Cal State announced this week that it plans to keep classes online for the fall semester over fears of a second outbreak of the Chinese virus. Cal State is the first large university system in the United States to announce that its campus will remain closed for the fall semester. Its 23 campuses and 500,000 students will not be back on campus in 2020.
According to a report by the New York Times, California State University’s campuses will remain closed for the remainder of the calendar year over concerns that the Chinese virus pandemic will continue into the fall.
Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White said that it is impractical to reopen its 23 campuses in the age of coronavirus. According to White, Cal State’s campus swell to a population of 500,000 during the academic year. White said it would be “irresponsible” to reopen the campus before a coronavirus vaccine has been made available to the public.
“Our university, when open without restrictions and fully in person, as is the traditional norm of the past, is a place where over 500,000 people come together in close and vibrant proximity with each other on a daily basis,” White said. “That approach, sadly, just isn’t in the cards now.”
Many universities and colleges have already announced plans to reopen for the fall semester. Purdue University, North Carolina State, and Michigan State are amongst the institutions that have already announced plans to reopen their campuses for the fall semester.
Terry W. Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education, said that Cal State’s decision will impact the plans adopted by other universities and colleges for the fall semester.
“Cal State is an extraordinarily large and important university system and an awful lot of other institutions will watch this development carefully,” Hartle said in a comment.
Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more campus updates.