On April 7, California State University, East Bay’s College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences, or CLASS, held a virtual “Town Hall” which acted as a forum between students, faculty, and the deans of CLASS to discuss the hybrid fall 2021 schedule. “Hybrid” refers to half on-ground and half online.

Leading the Town Hall were MyKale Clark, the ASI Senator for CLASS, Sarah Nielsen, Interim Associate Dean of CLASS, and Pat Jennings, the Associate Dean of CLASS.

Here is the information we know about the upcoming fall semester for CLASS students as mentioned in the Town Hall:

Most courses are going to be online, but some courses will be hybrid, meaning they will be both online and in person. Going more in depth about what these hybrid courses will look like, it’s important first to explain the different types of courses that will be offered.

If a course says “asynchronous,” it’s an entirely online course. “Hybrid online” refers to half of the course being on Zoom and the other half online.

If meeting days and times are listed when signing up for a course, the class is most likely fully on-ground, but this will only be the case for a handful of courses in the fall. In the case that an on-ground course is offered, students will have the option to take an online version or alternative for the course.

For anyone going back on campus for a course in the fall, it’s important to note the safety precautions being put into place. In the Town Hall, there was a discussion about CLASS working on a 50 percent capacity model.

For example, if a course is open to 60 students, only 30 students will be on-ground. Dr. Sarah Nielsen assured there will be the necessary spacing of desks, and the filtration and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems have been reconfigured to ensure that clean air is flowing throughout the building.

She also mentioned that every student will be required to do a brief online training for every on-ground class and that each faculty member is required to create safety guidelines for their classroom.

The difficulties of accessing resources while online were also acknowledged during the Town Hall. Dr. Nielsen reassured some computer labs will be open, along with the studio and editing lab. The Communication office will also be available and accessible on-ground in the fall.

Some good news is that additional federal money will come in the fall, but it is not confirmed how CLASS will be utilizing it.

According to MyKale Clark, new in-person student employment opportunities will open back up in the fall. Clark mentioned for those who are members of a student organization and want to go back on campus in the fall should contact student life.

Even with the fall semester still, a few months away, many questions were asked about the spring 2022 semester. Both Dr. Nielsen and Dr. Jennings remained optimistic about the next spring semester and acknowledged that it’s mostly up in the air and depends heavily on future Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations.

There is no official campus plan for being fully back on-ground in spring 2022, but with some offices open part-time and some face-to-face classes being available in the fall. The hope is to have the campus back open for full operation in time for the spring 2022 semester.