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    The McMaster Department of Philosophy has now put together the following notice commemorating Barry: Barry Allen: A Philosophical Life Barry…

Harvard switching to virtual instruction for first day after Spring break, tells students not to come back

Brian Leiter

MOVING TO FRONT FROM MARCH 10

This is dramatic (I expect the same to happen here, if and when the sleepy administration wakes up):

    • We will begin transitioning to virtual instruction for graduate and undergraduate classes. Our goal is to have this transition complete by Monday, March 23, which is the first day of scheduled classes following Spring Recess.
    • Students are asked not to return to campus after Spring Recess and to meet academic requirements remotely until further notice. Students who need to remain on campus will also receive instruction remotely and must prepare for severely limited on-campus activities and interactions. All graduate students will transition to remote work wherever possible. Schools will communicate more specific guidance and information, and we encourage everyone to review previous guidance about both international and domestic travel.
    • We are transitioning over the course of the next few days to non-essential gatherings of no more than 25 people. Please note this is a change from prior guidance.

UPDATE: Rutgers follows suit.

ANOTHER:   Cornell, Princeton, Colgate and others are doing the same thing (thanks to various readers for sending along these notices).  Openings comments for readers to post links.  I will try to get them up in a timely way, but please be patient.

MARCH 12:   Chicago joins the crowd:  we are officially doing remote teaching for the entirety of Spring quarter, which starts March 30.

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37 responses to “Harvard switching to virtual instruction for first day after Spring break, tells students not to come back”

  1. Henry

    Johns Hopkins. https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/03/10/hopkins-coronavirus-online-instruction-spring-break/

    Reply
  2. Henry

    Other Maryland universities: https://www.baltimoresun.com/coronavirus/bs-md-towson-university-coronavirus-20200310-xugpgicbpjg2bohrmdiircbq4m-story.html

    Reply
  3. Kevin

    The ICC Moot, hosted at Pace law school, was just moved to a virtual format (https://law.pace.edu/icc).

    Reply
  4. Rescue me.

    Meanwhile in the United Kingdom…

    The last email we received with anything relevant to the Coronavirus was March 4th. The gist of the email: okay, yeah, there's at least one confirmed case in our community, but it's business as usual until you hear otherwise, no guidance on travel, here are some details of people you can talk to if you feel 'emotionally impacted', and here is how you can redirect anyone from the press to speak with our people in marketing/branding.

    There's also a link to a website that is just about useless: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/coronavirus

    Maybe there are secret plans in motion to figure out what to do when some critical mass of students and/or staff get sick, but I can't say that it's being widely shared. It certainly looks to me like we're really bad at this and I'm curious to know why.

    Reply
  5. Rescue me.

    Quick follow up.

    No word, yet, on what academic staff should do and plenty of disincentives for taking time away from work, but …

    "At King’s College London, where a student has tested positive for coronavirus, senior managers are meeting online by teleconference with no more than two allowed in a room at the same time."

    Source: https://www.ft.com/content/bae2a4b2-5fa1-11ea-b0ab-339c2307bcd4

    I guess they can't say that non-culpable ignorance excuses their inaction. I had believed, and believe even more firmly now, that they're just the worst. It's just that I thought they were more incompetent than malicious.

    Reply
  6. Kelly Gaus

    MIT is canceling classes next week, and then going entirely online following our spring break. http://news.mit.edu/2020/letter-regarding-escalating-response-covid-19-0310

    Reply
  7. UIowa faculty

    All Regent Universities in Iowa (University of Iowa, Iowa State, U. of Northern Iowa) will switch to online instruction over spring break:
    https://www.iowaregents.edu/news/board-news/update-from-board-of-regents-president-mike-richards-on-coronavirus

    Reply
  8. Confused Philosopher

    While I can understand the public health rationale for, and costs associated with, closing primary and secondary schools, I don’t understand the argument for closing colleges and universities. The benefit you get from closing primary and secondary schools is that the children don’t so easily pass on the virus to the vulnerable since fewer children have the virus due to school closure. But this doesn’t make sense when talking about college students. In fact, it seems like college students would be much *less* likely to pass the virus to their older relations if they are on campus, taking classes.

