In March, Catholic colleges and universities in Washington, D.C., sent home students in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic to continue courses in a virtual setting. As school administrations prepare for the beginning of the fall semester, new plans to ensure the safety of all faculty, staff and students will include online learning for some schools and in-person and hybrid plans for others, following social-distancing protocols and Center for Disease Control guidelines.
John DeGioia, president of Georgetown University, wrote in a letter to the Georgetown Community on July 29, that all undergraduate and graduate students will begin virtual courses for the fall semester.
“Due to the acceleration of the spread of the virus and increasing restrictions on interstate travel we cannot proceed with our original plans for returning to campus this fall,” he wrote. “This was a very difficult decision – and one I know will disappoint members of our community who have been eagerly anticipating a return to campus.”
DeGioia said that as soon as health conditions allow, in-person course elements will be reintroduced. “We will continue to monitor pandemic and public health conditions to determine when it may be possible to resume in-person courses and other in-person, on-campus activities,” he wrote.
Some activities, including biomedical, life and physical sciences research, will take place on-campus with precautions, and individual departments will release guidelines to ensure that safety measures will be followed.
Georgetown University also made the decision to reduce tuition costs by 10 percent for students who are not invited back to campus.
As the Georgetown community continues to assess the global pandemic and act to ensure the safety of the faculty, staff and students, DeGioia said information will continue to be updated on their website.
“I wish to offer my deep appreciation to each member of our community, as we work to adjust and respond to these changing and uncertain circumstances,” he said. “This is a moment in which our compassion, our understanding, and our flexibility can demonstrate the depth of our care for one another and for the well-being of our community.”
On July 31, The Catholic University of America announced that while freshman will be welcomed to campus in the fall of 2020, sophomores, juniors, and seniors will take classes entirely online.
“When classes begin in August, we will limit the number of students who can reside on campus and take classes in person,” John Garvey, president of The Catholic University of America, wrote in a statement.
Freshmen and transfer students with less than 30 college credits will move into residence halls beginning August 17. Students traveling from the 27 states indicated by the District of Columbia as “high risk” areas will quarantine for 14 days, through Sept. 6. Therefore, freshman and graduate student orientations and the first two weeks of classes will be online.
“Regrettably, sophomores, juniors, and seniors will not be able to live on campus this fall, and will take all of their classes online,” Garvey wrote, adding that exceptions will be made for some resident assistants, international students, and students whose “situations make it impossible to pursue studies at their permanent addresses.”
The university did adjust the tuition policy for the fall semester, in light of the change in plans. Students whose classes were adjusted from in-person or hybrid to exclusively online will receive a 10 percent refund. In addition, students who are no longer eligible to live on-campus will be refunded their room and board. For more information, visit the school's website.
Despite the changes, Garvey said that the university remains confident that “we can attend properly to a smaller cohort, while providing our freshmen with the best possible transition to college.”
“I want to reaffirm our commitment to our academic mission,” he said. “All summer, our faculty and staff have worked diligently to prepare for this year, mindful that each student must be able to fully engage in his or her academic experience. We have made significant investments to prepare our classrooms with multiple, agile, high definition cameras to allow us to provide the same level of engagement to students learning remotely as we do to students in the classroom.”
Trinity Washington University has worked with D.C. health officials to create a plan for reopening in the fall of 2020 for both face-to-face, hybrid and online courses. While some classes and labs for students in the school of nursing and health professions will be conducted face-to-face, most classes will be hybrid and online.
“I know that it’s been stressful for many with the pandemic, the protests for racial justice, and the general climate of uncertainty and upset. In the midst of all that, I hope that Trinity can offer you some bit of comfort, stability and a sense of caring community even though we remain socially distant in many ways,” Pat McGuire, president of Trinity Washington University, wrote in a message on July 30.
The school has emphasized that no student will be forced to come to campus, and they will continue to work with students to provide for their needs.
For more information on each university's plans as changes may be made, visit their websites: Georgetown University, The Catholic University of America, and Trinity Washington University.
