The University of Minnesota Crookston invited students back on campus earlier this week, with the first day of classes taking place yesterday. Due to COVID-19, all UMC students must be vaccinated to attend school this fall.
With the new regulations in place and students officially back on campus, Vice-Chancellor of Academic and Student affairs John Hoffman discussed how the first day went. “The energy has been great; you can just feel it in the air,” said Hoffman. “There is just positive energy. It’s a great feeling to have people back; we opened up this week with the theme of “welcome back,” and it’s just good to have everyone back.”
The official enrollment numbers will come out in a few weeks; however, Hoffman did say that on day 1, they had 1,582 total students enrolled. He also expects this number to change in the next weeks as students continue to arrive this week and other students potentially decide to leave UMC. Enrollment numbers are down over the course of the last two years due to COVID-19 and not being able to have students on campus. UMC is expecting those numbers to start rising again.
UMC is an affiliate with the University of Minnesota and will be following the guidelines in place by the U of M this fall regarding COVID-19. Hoffman explained what went into the decision-making. “From the very beginning, our top priority has been the health and well-being of all the members in the community,” said Hoffman. “I have sat in meetings with some of the top scientific experts in the world, talking about the virus, so we’re being able to use the best information possible in making these decisions.”
All students must be vaccinated to attend classes this fall, with some exemptions in which students can apply. Here is corrective information below, which can be found along with many other details on UMC’s Protect the Nest website, protectthenest.crk.umn.edu.
Some students may not be vaccinated due to resources and not having the time after the announcement was made. Hoffman explained these circumstances and when the students must be vaccinated by. “Will be sending information out later this week, maybe earlier next week, so all our students can receive instructions on how to meet the requirements,” said Hoffman. “It’s real clear, students will have six weeks to complete the process, and if not, then we will put a registration hold on their account. It’s a good opportunity to educate people about the science, and I’m confident once people see all the information, they’ll realize that this was a good decision.”
It will be a busy rest of the first week welcoming all the students back, and Hoffman says there is still plenty of activities that will take place. “We’ve got so many different things going on this week,” said Hoffman. “We have a full host of programming for the students, including weekend programming. A couple of other things we’re excited about is our Women’s Soccer team is playing this Friday, and one event later in September on the 18th will be a 9:30 a.m. recognition tailgate for our Baseball team since we weren’t able to celebrate them the right way this spring.”
As of now, the regulations appear to be set in stone for the 2021-2022 school year, but things could change as more information continues to be released. Regardless UMC is happy to have students officially back for the year and for all their events to start taking place.
