Yale University has announced plans to re-open its campus this fall. In so doing, Yale has joined other elite institutions like the University of Pennsylvania and Dartmouth College in signaling they wish for this coming fall term to be different from this past spring term — even if things won’t exactly be business as usual. So what exactly are Yale’s plans to keep its students, faculty, and staff safe as the number of COVID-19 cases continue to mount across America? Well, it depends on your class year. For first-year students, it’s a go for the fall but not so much for the spring. For sophomores, they’ll be off in the fall and on in the spring. For juniors, seniors, and graduate school students, they’ll be on all year. At least as of the date of this publication.

First-Year Students On in Fall, Off in Spring

As Yale states in a press release about this coming fall semester, ” “All students are invited to return for at least part of the 2020-21 academic year, and all will be required to sign a community compact pledging to follow university and public health guidance and protocols. In each semester, three of the four undergraduate classes may live and study on campus, reducing normal density and lowering the risk of COVID-19 spread. When not on campus, students are encouraged to take classes remotely. Undergraduate seniors and juniors may be on campus for the full year. First-year students may study on campus during the fall 2020 semester only, and sophomores during the spring semester of 2021 only. All graduate and professional students, most of whom live off campus, may return for the full academic year. Undergraduate courses will be delivered in a hybrid residential-remote format in which professors largely teach online, with in-person instruction in some cases, such as certain discussion sections, lab and studio courses, and collections-based courses.”

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