KU cancels classes next week, plans for online instruction over coronavirus concerns
The University of Kansas has joined the growing number of colleges across the country delaying the return to class after spring break and going to online courses to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.
KU students are on spring break this week. In a statement to the community Wednesday night, officials announced that classes will not resume for another week after that as instructors prepare to deliver their courses, including lectures, online. Once classes start up again March 23, they will all be online.
Starting March 28, KU will decide on a week by week basis whether to continue online-only instruction.
KU housing, libraries and dining services will still be open.
The university will restrict events it sponsors to no more than 50 participants. And any domestic or international travel sponsored by KU is suspended.
“This is a challenging time for our campus, our family and our community,” the statement from KU Chancellor Douglas Girod said. “It will take all of us working together to ensure we come through this situation as strong as ever, and, we hope, even stronger.”
KU has set up a website, coronavirus.ku.edu, to provide information.
The announcement came after the University of Missouri announced similar plans on Wednesday. MU is suspending all classes through Sunday, and when they resume on Monday, classes will be delivered online. The university is scheduled to go on spring break the week of March 23.
Also on Wednesday:
▪ Kansas City University of Medicine and Bioscience, which is currently on spring break, announced it is transitioning to online instruction. It will suspend face-to-face classes when students return March 16, continuing at least through March 31. The campus itself will remain open and operational for faculty and staff.
▪ Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville is currently on spring break and announced it will suspend classes until March 23. The campus remains open and operational, and university employees were told to report to work as normal. Residence halls will open at 1 p.m. Sunday as planned for students who choose to return to campus. Campus dining will offer scaled-back services.
The World Health Organization has declared the disease, known as COVID-19, a pandemic. By late Wednesday, in-person classes had been canceled or postponed at more than 100 universities across the country. In this region, St. Louis University, Webster University and Maryville University also took similar actions. Washington University in St. Louis suspended in-person classes until the end of April.
In the Kansas City region, one case of coronavirus was reported in Johnson County, the first in Kansas, and one was reported in St. Louis County, the first in Missouri.
Before KU’s announcement, spokeswoman Erinn Barcomb-Peterson had said the university was making plans on how to handle concerns over the coronavirus.
“We have emergency management teams at the Lawrence and KU Medical Center campuses that continue to meet regularly to plan for potential scenarios,” she told The Star. “Each of these teams has about 25 people from key offices on the campuses, and behind the scenes are people in those individual offices that are at work on contingency plans.”
This story was originally published March 11, 2020 at 9:08 PM.
