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Bergen Community College: Bergen Ready For College Community To Return

With the College fully reopening its campus facilities, students can now enroll in summer classes beginning Aug. 9 and fall classes begi ...

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Press release from Bergen Community College:

July 1, 2021

PARAMUS, N.J. – After more than a year of operating via a mostly remote instructional and professional environment, Bergen Community College President Eric M. Friedman, Ph.D., has outlined the institution’s plans for fully reopening its campus facilities. The plan includes offering courses both in-person and online during the upcoming summer and fall semesters, reopening campus resources and allowing faculty and staff to return to their offices. The Bergen Board of Trustees will formally adopt a revised reopening plan at the governing body’s July 6 meeting.

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With the College fully reopening its campus facilities, students can now enroll in summer classes beginning Aug. 9 and fall classes beginning Sept. 1 as well. Bergen will offer students assistance through federal emergency aid, while the Bergen Community College Foundation will sponsor $5,000 in tuition relief for students who receive a COVID-19 vaccination. For more information, or to register, visit Bergen.edu or attend a Tuesday, July 13 open house from 5 to 7 p.m. at the main campus, 400 Paramus Road, Paramus.

“With vaccination rates increasing, infection rates decreasing and health officials beginning to significantly loosen restrictions, I say with great enthusiasm that it’s time to come back to Bergen,” President Friedman said. “We look forward to providing students with the opportunity to return to an on-campus environment where they can learn, socialize and enjoy a comprehensive collegiate experience. Additionally, we will continue to follow the best practices recommended by health officials in order to safely reopen our campus.”

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In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bergen moved all of its classes and professional operations into a remote environment in March 2020 before reintegrating some on-campus staff and classes thereafter. The College’s on-campus protocols such as requiring face masks, the installation of MERV-rated air filters, providing COVID-19 awareness training for students, faculty and staff and limiting on-campus access helped maintain a secure environment that prevented any cases of community spread occurring among those who took classes or worked on campus.

The College’s pandemic response, directed by President Friedman, Reopening Coordinator Larry Hlavenka, Ed.D., and supported by a reopening taskforce, taskforce subcommittees, the executive team, leadership, collective bargaining unit heads and students, will now feature an updated set of protocols and practices that take effect July 6. Among the considerations, the College will:

  • Offer classes across all academic disciplines in its on-campus facilities, though it will also offer a robust online course schedule as well. Previously during the pandemic, only practice-based courses and labs took place on campus;
  • Officially open its renovated one-stop student service center at the main campus for the first time. Construction on the reimagined space for admissions, registration and other essential student functions concluded during the pandemic;
  • Reopen all campus facilities, offices and resources for faculty and staff in preparation for the fall semester while maintaining some high-performing virtual/online/remote functions;
  • Reinstitute on-campus activities, events and gatherings sponsored by groups such as the Anna Maria Ciccone Theatre, STEM Student Research Center and student life; and
  • Continue to rely on guidance from federal, state and county health officials regarding best practices for health and safety – including face mask usage for the unvaccinated and thorough contact tracing protocols.

    • Based in Paramus, Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu), a public two-year coeducational college, enrolls more than 13,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields. More students graduate from Bergen than any other community college in the state.

    This press release was produced by Bergen Community College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.

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