Harvard University is allowing some students to live on campus this fall amid the coronavirus, but all classes will be taught online, the university announced on Monday.
“All course instruction (undergraduate and graduate) for the 2020-21 academic year will be delivered online,” Harvard officials wrote to the campus communuty. “Students will learn remotely, whether or not they live on campus.”
While most students will live at home, Harvard plans to bring up to 40% of its undergraduates to campus, including all first-year students.
“This will enable first-year students to benefit from a supported transition to college-level academic work and to begin to build their Harvard relationships with faculty and peers,” the officials wrote. “Both online and dorm-based programs will be in place to meet these needs. Over the last few weeks, there has been frequent communication with our first-year students about their transition to Harvard and this will continue as we approach the start of the academic year.”
Undergraduate students on campus will live in single bedrooms with a shared bathroom.
“The dorms and Houses are undergoing physical modifications to support our public health goals,” the officials wrote. “These include enhanced cleaning schedules, personal safety training and protective equipment for custodians, security guards, and House staff, improved air handling and filtration in shared spaces, hand sanitizer and wipe stations, and signage outlining our public health community guidelines.”
If Harvard maintains 40% student population density in the spring, the university would prioritize bringing back seniors to campus.
“Under this plan, first years would return home and learn remotely in the spring. We also will invite back to campus those students who may not be able to learn successfully in their current home learning environment,” the officials wrote.
They added, “Though we are far from a decision about spring … making sure that seniors have their final semester on campus, to finish their thesis work and complete their four-year journey, is a priority we hold dear.”
