George Washington University President Thomas LeBlanc told faculty members this week that it is “unlikely” that a full return to campus will occur in the fall of 2021. The university announced in October that it will keep its campus closed for the upcoming spring semester.
According to a report by the GW Hatchet, George Washington University President Thomas LeBlanc believes that students may not fully return to campus until 2022. LeBlanc told faculty members during a staff meeting that it is “unlikely” that the campus will completely reopen in the fall of 2021.
LeBlanc claims that the campus will remain closed next fall if some students have yet to receive the coronavirus vaccine.
“Obviously we will have our eyes on a fall reopening if it’s possible, and we’ll be watching the data very carefully on the distribution of the vaccines and using that to ultimately guide our decision on how we reopen in the fall,” LeBlanc explained.
The university saw an increase in the number of positive coronavirus tests following Thanksgiving break, during which many students traveled home to spend time with their families.
“It looks like there’s a slight uptick in our positivity rate, but we have to remember that off-campus students self-select to get tested, and therefore they are kind of a unique population in that regard, a bit of a biased sample,” LeBlanc added.
Breitbart News reported in November that administrators at George Washington University had urged students to prepare a week’s worth of food and medicine in case riots erupted in the aftermath of the presidential election.
“Before Tuesday, we recommend that you have at least one week of food, supplies, and medicine for your room. We suggest preparing for the Election Day as you would for a hurricane or snowstorm that would prevent you from going outside for several days to grab food or order takeout,” an email sent to students at the end of October read.
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