Following hundreds of UNC community members gathering on Franklin Street Saturday night, university leadership said in-person instruction will continue beginning Monday if faculty choose it.
In a release Sunday night, UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz and Provost Bob Blouin said the university’s Student Affairs department received hundreds of complaints about community public health violations after people celebrated after UNC men’s basketball’s victory over Duke, 91-87. With in-person instruction set to begin on Monday, leadership decided to offer faculty flexibility in their modes of instruction.
“We will continue to start undergraduate in-person instruction tomorrow, as planned,” wrote Guskiewicz and Blouin. “However, as we have heard concern from some faculty, we will allow faculty the flexibility to stay with remote instruction this week, and begin in-person instruction on Feb. 17, following the wellness days on Feb. 15-16.”
While community members did not follow requests from leadership not to gather, leadership referenced required coronavirus tests twice a week and the lack of density in classrooms as key factors to maintaining campus public health amid the ongoing pandemic. University leaders said only 31 percent of undergraduate students will be taking either one or two courses in-person during this spring semester, with masks and physical distance required when on campus. Additionally, students living on campus are in single-occupancy rooms in residence halls.
The last in-person instruction held at UNC was to begin the fall 2020 semester. Following several clusters of positive COVID-19 cases in the first week, university leadership pivoted back to exclusively remote instruction for the rest of the semester.
Violations to the university’s community public health standards can result in students receiving written warnings, activity restrictions and probation. In the last week, UNC revealed nine students were removed from on-campus housing due to violations of safety protocols between November 1, 2020 and January 31, 2021.
As of Saturday, UNC reported 610 cumulative positive COVID-19 cases since January through its Carolina Together dashboard. There were 67 new cases reported in the last week from on-campus testing.
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