Protect PurdueSummary Report
FALL 2020 – SPRING 2021
The next giant leap toward a healthy and safe campus
Two dates in 2020 will forever be a part of Purdue University history:
Jan. 24, 2020
When Purdue’s Public Health Emergency Planning Committee announced it was actively monitoring the status of novel coronavirus 2019 (2019-nCoV).
March 16, 2020
The first day of spring break, when Purdue administrators informed the campus that the University would transition to fully remote status for the remainder of the spring semester, including the final exam period, in response to the COVID-19 public health crisis.
These developments set in motion a series of careful steps that ultimately resulted in an extensive plan for a safe return to campus for the 2020-21 academic year for a community of more than 50,000 people amid a global pandemic.
The Safe Campus Task Force
A broad-based team of the best minds and experienced leaders at Purdue, the Safe Campus Task Force was commissioned in March 2020 to assess the feasibility, risks and opportunities of returning to residential instruction with a science- and data-driven mindset, and propose the changes needed in practices, procedures, physical facilities and operations for such a return with the above-all goal of protecting the most vulnerable.
On April 21, 2020, Purdue President Mitch Daniels announced the intention to reopen campus in the Fall 2020 semester for in-person instruction and commissioned the Protect Purdue Implementation Team to develop the specific procedures needed to do so based on the recommendations of the Safe Campus Task Force.
That blueprint was called the Protect Purdue Plan.
The public-facing Protect Purdue campaign, developed to implement and communicate Purdue’s reopening and operational efforts for the 2020-21 academic year, was propelled by a story that’s equal parts education, inspiration and assurance, with the overarching commitment that the entire Boilermaker family is in this together for the common good. Along the way, campus leaders pledged to continually learn and refine Protect Purdue processes in response to this dynamic public health crisis.
This Protect Purdue Summary Report highlights the many small steps that 50,000+ students, faculty and staff took to safely and successfully complete in-person instruction for the 2020-21 school year amid the most challenging time in this University’s 150-year history.