Colleges and universities have been scrambling in recent months to design plans for the fall semester as the country continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic. There is no question that the upcoming semester will look starkly different than most.
While no two Bay State institutions have laid out identical plans for the fall, there are commonalities. For those schools inviting students back to campus, most institutions will test students regularly for COVID-19, require face coverings and reconfigure classrooms so everyone can physically distance.
Nine of the state’s largest schools, including Berklee College of Music, UMass Boston, Harvard and Simmons, plan to move mostly online learning in the fall to prioritize safety. Berklee and Simmons reversed course and recently said they would conduct the semester online after previously hoping to open their campuses. The rest, including most of the state schools, Brandeis, Tufts and Bentley, on the other hand, are still determined to host at least some in-person classes.
