NAMPA, Idaho — Northwest Nazarene University will host its postponed commencement ceremonies Sunday, Sept. 6 at the Ford Idaho Center, the university announced Tuesday.
The ceremony, which was postponed from its original May date due to coronavirus concerns, will begin at 1:30 p.m. for the graduate and professional studies ceremony and the traditional
undergraduate ceremony is planned to begin at 5:30 p.m. Only those with tickets will be allowed into the ceremony and proper social distancing guidelines will be followed, according to a news release from the university.
NNU students will be allowed to move into on-campus housing between Aug. 27-29, with in-person classes beginning Monday, Aug. 31.
The university's COVID-19 plan includes:
- Implement enhanced cleaning and disinfecting protocols for all common areas
- Request daily self-health screenings for all community members who will be on campus
- Promote personal responsibility and good hygiene, which will include physical distancing and face coverings in all shared public spaces
- Create traffic flow patterns in each campus building
- Limit and monitor outside visitors to the NNU community
- Discourage unnecessary/nonessential travel and monitor all essential travel by NNU community members
- Develop testing protocols that will help maintain a healthy campus
- Establish clear treatment and quarantine/isolation protocols for students who present as potentially positive for COVID-19 and/or who have been exposed
In addition, classes will begin one day early and scheduled breaks will be reduced. The changes will end the semester one week early, according to NNU. Class sizes will be limited and classrooms will be arranged to accommodate social distancing guidelines.
Outside of the academic environment, students will be grouped into "family units" based on their residential units and some activities may be limited to a family unit.