    Given that most young people face relatively few health effects from Covid-19, it seems far more rational to keep going with in-person classes and encouraging college staff over 65 and those with other risk factors to work from home, rather than just sending everyone back into the wider community where they will be more likely to infect the vulnerable.

    What am I not understanding here?

    BL COMMENT: Colleges can't force students to stay on cmpus during spring break, and they can't really lock down their communities. Therefore, campuses are simply another plces where large gatherings occur, which provide opportunities for spread of the virus.

    Reply
  9. UCI grad

    UC Irvine will cancel classes at the end of the week and move online for spring.

    https://ehs.uci.edu/PublicHealth/coronavirus.html

    Reply
  10. stevelaudig

    A discussion of why prompt actions are smart ones in plague times. Here's one discussion explaining why.

    Reply
  11. Nicolas Delon

    Statement from the State University System of Florida: https://www.flbog.edu/2020/03/11/state-university-system-statement-on-covid-19/

    SUS is directing all the state universities to implement remote instruction as soon as possible. For universities with students with students on or going on spring break, state universities should direct their students to NOT return to campus for at least 2 weeks following the conclusion of spring break. While students are encouraged to remain off-campus, each university should develop a plan for providing residential accommodations for students who need assistance or must remain in place.

    Reply
  12. Henry

    University of Virginia and Georgetown University: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/03/11/georgetown-u-suspends-in-person-teaching-until-further-notice-because-coronavirus/

    Reply
  13. James Taylor

    The College of New Jersey will be turning to online instruction for (at least) two weeks after students return from Spring Break (i.e., March 23rd to April 6th).

    Reply
  14. Henry

    Amherst College. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/11/they-shut-down-our-college-because-coronavirus-will-that-help/
    This article is by two students at the college who question the wisdom of closing it.

    Reply
  15. Duane Long

    The entire SUNY and CUNY systems are going 100% online after Spring Break, so starting March 23: https://www.buffalo.edu/coronavirus/dashboard.html

    Reply
  16. Beau Underwood

    University of Missouri cancels classes for remainder of this week, goes online next week (and perhaps beyond): https://abc17news.com/news/education/university-of-missouri/2020/03/11/university-of-missouri-temporarily-cancels-in-person-classes-amid-novel-coronavirus-outbreak/

    Reply
  17. Dane

    In Denmark we are being asked to work from home until March 27 … and efforts are being made to set up on-line/alternative methods of delivering lectures.

    Reply
  18. IU alum

    Indiana University will suspend classroom teaching for two weeks after spring break in all IU campuses:
    https://news.iu.edu/stories/2020/03/iu/releases/10-suspend-classroom-teaching-for-two-weeks-after-spring-break.html

    Reply
  19. Hilary Kornblith

    UMass Amherst and the rest of the UMass system go on-line following spring break, which starts the day after tomorrow: https://www.umass.edu/coronavirus/

    Reply
  20. Alastair Norcross

    University of Colorado Boulder switches to online classes starting Monday March 16, and lasting for the rest of the semester.

    Reply
  21. Daniel A Kaufman

    Missouri State hasn't made the decision to go all-online yet, but administration has instructed faculty to prepare to do so. The University of Missouri has already done it.

    I already did it myself, unilaterally, last week. My dept. head supported me, and so far, no one has said "boo" to me about it.

    Reply
  22. Ian

    UNC-Chapel Hill is currently on spring break. It has extended spring break by a week and will move to online-only instruction thereafter.

    Reply
  23. Gregory C. Mayer

    University of Wisconsin- Madison, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and University of Wisconsin-Green Bay all moving more or less to online instruction.

    https://covid19.wisc.edu/
    https://uwm.edu/coronavirus/
    https://news.uwgb.edu/log-news/news/03/11/important-decisions-on-covid-19-at-uw-green-bay/

    Reply
  24. Jake

    Have many of the institutions that have canceled / delayed / moved online commented on how this will affect the tuition that students will pay?

