COVID-19 Update from LWC President William T. Luckey Jr.
Good afternoon,
Lindsey Wilson College as well as the rest of the world is wrestling with a rapidly changing situation in calculating an appropriate response to the coronavirus pandemic. The first important thing to communicate is just how complex this organization is. With campuses in five states and 17 locations it’s important to not think of the college as a one-size fits all model. In fact, our classes at Hillsboro in Ohio scheduled for this weekend have been moved from a seated to an online delivery model. The residency scheduled for our MSTM students for the main campus this weekend has been cancelled as well. This cohort of students would have been traveling in from 17 different states with many traveling by plane. We thought the prudent decision was to exercise an abundance of caution in not requiring those students to physically be here for a residency that can be accomplished in other ways.
The Columbia campus has its own set of unique challenges. I participated in a Mid-South Conference telephone call with nine member institutions represented. Each of the nine institutions will have student-athletes living on campus, eating in the dining center and participating in regularly scheduled games. A few institutions are planning to move classes online through the end of March returning to a seated format in April. Some of the institutions will not be allowing any fans to attend the contests with a particular concern for indoor contests. What does that mean for theatre performances or concerts?
We pray for the wisdom of Solomon and the stomach of a goat as we search for the right thing to do without a single confirmed case of the coronavirus in Adair County or any surrounding county. We will continue to closely monitor this situation, knowing it could all change in the blink of an eye.
Thank you for your patience and your understanding. We will continue to have this conversation daily and sometimes hourly.
For more information, please visit https://www.lindsey.edu/news/Coronavirus/index.cfm.
If you have questions or concerns, please contact us at 270.384.8001.
Sincerely,
Bill
--