NewsGetting Back to School

Actions

ASU welcomes thousands of students on campus for first day of class

Posted at 9:50 AM, Aug 20, 2020
and last updated 2020-08-20 12:51:32-04

TEMPE, AZ — Thursday is the first day of class for thousands of students at ASU.

The university is offering both online and in-person learning at a limited capacity.

Vice President of ASU Media Relations Katie Paquet says most courses will be operating under ASU Sync, which allows students to watch lectures live on Zoom or attend class in-person with staggered attendance schedules.

Face coverings are mandatory in all buildings and outside when social distancing isn't possible and free COVID-19 testing is available for staff and students.

Paquet says they are still working out the details, but they also plan on testing a random portion of the student and employee population on a weekly basis.

“To monitor what is happening with the virus," Paquet said. "We feel that will give us a good indicator of what’s happening and so that will be a random 7% of students and employees that are selected that will be tested on a daily basis."

ASU says about 125,000 students registered for the Fall 2020 semester. They say this year's freshmen class will be the second largest class in ASU history.