Loyola University New Orleans President Tania Tetlow sent out an email to students Tuesday highlighting Loyola’s priorities as the university looks toward reopening for the Fall 2020 semester.

Classes are scheduled to begin August 24th, but Tetlow wrote that if deemed necessary, the university will wait longer.

University administration is also considering an early conclusion of an in-person Fall 2020 semester so that students could travel home for the Christmas holiday. The email said that such decisions will be made by early July.

Loyola is partnering with Ochsner Health System in an effort to develop safety protocols, the email said. The university will gain access to more testing in addition to further cleaning, according to the email. Large gatherings will be avoided, and students will spread out in classrooms, the email said.

“We will give each other lots of love and respect, but without hugs and physical contact,” Tetlow wrote.

Loyola will also be preparing for additional disruptions by being flexible in forms of teaching, according to the email. Faculty will prepare all courses to be taught both in-person and online.

Tetlow also wrote that Loyola will be offering admission and scholarships to seniors into the university’s graduate programs and continued access to career services.

“Know that Loyola has overcome serious obstacles in our century-old history, including Katrina, and we will do it again now,” Tetlow wrote. “Because we are not a huge bureaucracy, we have the ability to be nimble and creative. Because we are utterly obsessed with your futures, we will be working incredibly hard — planning and preparing for every possibility. ”