UNC-Chapel Hill delays start of in-person classes as state’s COVID cases keep rising
UNC-Chapel Hill undergraduate students will take all online classes for the first three weeks of the spring semester, the university announced Thursday.
Classes will still begin on Jan. 19 as planned, but they will not be in-person on campus because of the record COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in North Carolina and nationally. The state reported more than 10,000 new cases Thursday, the highest daily increase since the start of the pandemic.
The new spring semester start date for in-person classes is Feb. 8.
UNC students will still be able to move into their single-occupancy dorms and residence halls beginning Jan. 13 as planned, but they will have the option to delay that move-in through Feb. 7.
The university has said it expects to reduced capacity, with about 3,500 students living in campus housing this spring. The housing fees will be prorated based on when students choose to move in.
“We are making these changes with the health of our campus and the community in mind,” Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz and Provost Bob Blouin said in a message to the campus community.
They said they have carefully analyzed the data and consulted with UNC public health and infectious disease experts, the chair of the faculty, the chair of the Employee Forum, the student body president, UNC Health, county health officials and the UNC System to make these decisions.
They said they also want to offer students and parents “maximum flexibility as we head into the spring semester under the current circumstances.”
UNC leaders just ‘buying time’
UNC sophomore Greear Webb said students have been advocating for online classes over the past few months as the COVID-19 pandemic is worse than it was in the fall.
“I think it’s a good move,” Webb said.
But ultimately, he’d rather the university go remote for the entire spring semester.
“I still think there’s a level of risk living on campus as the COVID cases continue to soar, but I understand students want to get back.”
Webb lives in an apartment off-campus in Chapel Hill but has friends who will be moving back into the dorms in January.
The university should recognize that bringing students back and then postponing in-person classes takes a toll on students mentally and financially, he said. He hopes if UNC pivots like it did in the fall, that they make that decision early and not in increments.
Journalism professor Deb Aikat said he appreciates the flexibility UNC’s decision offers, but he is worried that not much will change by next month in terms of the severity of the pandemic.
“We are buying time,” Aikat said. “I think this will help but the uncertainty hasn’t been solved.”
He said this puts faculty who were planning to teach in-person classes in a tough position because they have to adjust their courses for the first three weeks and don’t know if that plan might change again.
Aikat said it also sends a mixed message to invite students to move to campus given Gov. Roy Cooper’s recent extension of the stay-at-home order. He also questions how UNC can enforce a 10 p.m. curfew for college students on campus.
Lamar Richards has been providing input on UNC’s spring plans as a student member of the Campus and Community Advisory Committee.
He understands the decision needed to be made quickly but is disappointed committee members were not included in the recent conversations or asked to provide perspective about this option.
“It’s the better decision,” Richards said. “The best decision would be to be online the entire semester.”
He said Carolina is thinking about the “safety of the majority, not the marginalized.”
Part of the issue, he says, is the university allowing more than 3,000 students to return to campus residence halls. The university has said viral spread is not happening in the classrooms, so this delay doesn’t help much, he said.
Richards knows some students need the resources on campus for financial and academic reasons. But he is still worried about spread in dorms and in the community when students return, even if classes are online.
Changes for spring 2021 semester
UNC-CH was one of three UNC System universities that abruptly moved classes online and closed dorms as COVID-19 cases spread among students at the beginning of the fall semester. Those changes caused frustration and disappointment among students, faculty and staff, but the university said it is has learned from its mistakes.
One of the biggest changes is a more robust COVID-19 testing plan, which included mandatory re-entry testing.
“A big part of the increased hope for the spring semester is the widespread testing program and requiring students to get tested,” Webb said.
Most UNC students, faculty and staff will be tested for COVID-19 upon returning to campus in January and must participate in regular coronavirus testing throughout the spring semester. Students living on campus and off-campus in Chapel Hill or Carrboro will submit their negative test results to UNC before their classes start.
Graduate students are not required to get tested prior to their arrival. Graduate and professional programs have the option of starting remotely, and each school will confirm that start date and the mode of instruction for courses. Some graduate and professional programs have already started classes.
UNC-CH faculty have urged the university to keep the spring semester remote as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continue to rise in North Carolina and nationally. More than 150 faculty members signed a letter saying UNC is “doomed to repeat too many of the failures of the fall” with its plans to bring hundreds of students back to live and learn on campus this spring.
The university’s isolation and quarantine space will be four to five times larger than this fall. There will be more enforcement of community standards, particularly off campus where the majority of cases spread.
Other universities, including Syracuse University, have also delayed their start dates to avoid spread of COVID-19 after the holidays and allow more people to get vaccinated, the Wall Street Journal reported. No other UNC System universities have announced recent changes to their spring plans.
This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 4:28 PM.
