Michigan State University President Samuel Stanley Jr. said outbreaks of COVID-19 at other colleges and universities helped drive his decision to cancel nearly all in-person undergraduate courses this fall.
On Tuesday, MSU asked all undergrads who’d planned to live on campus to stay home and continue their courses online.
The decision came a day after the University of North Carolina quickly decided to shift to remote instruction after it reported 135 new coronavirus cases.
President Stanley said MSU realized the safety protocols it thought were sound differed very little from places like UNC.
“I think time will tell whether this was the right decision or not,” Stanley said.“But I felt with that data laid in front of us, that was a situation we didn’t really want to be in.”
Stanley said MSU is asking fraternities and sororities not to host social events this semester.
“We’ve asked them to take a pledge that they’re not going to do social events this semester," he said. "We’re asking them to sign that pledge that they’re not going to do that and we’ll see. But we think that’s going to get accomplished, and we going to hope that they hold to that.”
Student athletes training for their sports may remain on campus with strict health monitoring.