WKU News

Update: Read President Caboni's March 13 campus message

More: For the latest updates and messages, visit WKU's COVID-19 information page.

President Timothy C. Caboni’s opening statement at Wednesday’s news conference announcing WKU’s response to COVID-19:

Today, WKU is announcing changes in operations to better protect our communities and help mitigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. These measures concerning course delivery, events, travel and telecommuting demonstrate our commitment to and care of our WKU family and beyond.

To be clear, no cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed on or near our campuses. Therefore, the time to take action is now.

We are extending spring break for our students through Sunday, March 22. Residence halls will open on schedule for any student who needs to return to campus. This will allow our faculty time to transition those courses currently taught face-to-face to an alternative delivery method. This will be a major undertaking, but necessary as we promote social distancing as a way of mitigating exposure.

Beginning March 16 through April 5, we will implement a new policy for on-campus events. Anyone planning an on-campus, non-athletic event involving more than 50 people will need to reschedule, cancel or virtualize that event.  Decisions on athletic events will be made in consultation with the NCAA and Conference USA.

Also beginning March 16, WKU is suspending all but mission-critical, university-funded travel, both international and domestic.

Finally, we are directing all supervisors to provide maximum flexibility to their employees to work remotely, again promoting social distancing.  Tasks that can be performed from home, should be.

WKU has been actively monitoring this situation for weeks. We have developed a COVID-19 task force that meets daily. We have also developed a website, wku.edu/covid19, that will serve as our central repository of information about the virus and how it relates to WKU. Communication with our campuses and communities will be continuing.

Following his opening statement, President Caboni answered questions from news media: