UMass Amherst will no longer allow most students back on campus amid coronavirus concerns

UMass Amherst is reneging its offer of on-campus housing for students whose classes will be entirely remote this fall due to “the worsening conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic nationally.”

Now, only students enrolled in “essential face-to-face classes” including studio, capstone and laboratory courses, will be able to live in residence halls and have access to campus facilities, the university said Thursday.

“All other students, whose courses do not require a physical presence on campus, should plan to engage in their studies remotely, from home,” Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy wrote in a letter to the school community. “In the interest of public health, we also strongly urge our off-campus students whose coursework is remote to refrain from returning to the Amherst area for the fall semester, for they, too, will not have campus facilities at their disposal.”

The state’s flagship campus initially said it would allow students back on campus this fall, though most courses would be taught remotely.

But after hearing health and safety concerns from employees and the larger community — and determining “the risk of a mid-semester closing of the campus is real” — officials changed course, saying not bringing back students “is preferable to sending everyone home in the event of an uncontrolled outbreak.”

The decision comes just weeks before classes are scheduled to begin on Aug. 24.

“I realize that today’s announcement will cause disruption for many of you,” Subbaswamy wrote. But “the proliferation of the pandemic has left us with no choice but to pursue this more stringent approach.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2DDmDbd