Morgan State President David Wilson hosted the university’s annual spring town hall online and the session was packed with hot topics including a fall 2021 campus reopening plan and its COVID-19 protocol, the university’s vaccination site endeavor, construction updates and more.

Fall 20201 campus reopening plan

Wilson has collaborated with his cabinet members and produced two plans for the structure of operation for fall 2021. Plan A would consist of the campus having a 90 to 100 percent occupancy. Plan B, which is referred to as the Safe Distancing Model, would only open campus at 50 percent occupancy. 

Rooms in Baldwin Hall, Cummings Hall, Harper Tubman House, Marble Hall Gardens Apartment Complex and HH Midtown will operate in the single rate option fall semester. Thurgood Marshall Apartment Complex and O’Connell Hall will not be used. 

Wilson said he is anticipating a full face-to-face campus environment with the option of hybrid classes. Extensive cleaning and sanitizing of all buildings and classrooms are top priority and classrooms and offices will be configured to fulfill social distancing, according to Wilson.

Morgan State vaccination site

While Morgan stands as a testing site and most recently included Morgan View University Apartments as one of its locations, the university is also working to become a vaccination site. With the help of the Maryland Health Center, Wilson said the university will have a definite answer by the end of March. 

Construction updates

The new Thurgood Marshall Hall and Northwood Plaza plan to open in 2022, accommodating a more modern aesthetic and student life. The new School of Community Health and Policy and School of Social Work Building are set to open their doors in 2024.  

Monetary donations

Wilson spoke about Morgan’s newest monetary donations including Alumnus Calvin E. Tyler Jr. and his wife, Tina’s $20 million donations towards the university’s endowed scholarship fund and Whiting-Turner Contracting Company’s $300,000 gift to support students into construction management. 

The Tylers’ donation will help create scholarships to aid need-based students with full-tuition scholarships for incoming first-year students along with 20 partial tuition scholarships.