University unveils plan to continue in-person classes, dorming with small groups

The University of Colorado at Boulder announced Tuesday that new students will live and attend classes together in smaller cohorts in the fall to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

“They may take three to four classes each, and so that reduces the number of individuals they would be in contact with,” Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano told CNN. “In a regular semester, they may have 40 or 50 different students that they would be interacting with rather than just 10, and we believe that by reducing that population density, we’ll certainly help to mitigate some of the problems with the virus.”

DiStefano added that the students will not be able to select their classes. 

“We will be assigning classes for first-year students. These would be classes that would count for graduation. We want to make sure that they stay on schedule to graduate, and so we will be placing students in classes,” he said. “They’ll be more of the required courses rather than electives for their first year, but we feel this is the way they can be successful in making headway toward their degrees and at the same time be safe.”

The University of Colorado at Boulder will keep new students together in groups of 10. They will live in the same dorms and take classes together.
“We feel that while they’re on campus…we can certainly mitigate some of the problems there,” Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano said. pic.twitter.com/i9S7A4Lzmk

— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) May 26, 2020

In a note on the university website, DiStefano said that administrators planned to develop a plan for the fall semester based on a combination of local conditions and local, state and national guidance.

“To do so, it establishes four modes of campus operation that build upon the return to research pilot beginning this summer: remote (the current campus state), limited (limited physical presence on campus), expanded (fall 2020 in-person operations) and full (return to normal operations),” he wrote.