh, so we'll continue to make sure that our healthcare protocols are followed. Every student who returns to Monmouth this fall has to go through COVID 19 training. And a big part of that training Matt is to try to make sure we appeal to them that they are part of a community. And as part of a community, you have responsibility and that responsibility this fall is you need to follow the healthcare protocols that we've put in place to protect everybody in the community. Um, I've said to, uh, the faculty, the staff, and to our students that, uh, the university will be very, uh, transparent about cases that we have on campus, how we're handling those cases and, uh, will always work in close, uh, concert with public health officials. If we determine that there are, you know, we're starting to see too many cases on the campus. So of course I'm worried about it. Um, we're trying to integrate here the, the, the most important issue, which is the health, safety and wellbeing of all of those entrusted to our, our care w and integrate that into what we know to be the preferences of families, to be able to come back to campus and to have as much of a normal college experience as possible. So you, you, you integrate those two things. The state of new Jersey's told us it should be possible. So we're gonna, uh, uh, proceed with that in mind. This fall Matt Harmon: Is, is there a, I, I know there is, but ha has anything changed in terms of, um, I'll say the plan in place, should something happen where somebody on campus or within the university community comes down with it, the steps that would be taken in terms of, of quarantining and contact tracing and all of the terms that we've become so associated with in the, in the course of the last four to five months. Patrick Leahy: I mean, if you think about it, um, Matt, the, the state of New Jersey, even when they gave us the green light to, uh, more fully reopen in the fall, they know that there are gonna be positive cases on campus. Um, way back in the beginning of the summer, when they asked us to submit fall restart plans, all of us were required to set aside quarantine and isolation space on campus, so that students who identified as positive can be moved to those, um, those I more isolated spaces for the quarantine period. So that is a, that is an admission that we know that there will be some cases this fall on college and university campuses. It's just, let's make sure that we manage those cases as carefully as possible. We have a, a very detailed plan that has been submitted to the state. And to this point has been endorsed by the state around all those protocols. Uh, if we identify a positive test, we work with the Monmouth county, uh, public health commission to do the contact tracing individuals will be within that contact tracing, uh, uh, sort of channel will, will all be directed for tests of their own. We have plenty of tests available, both, both sort of the rapid response tests, as well as, uh, access to the, the more comprehensive tests that need to be sent out and returned within three days. Um, so we, we have the, the space set aside. We have, uh, extra capacity in our health center, including plenty of availability of tests. And, uh, we will, uh, manage this as carefully as possible, always working in concert with, uh, the Monmouth county public health commission, which has, which has, they've proven to be great partners through this whole process to this point Matt Harmon: Let's finish with, um, now listen, it's good news that the school is opening back up, but let's finish with real good news. Uh, and that good news being that next week, there will be graduation. There will be commencement that takes place, uh, albeit in many different stages and during many different days and times, but that's the official end to the spring semester that I know you've been waiting for. Patrick Leahy: Yeah. The timing here is really good, Matt, because before we get into the start of the next, you know, the traditional academic year, we wanna close down properly the last academic year. And the way to do that is to offer, uh, commencement ceremonies for our spring 2020 graduates. You know, when we realized we would have to cancel those ceremonies way back in may, we told the students that we would hold out, uh, making decisions around how to recognize their achievements, uh, as long as possible, so that we might give ourselves as much opportunity to deliver an experience as close to the traditional experience as possible. We waited throughout June and then into July, all along, staying in close touch with the senior class officers. And then finally we got to, again, uh, basically early, uh, early August. And we decided that we would be, uh, offering in person ceremonies, uh, compliant with both the letter and spirit of the social distancing requirements in the state and the maximum cap on the number of people allowable and everything like that. But that we would in fact, offer in-person ceremonies, uh, next week, uh, to recognize the achievement of our spring and summer graduates. We're gonna have to do this over nine different ceremonies because we can only have about 150 graduates at any given ceremony. They each will get three tickets, uh, so that they can distribute them to their family members. It's the most we can do. We started with just two tickets, Matt, and just the way things are falling out. We're able to up that to three tickets. Uh, their family members will be, uh, distributed, uh, so, you know, in a proper social distance manner throughout the stadium, and, uh, the graduates will be lined up in a, uh, healthy way, uh, or seated in a healthy way there on the field at Kessler stadium. And, uh, we will plan to run three ceremonies next Wednesday three on Thursday and three on Friday to try to give our students as much of the in person graduation experience as possible right now. Matt Harmon: Well, clearly that is, uh, tremendous news and I'm, I'm sure that those that will be a part of it next week, um, will be very excited to be able to officially receive their diploma ply. He has always, I, I thank you for your time and, and giving us the information about what is taking place. It has certainly been a, a year and a summer that no one will ever forget, but I, I am among those who say I am looking forward to being back in a classroom and being back to campus come the second week of September. Patrick Leahy: Great. Thank you, Matt. Again, for all of your interests and helping to keep our, uh, Monmouth university constituents informed during this challenging time. I'm very grateful to you for your support here. Matt Harmon: We will have, uh, continued episodes of Monmouth weekly coming up. We will keep you updated with all of the news and happenings around the campus. If you do need more information, feel free to go to monmouth.edu, anyone that you would need to contact there, any of the school services, any scheduled questions, uh, that would be your starting point. Reach out to your individual departments and professors as well for university president Patrick Lehe. This is faculty member, Matt Harmon, wishing you all a great week and look forward to seeing you on campus. We'll be back with another episode of Monmouth weekly for now. Episode 16 comes to a close. Thanks is always for listening.