Campus Wide

COVID-19 response FAQs | March 15

By CSU Media | March 15, 2020

Charleston Southern announced Sunday its decision to extend online instruction through Tuesday, March 31 in a proactive response to the COVID-19 threat. The campus will be closed to students during this time.

Please see the following FAQs for additional information.

Yes, we are postponing the First Look event and will be contacting all of those who RSVP’d for that event by Monday, March 16.  We hope to reschedule it for April 18 and will let you know the details as soon as possible.

Residential students will be allowed on campus until Wednesday, March 18 at 3 p.m. to retrieve textbooks and other necessities. If the student is in a distant location, there is no need to make a trip to campus to retrieve textbooks.

We encourage students who traveled over Spring Break to remain off campus until online instruction ends. Students who have traveled to impacted areas, on cruises and in airports are strongly encouraged to stay home during this period. Please also self-report through this web form.

 

Faculty members are aware of the possibility that students may not have access to their textbooks. Instructional content will be modified to minimize the need for textbooks. The library website (library.csuniv.edu) provides access to thousands of e-resources, and faculty members will direct you to these sites to ensure proper course content is available to the students.

We are fortunate to have a federal grant from the Department of Education that has allowed us to offer enhanced online services through Blackboard. Those resources are now available and include video conferencing, live chat, e-mail, and 24/7 technical support. Professors are setting up their classes in Blackboard and will utilize resources other than textbooks since most students did not take their books with them on Spring Break.

Barnes and Noble has partnered with VitalSource to make eTexts available free of charge from now until May 25. All a student has to do is visit https://get.vitalsource.com/vitalsource-helps and create an account. You will then be able to access your textbooks. We don’t have a guarantee that all books are there in electronic format, but most of them will be available.

We strongly advise those who have traveled internationally or to an impacted area to stay home during this period. Please also self-report through this web form.

The library will be closed on Sunday, March 15 and will reopen on Monday, March 16 from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. A decision about ongoing operating hours will be made on Monday. The library will be open only to CSU students with a valid student ID in an effort to restrict access. Online resources through the library website (library.csuniv.edu) will be utilized by faculty teaching via Blackboard.

The Dining Hall will open on Sunday, March 15 at 4:30 p.m. Dining Hall will resume a normal operating schedule on Monday, March 16 and will close on Wednesday, March 18 at 3 p.m. Aramark will continue its increased flu season protocols as a precautionary measure and has provided additional education to its staff in a preventative response to the coronavirus.

The Brewer Center and Java City will be closed. Chick-fil-A will be open from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. through Wednesday, March 18.

Currently, in-person classes are canceled. On-campus events will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Please follow our events calendar and the BucNation App for the latest updates.

Online instruction allows CSU to continue coursework as planned and without any interruption to the spring semester schedule.

Faculty advising will be conducted online or via phone. Faculty members are not required to keep office hours in person next week. Students must contact their advisors via email to schedule an online advising appointment.

The Spring Formal has been postponed to April 24. Please check back for any possible changes.

All athletic events have been postponed through the end of March. The Big South Conference announced on Wednesday, March 18, that all regular-season competition, conference championships, and athletics activities that are required or that include coach involvement, through the remainder of the 2019-20 season due to the ongoing concerns. Please check csusports.com for the latest information on athletic events.

Students returning from affected areas may be carriers of the virus even if they are currently asymptomatic. Our focus is on social distancing to prevent a surge in COVID-19 cases, preserving critical medical services for higher risk populations.

The College of Nursing will contact students regarding clinical hours.

At this time, we will follow the regular school system schedule. If there is a change in the status of the public schools where you are teaching, you will be contacted by your faculty supervisor for next steps.

Please contact your faculty advisor or direct supervisor for specific guidance.

No. Online instruction means we continue as usual in our academic semester.


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