Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Boston University Plans for Possible Delay of Fall Semester

  • By Yvonne Marquez
  • 04/13/20

Boston University is planning for the possibility that the fall term might have to be delayed and instead reopened in January 2021, reports the Boston Herald.

“The Recovery Plan recognizes that if, in the unlikely event that public health officials deem it unsafe to open in the fall of 2020, then the University’s contingency plan envisions the need to consider a later in-person return, perhaps in January 2021,” a university news article reads.

University President Robert A. Brown announced the university’s COVID-19 Recovery Plan to figure out ways BU can return to in-person, on-campus operations. The plan tasks five working groups to determine “what actions are needed to bring academic, research, and residential programs back to campus for the fall semester in ways that are guided by the best public health practices.”

The working groups are centered on remote and online learning, graduate affairs, undergraduate programs, research, and student residential life. The committee’s task is to determine what needs to be done to return to in-person teaching and research to the university and does not replace the regular management groups.

The plan also recognizes that international students face “unique burdens” such as travel restrictions and interruptions to obtaining visas. BU will offer remote courses over the summer and provide minimal housing and dining options.

“For reasons of public health, the economy, or any number of other factors, this is not going to be as simple as flipping a switch and getting back to business as usual,” Brown said in the university article. “This is going to take time, and it will take time to plan. Starting that planning now is the right thing to do, and it is a necessity.”

About the Author

Yvonne Marquez is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Rethinking K-12 Schools as a Continuous Learning Experience

    Most students move through three or more separate facilities during their K-12 journey, yet the built environments they encounter at each stage have traditionally been designed in isolation, with little continuity in spatial language, learning philosophy, or physical resources. Each new school is a reset with different layouts, learning models, expectations, and ways of moving through a building. The next generation of school design is making the case that the first day of kindergarten and the last day of high school can and should feel connected through common support systems and infrastructure in the physical environment.

  • Planning with Clarity: Using AI to Make Better Campus Decisions, Not Just Better Designs

    Higher education leaders are being asked to make increasingly high-stakes decisions about campus facilities amid greater uncertainty than ever before. Social and economic pressures, shifting enrollment, and evolving learning models compete with growing deferred maintenance needs to strain even the most robust infrastructure budgets.

  • Virginia Tech Tops Out New College of Engineering Building

    Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., recently celebrated the topping out of Mitchell Hall, which will soon stand as the largest College of Engineering building on campus, according to a news release. The university partnered with Skanska on the 285,500-square-foot facility, which has an expected completion date of winter 2028.

  • Children walking along bright school corridor with motion blur

    How Next-Gen Design Is Reshaping the Student Experience

    The environments where students learn play a crucial role in shaping their growth in and out of the classroom. By centering design on well-being, flexibility, and purpose, districts can ensure their facilities remain vibrant community assets for many years to come.