UWM Students to Return to Campus for Fall 2021 Semester

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone announced UWM’s return to in-person classes for the Fall 2021 semester in a UWM Town Hall meeting on Tuesday, March 9.

UWM has become a vaccination site for faculty, staff and students in order to facilitate immunity among those on-campus. Mone said the goal is for all students and staff to be vaccinated by the end of summer, in order to ensure a healthy return to campus.

Since the rate of COVID-19 infection has been below 1% residence halls are expected to be mostly full and dining services will be back to normal, according to Chief of Student Affairs Kelly Haag.

“We are meant to be in community,” Haag said. “And so, it’s really exciting to start thinking to be planning for the fall and having a return to campus traditions whenever possible.”

According to Mone, many students have asked for a return to campus for the Fall 2021 semester.

“Students have said over and over to me, and to many others, how important it is,” Mone said. “This comes from our Student Association leadership, working with their executive team, as well as just students in anecdotes.”

Junior journalism major Lauren Clausing supported the decision to return to campus, saying that she would be grateful to be able to attend classes in-person next semester. The shift to online learning left Clausing missing her on campus job and interactions with friends and professors.

“I, in general, kind of struggle in the classroom [because] I have a little bit of an attention issue,” Clausing said. “Having to be asynchronous with no accountability aspects of not seeing your professor, not interacting with students has been really difficult for me.”

An edition of the WUWM Chancellor’s Report allowed Mone to speak to three different students and gather their experience with online learning and their feelings on transitioning back to normal.

“The biggest thing that I want to see is the safety measures be put up in order for us to be able to get back into the classroom and have that in-person learning,” senior Psychology major Alina Frias said.

Mone directly mentioned the WUWM podcast during the town hall meeting. He said the return to campus will provide bonding, student engagement, peer interaction and development for all students.

Provost Johannes Britz said the Fall 2021 semester is planned to function as close to normal as possible. Fall of 2019, the last “normal” semester before COVID-19, was used to model the plan for the upcoming transition.

“It’s remarkable what we have done and we certainly have come a long way,” Britz said.

The decision for in-person classes follows a written announcement made by University of Wisconsin System President Tommy Thompson last month. According to a Capital Times article written by Thompson, the UW system will be transitioning back to face-to-face learning in order to engage and enrich students in a traditional university setting.

“We know the pandemic still hovers over all of our lives,” Thompson wrote. “Yet, we also have hope that the vaccine supply will increase and know that our efforts maintain a safe and healthy environment for students, faculty and staff will persist.”

The shift back to in-person education was made possible by the UW system’s dedication to testing, social distancing and staying within CDC protocol, according to Thompson.

In a Faculty Senate Meeting on March 18, Mone announced that individuals who can verify that they are fully vaccinated will no longer have to participate in the COVID-19 testing routine.

No further updates or instruction on the UWM Fall 2021 semester have been released at this time.