News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
As Tennessee Tech enters its sixth week of classes, campus officials are assessing how to move forward into the spring with the COVID backdrop.
TTU’s Chief Communications Officer Karen Lykins said student and staff are being surveyed about what they think has worked this semester. As things move along, Lykins said the campus is transforming to fit everyone’s needs.
“We have 50 picnic tables and some extra seating, it is advantageous to be outside, to have nature’s best air circulation,” Lykins said. “Study spaces where people can get good WiFi but still, you know, social distance.”
Lykins said when it comes to on-campus rules, that students are following the guidelines. However, the school and Student Affairs reached out to students about maintaining safety off-campus. This came after a video of a packed college bar in Cookeville got media attention.
“One of the messages from faculty and staff alike is, what can we do to continually educate our students,” Lykins said. “We do a Wednesday update where it’s always COVID related.”
For the protocols they can control on campus, Lykins said the school has had to adapt. This has been through infrastructure to maintain safety inside.
“The plastic barriers, we now have HEPA filter machines in all of our auditoriums and public spaces that need them and in all the classrooms,” Lykins said. “We just watched and adapted based on the needs of each particular building.
Lykins said the student body has basically been broken up into thirds. With students broken up between remote, in-person and hybrid.
