Michigan State University will start its fall semester in early September – but the school has already announced that it will conduct the semester with online remote learning.
Michigan State made the announcement yesterday, asking all undergrads hoping to live on campus to stay home. The university says there will be some exceptions (it specifically mentions graduate programs and a few specific programs like nursing and veterinary medicine), but it’s unclear what the move will mean for student-athletes.
The pre-emptive decision will avoid the situation that both Notre Dame and the University of North Carolina faced this week with COVID-19 cases spiking over the first week of in-person classes. Both Notre Dame and UNC announced this week that they will transition to remote learning after spending a week teaching in-person classes on campus.
Michigan State’s announcement came directly from university President Samuel L. Stanley – a medical doctor whose background is in infectious diseases.
Canceling Football Leaves Budget Uncertainty for Spartans
MLive.com reports that the cancellation of the fall football season – the Big Ten made that call last week – would leave Michigan State with a hole of about $80-85 million in a $140 million athletics budget. The MLive report suggests that the school will start by cutting non-personnel costs, like travel. But athletic director Bill Beekman said he couldn’t rule out cuts of sports.
“We have to be in ‘never say never’ mode,” Beekman said in the MLive story. “I think there’s nothing that we are going to immediately take off the table. Everything has to be an option as we explore how to close this gap as best we possibly can.”
University of Michigan is starting in person classes. Glad we are going there & not State!!
Will they though …….with two other Michigan Colleges going to online only now?
Larry was very much in person . A school trait.
Who cares. This place is a joke. Very poorly run university and they never have and never will care about swimming at all.
Only partially true. MSU was a swim power in the 1950’s and 60’s. Had NCAA champions, record holders and Olympic medalists on the team when their facility was state-of-the-art and the coach (https://swimswam.com/1956-grape-nuts-commercial-stars-swim-coach-charles-mccaffree-tbt/).