South Michigan News

Officials at Hillsdale College have closed the campus due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus, but online classes will remain.

“This is a test of character and intellect of the kind that shapes human souls and portrays them in their excellence,” Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn said in an email announcing the postponement of classes in the campus newspaper, The Collegian.

Initially the college was closed until Mar. 30; that was later extended through April 20.

Arnn said there are two immediate priorities of the college, graduating seniors and ensuring the health of staff, faculty and students. He said the staff seeks to serve students “even at risk of illness to themselves.”

“Of course, their health is our fundamental importance, and we and they will do all we can to protect it,” Arnn said, according to The Collegian.

Online classes will continue and will seek to fill the gap in instruction caused by the hiatus.

Associate Professor of Spanish Todd Mack helped to lead a series of training sessions to ensure faculty members are confident teaching their classes online. Mack has had experience teaching web-based classes.

“I have done a little bit of research on online education and its effectiveness, and I just thought about it in the context of Hillsdale College,” Mack said in The Collegian report. “We had four sessions over three days where I gave professors broad, high-level thoughts about how to approach moving your class online. The basic idea is to keep things simple and use the tools you already know how to use.”

Mack stressed that online classes can be a positive experience.

“We can use these tools to make the best of the situation and our classes,” Mack told The Collegian. “We don’t have to just assume that our classes are going to be a bust because we have to move online. We just need to work hard to continue to communicate with our students, to engage in dialogue.”

College officials said study-abroad trips for students, most of them to Europe, have also been canceled for the time being.