Harvard, Princeton announce plans to reopen amid COVID-19 scare, read details

Amid the coronavirus contagion, as US is witnessing a resurgence of COVID-19 cases, Harvard and Princeton Universities announced their plans of reopening and inviting students to campus later this year. However, while Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences will allow 40 per cent of undergraduates to campus in the fall, Princeton has given the option to students for completing their education remotely for the entire year. Keeping in mind the risks of in-person education amid coronavirus outbreak, Harvard’s first-year students will be given priority access to help them acclimate to college life. But all other courses will be taught remotely irrespective of where the students are living. 

The president and deans of Havard wrote, “Harvard was built for connection, not isolation. Without a vaccine or effective clinical treatments for the virus, we know that no choice that reopens the campus is without risk.”

“That 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,” they added. 

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Princeton invites only half of the undergrads

Meanwhile, Princeton University has announced its plans to invite only 50 per cent of the undergrads to the New Jersey campus, the place that was one of the initial epicentres of coronavirus in the United States. The First-year students and juniors will attend the classes in the fall whereas sophomores and seniors in the spring. University’s president Chris Eisgruber has written in a letter for all students that only a limited number of students will be allowed will be accommodated on the consideration of their ‘special circumstances’.

Chris Eisgruber wrote, “We will also seek to accommodate a very limited number of other students whose special circumstances require them to be on campus in specific semesters.”

“In the fall term, this will include a small number of seniors, designated by their departments, whose thesis research must be done on campus, meets all COVID-related safety requirements, and has been approved by the relevant principal investigator or faculty adviser and the Dean for Research. We will also accommodate students who face housing insecurity, new transfer students, and ROTC students on campus in the fall,” he added.

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