Students may have noticed their professors have Zoom office hours and aren’t on campus unless necessary.

University employees are being asked to work remotely when they are able to, President Ron Rochon announced Tuesday in the fall meeting. This initiative aims to reduce traffic and congestion on campus, it will begin August 24 and will last six weeks.

“My goal is actually to reduce the density of campus even more,” said Rochon. “I’d like to see a less footprint on campus in the most intentional way.”

The initiative also implements a plan for rotational schedules that allows university employees to work in person and at home at differing times to reduce density of workers. 

The fall meeting, normally held in person, was presented as a pre-recorded video due to COVID-19. The meeting was moved from Carter Hall to the Screaming Eagles Arena last year.

Other announcements from the meeting included:

• The spring semester will be delayed until Jan. 18.
• Spring break and assessment days will be converted into instructional days, this means there will be no spring break.
• Proctorio, an online exam monitoring technology, will be provided to all classes.
• Aquatic center is expected to be completed at the beginning of the spring semester.
• Some dining options will shut down early to allow deep cleaning, no times were specified.
• A third bus will be added to the METS on USI’s campus, with reduced seating and masks required by METS.
• Deaconess will be testing on campus.