    I have seen some discussion (e.g., Pomona) about partial refunds for room and board, but my guess is that soon, students or students' parents will start to wonder why they are paying full freight for distance learning.

    Reply
  25. Adrian Bardon

    Same for Wake Forest University. An extra week of break, then online only.

    Reply
  26. jwr

    Haverford College, moving to online instruction next week and depopulating the campus of most of its students (international students are nearly the only students being allowed to stay on campus according to my son, who is a Haverford student)

    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iVgCKoUCKRnUN1168h32QFbnNIkqeKX9T7HgnH7xtPA/edit

    Reply
  27. Gregory C. Mayer

    And now my own campus, University of Wisconsin-Parkside, can be added to the list. Nothing to link to yet, but I got the email just moments ago.

    Reply
  28. william uspal

    The University of Hawai'i system is moving to online instruction after next week's Spring Break: https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2020/03/12/covid-19-changes/

    Reply
  29. jwr

    LSU system canceling classes for next week so we can prepare to move teaching online starting March 30 (first day back from our spring break). No in-person instruction through the end of spring term. Just came in an email.

    Reply
  30. D

    UChicago not doing a good job here.
    They act late, eg, March 10 when the writing is already on the wall: "One question that has arisen from recent developments at other universities is whether our University is moving to online classes or telework. Our current situation does not call for such measures." (Really?)
    Next day, Mar 11, evening, they change their mind and they lose control of their communication. Students learn of the plans through what looks like a leak from the "resident heads": https://twitter.com/ChicagoMaroon/status/1237911583038345219
    They wait until the next day to communicate officially. Was the campus leadership asleep?
    Even worse: they plan to continue marinating the virus in the dorm/campus petri dish by keeping the students in residence this week and next week for exams — instead of going to online instruction/exams NOW, as many other campuses with exams next week are doing.
    Then 10 days from now they plan to close the dorms and scatter the students to the four winds to spread the virus further.
    Signed: very unhappy UChicago parent

    Reply
  31. Brian Leiter

    If you haven't already written to the President, Provost and Dean of the College, you should do so. I agree that UChicago has been behind the curve on this.

    Reply
  32. D

    And while the UChicago administration dilly-dallies, new travel
    restriction may pop up that would leave students stuck in Chicago.

    https://amp.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article241141531.html

    BTW: I am a department chair at a University of California campus,
    scrambling to organize finals next week and online lectures
    and labs next quarter. So I know it's not an easy.
    But I must say our administration is doing an amazing job.
    Who would have thought…

    Reply
  33. Clayton

    Hey Brian,
    Can you help us figure out what's happening in the UK? Our administration is essentially saying, 'Business as usual and don't forget we expect you to continue with face to face teaching. Please wash your hands' I'm curious to know whether other UK universities are taking this approach and if there is anything that we can read about universities in particular that could make this seem like a sensible action plan.

    Reply
  34. David Wallace

    Pittsburgh is moving to online-only teaching for the rest of the semester.

    Reply
  35. Michelle Mason Bizri

    The University of Minnesota has decided to move to online instruction from March 17 through at least April 1 BUT IS ALLOWING STUDENTS TO CONTINUE TO LIVE ON CAMPUS. Can someone please explain how this is a coherent public health decision? (is viral transmission NOT more likely in damp shared bathrooms and cafeterias than in moral philosophy lectures?) Perhaps I’m too cynical, but I suspect this has to do more with a disinclination to refund room and board fees than it does with instituting best infectious disease prevention protocols.

    Reply
  36. Will Heusser

    Most of the UCs and quite a few CSUs in California have announced suspending classes for a few days and moving online shortly thereafter. Also quite a few Community Colleges.

    Reply
  37. F. E. Guerra-Pujol

    Now that so many colleges and universities are moving to an online model, this link may be of interest to your readers: https://anygoodthing.com/2020/03/12/please-do-a-bad-job-of-putting-your-courses-online/

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    Reply

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