CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Meetings begin Wednesday between the West Virginia University Office of Student Conduct and some students already identified who may have been taking part in off-campus parties last weekend in apparent violation of COVID-19 policies and guidelines.
WVU Dean of Students Corey Farris said Tuesday on MetroNews “Talkline” WVU has given enough warnings over the last few months about the conduct expected of students in the midst of the pandemic.
“We’re going to be calling those students in and we’ll meet appropriate conduct with them and that’s all the way up to suspension or expulsion from the university,” Farris said.
WVU is adding to its list of students after investigating the Morgantown area parties, Farris said.
“We’re working with landlords to identify who the tenants are and police are identifying the tenants of the apartments or house who wherever that may be,” Farris said, adding they are also receiving anonymous and non-anonymous tips.
WVU Dean of students @CoreyFarrisWVU joins @HoppyKercheval to discuss what is already happening on campus amidst the return of students and concerns of COVID-19 spread. WATCH: https://t.co/wkudfIRZCB pic.twitter.com/PjlpCDsZXZ
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) August 18, 2020
WVU’s Student Code of Conduct allows the university to take action for actions that take place off-campus. There were several images on social media of weekend parties that appeared to ignore social distancing, crowd limitation orders and mask-wearing mandates.
Farris said WVU is dealing with the conduct “head on.”
“We’re going to use all of the tools in our arsenal,” Farris said. “Our goal is to get our students to Nov. 24 which we are saying is the end of the semester for those in-person classes.”
WVU has already announced that only freshmen, graduate and some professional students will have in-person classes when the semester begins Aug. 26. WVU upperclassmen will begin classes online but many have already arrived in Morgantown to live in apartments they’ve signed leases on.
The University of North Carolina has switched to all remote classes after four clusters of COVID-19 cases broke out last weekend. Farris said Tuesday he’s hopeful WVU can avoid a similar fate. As of Tuesday, WVU has tested more than 12,000 students with 92 testing positive for the virus.
“We can drive the numbers down by isolating those students and then deal with the gatherings head-on through police or Office of Student Conduct,” Farris said. “Most students will follow Mountaineer values but some won’t follow the rules and we’ve got ways to address those quickly.”