Notre Dame President John Jenkins: Reopening About ‘Wanting To Set A Goal’
Notre Dame President Father John Jenkins said his decision to open campus was about setting a goal and working toward it rather than being reactive and making a move with less time to plan for it.
Speaking on “The Today Show” on Tuesday morning, Jenkins elaborated on the plan he revealed Monday to open campus two weeks earlier than normal, with classes beginning Aug. 10 and ending before Thanksgiving.
“We needed a target to move forward,” Jenkins said. “Obviously there are circumstances we can’t control. If there’s a dramatic outbreak, we’ll have to adapt. We have a lot of work to do in the next three months to make our campus safe. … We think we can achieve it.”
Neither Monday’s announcement or Jenkins’ Tuesday appearance went too deep into specifics other than to say testing will be extensive, masks and social distancing will be part of a reopened campus and Notre Dame has identified facilities to quarantine or isolate anyone who tests positive and their close contacts.
“I don’t have all the details, but I think we can have a safe campus,” Jenkins said.
The rationale behind the earlier start and end date was about control, Jenkins said. Abbreviating the semester and creating fewer opportunities such as fall break or Thanksgiving break for students to leave campus during the semester lowers the risk that more diseases or exposure to the virus returns to campus.
“The great danger is as medical experts tell us … when you bring them together after they went all around the nation and world, they’re going to bring back pathogens,” Jenkins said. “If you can get them here, test them, have a healthy community and then don’t send them away until the semester is over, you’re much more likely to control the spread of any infections.”
He stopped short of saying the school will ban weekend visits to home, friends at other universities or other trips. But he plans on bringing up the risks of those trips to the student body.
“Young people, if it’s important and they believe in it, they step up and challenge one another to step up,” Jenkins said. “I think that’s what’s going to happen. They want to be back on campus. That’s what I hear overwhelmingly. To achieve that goal, I think they’re going to work with us.”
The 1,000-pound boulder in the room is, of course, the viability of fall sports and a football season. Without an opened campus, playing any sport that starts in the fall semester would have been difficult to justify. With it opened, there can be more planning and momentum for a season.
“Our primary focus has been our educational mission,” Jenkins said. “That’s what we’ve thought about to this point. But obviously we’re going to talk about athletics. It’s not just our decision. It’s a decision for all Division I institutions across the nation. We’re going to talk to them and see what is safe, what is possible. I hope we’ll have sports. I hope we’ll have football. We’ll have to see.”
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