Maharishi University begins fall semester

FAIRFIELD – Classes are underway at Maharishi International University in Fairfield.

The university's fall semester began Monday under a hybrid model where students have the option of taking courses online or in-person, provided their classroom is large enough for students to maintain social distancing.

Rod Eason, the university's vice president of enrollment and student affairs, said the university has experience conducting online classes, especially when many classes went online in the spring.

The university draws students from a wide geographic area, not just from around the country but around the world. Eason said all new and returning students are being tested for COVID-19. Thus far, 450 tests have been conducted. The students will be tested seven days after their first test. They are to remain in isolation during this testing period, which lasts between 10-14 days.

Student Center

One of the most notable changes at the university can be seen at the entrance to the Argiro Student Center, which houses an auditorium, cafeteria, bookstore, café, student lounge and more. A sign at the base of the stairs instructs visitors to take either the left or right side of the stairs, with a divide separating the two sides. Those who have been in Fairfield all summer go up the left side of the stairs, and those who have not must go up the right side. Once inside the building, the two groups remain separated, even eating in separate dining rooms.

All people entering the building must wash their hands in sinks installed outside the building earlier this year.

Upon entering, a security guard instructs visitors to stand in front of a computer, which can read a person's temperature standing a few feet away. The machine beeps to indicate whether the person has a fever (above 100.4 degrees) or not. If not, they are allowed to proceed up the stairs to the cafeteria. If they do have a fever, they must report to the school nurse.

Faculty eat their meals in one dining room, students who have stayed over the summer eat in another, and the new and returning students eat in a third. The cafeteria was once self-service, but the pandemic changed that and now the students are served by cafeteria staff. The dining rooms are configured so that students no longer sit close to each other.

Eason said that if a student tests positive for COVID-19, the university has special housing set up just for those students where they can remain in quarantine.

Masks are required on campus whenever students or faculty must be in proximity to other people, such as when using a common area in a dormitory. Buildings around campus have signs indicating that masks must be worn inside.

International students

Eason said a large share of the university's students in its master's program for computer science are foreign, and thus it's been difficult for them to travel. The school even had to cancel its spring batch in late April, which would have brought about 100 students in computer science to campus.

This fall, 55 students in computer science arrived on campus, down from the 120 or so in a normal year. Eason said that nearly all embassies are closed, so international students can't get a visa to come here. There are a few exceptions such as Vietnam, whose embassy is open, which is fortunate because the country sends a large number of students to the university.

Safe place

Despite the drop in computer science enrollment, Eason said enrollment in other programs is up. In fact, he said the university has received more applications for admission this year than ever before.

How could that be, in the midst of a pandemic?

Eason said he thinks it's because the school proved it is a safe place to be. While other schools shut down in the spring, Marharishi International University remained open. He said the school had so many international students, with no place to go, that it made sense to continue educating them while they were in the country.

'Fairfield was also one of the safest places in the country back in the spring,” Eason said. 'We have more COVID cases now, but relatively speaking, we're still a pretty safe place.”

He mentioned that MIU offers programs, such as alternative Ayurvedic medicine, that are hard to find elsewhere. He thinks that the school's small size is helping lure students who are fearful of going to a bigger and more crowded university.

Apart from classes and the cafeteria, most elements of student life are on hold. There are no mixers planned, and the rec center remains shutdown.

Eason said the university's iconic meditation domes remain closed, too. However, he noted that the library, which had been closed for months, is reopening with limited access so that students can check out books once again.