NMSU welcomes students back with vaccine, mask rules

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- New Mexico State University kicked off its fall semester Wednesday welcoming back more than 14,000 students.

"We're so excited, after a year and a half of not having all of our students back on campus, to welcome most of our students back," said NMSU President John Floros.

The university is hoping to help students adjust to a "new" normal as the spread of Covid-19 is still a concern.

Masks will be enforced indoors. All students and staff must show proof of vaccination, or undergo weekly Covid-19 testing.

Daily sanitization of the buildings will continue, as well as distancing in the classroom when possible. 

Tents are also posted up outside for teachers to use as classrooms throughout the semester.

“For the last almost two years now, we have learned a lot of lessons we have learned how to live with a with a virus. And I think we can do this without going back to completely online," Floros said. "I think we can keep everybody safe, or at least safer than what they would be otherwise, we proven that the community of NMSU”

Floros said the university has fun activities planned for students to get to get reintroduced to  campus life like movie nights, scavenger hunts.  

There will also be activities centered towards students mental health as well as physical health.. 

NMSU will also be working with freshman much more, to help them with the new transition of in-person learning and also provide them with more resources to technology. 

All first-year, full-time students will receive an iPad in the coming weeks.

"Without access to the internet, our students will not be able to learn as well as if they did have access to the internet. So because we know that a lot of our students lack some of the technology, we decided that this is a good thing that we as a university can do to help our first year students," Floros said.

For more on what NMSU is doing this semester, click here.