Truman Establishes Altered Guidelines for the Spring Semester

Truman will operate under some altered guidelines during the spring semester.

In-person classes remain suspended for the spring semester. CDC recommendations for social distancing will be followed, and high-touch surfaces and restrooms will be cleaned and disinfected multiple times throughout the day.

Following Gov. Parson’s March 21 directive, Truman suspended its previously scheduled move out open to all on-campus residents between March 23-30. In order to be compliant with the governor’s directive, CDC guidelines and advice from of the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development, the University is developing a move-out plan that should be available to all students by April 7. A pilot program is currently being implemented with a very small number of students who are being allowed to move out of their on-campus residence based on the order in which their original request was received.

All in-person student services, except for the Health Center which is operating under CDC guidelines, are suspended for the rest of the spring semester, as are in-person meetings with faculty and staff and the use of labs and studios. All in-person student services that have been suspended will be offered in alternative delivery formats. As such, all academic buildings, Pickler Memorial Library, the Student Union Building, the Student Recreation Center and Pershing Arena are closed to students and the general public. Food service is available on a to-go basis only for on-campus students with a meal plan.

The University is working on a solution to credit students for unused portions of meal plans and housing contracts. Details will be sent later to students with housing contracts. This may take some time since there are many individual situations, and federal financial aid guidelines restrict how and when credits can be made to student accounts.

Students with scholarship-hour obligations will retain their scholarship funding and will not be required to fulfill any more hours this semester. Scholarship students who would like to continue their employment should contact their supervisors for available options. Students who have a federal work-study job (which is only about 200 students on campus) will be compensated for the remainder of the semester based on the number of hours they were scheduled to work. Federal work-study students who would like to continue their employment will need to coordinate with their supervisor. Students working for the University and receiving institutional pay who would like to continue their employment must contact their supervisors. Due to altered services on campus, where student workers are needed has changed. Students are encouraged to regularly check trupositions.truman.edu if they need employment.

A decision regarding commencement will be made by March 31. Should the need arise, the University will explore rescheduling commencement. Graduates will also have the option to participate in a future commencement ceremony if they are unable to attend any rescheduled event. The Registrar’s Office is attempting to convert the graduation fair, originally scheduled for late April, to an alternate format and will notify May graduates when instructions are ready. Questions regarding purchased materials for commencement should be communicated directly to the merchant. Degrees will be conferred at the regular time regardless of when commencement ceremonies take place.

During these extraordinary times, Truman remains committed to providing a quality educational experience for all of its students. Faculty members have made adjustments to complete their courses through alternative instructional methods. While some services may be altered or disrupted, Truman is making every effort to keep its students informed and their academic careers on track. At this time, there are still no known cases of COVID-19 among any Truman students, faculty or staff. Updates will continue to be posted to trualert.truman.edu in addition to regular campus emails.