TRU is preparing to welcome students back to campus this fall (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

TRU TOWN HALL

TRU hosts virtual town hall as it plans in-person classes, no mandatory vaccinations for students attending on campus

May 11, 2021 | 6:00 PM

KAMLOOPS — After a year without students on campus, there will be life in the classrooms and hallways at Thompson Rivers University this fall.

In-person classes are being planned as part of the Go Forward guideline, which is directing all post-secondary institutions in B.C. on how to proceed with students on campus this fall.

“With vaccinations rolling out, the prognosis for fall should be a lot better, unless there’s a radical change to variants,” said TRU Vice-President of Administration & Finance Matt Milovick, speaking with CFJC Today over Zoom following a town hall with Dr. Bonnie Henry that TRU hosted Monday night. “That’s what we’ve been planning for, and so to have Dr. Henry convey those messages yesterday was really important.”

Milovick says aside from new international students who may have trouble getting to Kamloops, 90 per cent of classrooms on campus will be full. He adds that being vaccinated will not be mandatory for students to have the opportunity to learn in-person.

“No, they won’t be mandatory,” Milovick confirmed. “We are hoping, through education, that people will decide to get vaccinated. I think, at least internally here at TRU, we all agree that’s the best path forward, but people will make personal choices.”

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At the town hall on Monday night about post-secondary return, Dr. Henry was asked about the importance of vaccines in a safe return to campus.

“We, as a community and as a society here in B.C., are encouraging everybody to be immunized,” she said. “But we don’t have any mandatory immunization programs in the province, and I don’t believe that we should have mandatory COVID vaccine programs. Having said that, it is something we strongly encourage.”

While the province is taking a “cautious and careful” approach to re-opening, Dr. Henry says eventually things like on-campus learning and other such in-person activities will need to get back to normal.

“We’ll be looking carefully at how things evolve next fall — the next respiratory season — but we need to put this in the context of the risk and being able to manage that risk, knowing that this virus is going to be with us for some months to come,” she said Monday night.

TRU itself is not contemplating a mandatory mask policy either at this point. “There could be a place for masks in the fall, but we might be in an environment where we don’t need them,” noted Milovick. “People have the personal choice to wear them if they feel more comfortable that way.”

Unless TRU is told otherwise by the provincial health office, the university will be welcoming back students in the fall.