Cleveland State University President Harlan Sands announced on Thursday that the university will welcome all faculty, staff and students back to campus on August 21, as CSU returns to “near normal” operations this fall.

Sands said most classes and labs will be in-person and on-campus this fall 2021. The president delivered the news in an email sent to the college community.

“We will fully open up our residence halls, have a near-full slate of residence life events, campus dining and student activities — with proper safety protocols of course — and a wealth of on-campus student support services available,” Sands said.

The email said the decision to reopen the university was made as a result of “the great work we have done on campus keeping ourselves safe since the onset of the pandemic, and because of the progress we are making on a daily basis to vaccinate our faculty, staff and students.”

CSU is also urging all faculty, staff and students to get vaccinated prior to the start of the fall semester, and will require all students moving into on-campus residence halls to get the vaccine before they move in in August.

The university will also continue to mandate COVID-19 protocols such as requiring masks, physical distancing and other forms of protection procedures.

The fall 2021 semester will be the first semester all faculty, staff and students will return to campus since CSU's in-person operations were halted after spring break in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic began to shut down everyday life across the United States and globally.