Wichita State University President Jay Golden and Provost Rick Muma outlined plans to begin a phased reopening of the WSU campus next month during a live Virtual Town Hall on Thursday afternoon. 

Golden and Muma were joined by Vice President for Student Affairs Teri Hall and Manager of Instructional Design and Access Carolyn Speer for a panel discussion on the WSU YouTube page. 

“We are working among a variety of groups to plan for the opening of the campus for in-person or modified in-person classes starting this August, and I can’t tell you how much we all look forward to seeing you guys on campus,” Golden said. 

The town hall was hosted by WSU’s Student Government Association and moderated for the first time by Student Body President Rija Khan. 

Provost Rick Muma spoke about the plans to begin opening campus on May 26.

“We’re going to start reopening the campus in phases. This is in anticipation of the governor’s stay home order that will likely be lifted,” he said not long before Gov. Laura Kelly addressed the state through a live broadcast about opening up Kansas. 

“One of the reasons why we are also wanting to make the announcement and get folks engaged around the process of doing that is because it’s going to be a little bit more complicated than it was when we actually moved to online or remote, to go back the other way.”

Tuition increases are still undecided right now, Golden said. 

“We have a number of strategies that we’re evaluating. A lot of it can be predicated on what happens if Sedgwick county and the state opens up after May 3 and what the state budgets are going to be looking at.”

Golden said if WSU does elect for a tuition increase they want to keep it under $70 per semester for full-time students.

“We’re not going to be required to turn in any of the information for tuition and fees till June 1, so we have some time to think about it.”

The university’s phased reopening will probably take about three or four weeks, Muma said. 

More details will be released over the coming month.