Harvard and Princeton were the latest Ivy League schools to announce their fall reopening plans … [+]
Harvard, Princeton and Yale Universities have announced their plans for the fall 2020 semester. Each institution will be dramatically limiting the number of students who can be on campus. They’re also mandating public health measures for those who are physically present.
The plans are another unmistakable sign that, as the coronavirus pandemic continues or spikes in various parts of the country, colleges are having to scale back how many students they believe they can safely serve.
Harvard
At Harvard, which made its announcement today, about 40% of undergraduates will be allowed on campus each semester, and all of its teaching will be done remotely. In the fall semester, which is scheduled to begin September 2, freshmen will be given priority to be physically present. Students living on campus during the fall semester will be expected to leave by Thanksgiving.
As part of the plan, undergraduate students who will be on campus will live in single bedrooms with a shared bathroom. There will be restrictions on inter-house access to dining areas and to non-residential Harvard buildings.
In the spring semester, the first-year students would depart and remain away from campus, and the priority would be given to seniors to come to campus.
Harvard will require students to take coronavirus tests upon their arrival and every three days thereafter, and even though classes will be taught online, tuition will not be discounted from its $49,653 sticker price, the school announced Monday.
Upperclassmen will be able to petition for a return to campus if they don’t have sufficient technology at home to allow virtual access or if they have challenging personal circumstances that would make remote access difficult.
Harvard explained its decision this way: “Without a vaccine or effective clinical treatments for the virus, we know that no choice that reopens the campus is without risk,” Harvard said. “We have worked closely with leading epidemiologists and medical experts to define an approach that we believe will protect the health and safety of our community, while also protecting our academic enterprise and providing students with the conditions they need to be successful academically.”
In recognition of the fact that under this plan, many students will choose not to live on campus for any part of the year, Harvard will allow any enrolled undergraduate who studies remotely for the entire year to take two courses on campus during summer school in 2021 with tuition waived.
Princeton
Princeton also released its fall plans on Monday. It will allow half of its undergraduates on campus next year. In the fall, first-year students and juniors will be present, while in the spring, sophomores and seniors will be on campus. Most of Princeton’s undergraduate instruction will be remote, regardless of where students are living. They will receive a 10% discount on tuition.
Princeton will begin its fall semester two days earlier than previously announced, on August 31. It will convert the fall break to a long weekend; and all students will be asked to leave campus before Thanksgiving. The fall reading period and examinations will be fully remote. Princeton’s spring break will also be shortened to just a long weekend in order to reduce travel during the second semester.
Princeton will give all undergraduates the option to complete the entire year remotely. Those choosing to come to campus will find a substantial number of constraints on traditional college activities. According to the school’s announcement, “parties will be prohibited. Masks will be required in indoor spaces, including in all classrooms, laboratories, and libraries. Social distancing will be the norm. Travel will be limited. We will test students for COVID-19 when they arrive, and we expect to test them regularly thereafter. Isolation will be mandatory for students who test positive for COVID-19; quarantine will be mandatory for students who have been in contact with someone who gets COVID-19.”
Yale
Last week, Yale University announced its plans, which appear a bit less restrictive than either Harvard’s or Princeton’s. Yale will allow 60% of undergraduates to return to campus at any one time. For each semester in 2020-2021, three classes of students will be in residence. Students who do not return to campus can continue their classes remotely.
For fall 2020, first-year students, juniors, and seniors will have the option to live in residential colleges and other campus housing. For spring 2021, sophomores, juniors, and seniors can choose to live on campus. Yale is allowing all graduate and professional students, most of whom live off campus, to return for the full academic year.
It plans to deliver undergraduate courses in a hybrid residential-remote format where professors largely teach online, with in-person instruction used for certain discussion sections, lab and studio courses, and collections-based courses. Yale’s graduate and professional schools will offer different combinations of in-person and remote teaching.
According to Yale’s announcement, “While social distancing practices and other public health guidelines will affect campus routines, undergraduate students will be able to eat in dining halls, and all students will be able to use most libraries and Payne Whitney gym while observing social distancing guidelines. The Yale University Art Gallery and Yale Center for British Art will be open to the Yale community by appointment.”
It now appears that almost all of the Ivy League Schools will be operating on some type of limited basis during the upcoming academic year, each with a host of precautionary measures in place to protect the health of the university communities. It is expected that the Ivy League will announce its plans for football season and other fall sports on July 8, although it increasingly appears that if there is to be a football season for the Ivies it will be in the spring.
