Two American Institutions, Columbia University and Barnard College in New York City, have jointly announced the decision to hold all undergraduate courses online for the fall 2020 semester. There will be no residential housing for undergraduates at Barnard, and Columbia will only have limited housing available.
Just six weeks ago, Columbia had announced its plans to bring back 60% of undergraduates in Columbia College and the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. Those plans have since been significantly pulled back.
“Today we have concluded that we must drastically scale back the number of students we can accommodate in residence on campus, thereby limiting residential-style living only to Columbia College and SEAS undergraduates who must be present on campus due to personal or academic circumstances,” said a letter sent Friday by University President Lee C. Bollinger.
Barnard College’s announcement said the decision to move all undergraduate classes online came in part as a result of New York state’s travel advisory list, which now includes 31 states and two territories.
“It has become clear that the state-mandated quarantine — under conditions that Barnard does not have the facilities to accommodate — would put an unreasonable burden on many of our students and their families,” wrote Barnard president Sian Leah Beilock in her letter to the university community.
Barnard will refund all room and board charges and is giving a 10% tuition reduction for the fall semester, according to the letter.
