Processing Your Payment

Please do not leave this page until complete. This can take a few moments.

June 10, 2020

UConn plans to resume in-person classes Aug. 31

Photo | Contributed The University of Connecticut's flagship campus in Storrs.
By Sean Teehan

The University of Connecticut could reopen its campus, and resume in-person classes Aug. 31, while imposing new policies to reduce residence hall and classroom density, and require masks in public areas.

A letter UConn President Thomas Katsouleas sent to faculty and students on Wednesday said school administrators have agreed on a draft reopening plan that is contingent on the university meeting  so-called "gating conditions," like a sustained lowered transmission of COVID-19 in the community. He also stressed that campus life will undergo some adjustments.

"'Returning does not mean 'back to normal,' " Katsouleas' letter said. "Our draft plans call for an academic semester and campus experience that will be unlike any we have seen previously."

Under the draft plan, Katsouleas said, fall semester classes would begin Aug. 31, as a mix of in-person, online and hybrid formats. In-person classroom layouts will space students at least six feet from each other. 

Like reopening plans at the University of Hartford and Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, UConn students won't return to campus after the Thanksgiving break, and will complete the semester remotely.

Photo | HBJ File
UConn President Thomas Katsouleas says budget cuts will likely be inevitable as the college deals with the financial fallout from COVID-19.

Resident halls at UConn's flagship Storrs and Stamford campuses will open, but housing will be assigned differently than before in order to ensure lower density, Katsouleas said. Residential students will be required to return to campus two weeks before classes begin, so that they can be tested for COVID-19, and possibly quarantine if positive.

The new policies would include a mask requirement for everyone in public common spaces, Katsouleas said. The university has purchased enough masks to accommodate everyone on campus, he said. 

"This is new for all of us. And returning successfully and safely depends on all of us," Katsouleas said. "The hallmarks of success will be resiliency, flexibility, understanding, cooperation, and, as always, creativity."

UConn's announcement comes as the university grapples with a heavy financial hit it took after the COVID-19 pandemic forced campuses to shut down, and refunds to be issued to residential students.

Katsouleas told members of the board of trustees at a late-April meeting that the school will lose this fiscal year a net of $20 million (when the $10.7 million UConn received from the federal CARES Act is factored in). If UConn didn't open campuses for the fall semester, he said, the university could lose an additional $121.6 million in revenue from dining, housing and other services.

Katsouleas previously said UConn will make a final decision regarding reopening campuses for the fall semester by June 30.

Sign up for Enews

Most Recent

Most Recent

Related Content

As UConn’s 10-year, $1.5B NextGenCT initiative wraps up, school eyes additional investment in STEM facilities
Thumbnail Lamont, Hurley ring opening bell of New York Stock Exchange // WITH VIDEO
Thumbnail More that 60,000 fans celebrate UConn men's basketball team's NCAA championship victory in downtown Hartford
Thumbnail More details announced for UConn’s victory parade and rally Saturday; coach Hurley, players to speak

0 Comments

Order a PDF