BY JENNIFER ROBACK | MANAGING EDITOR
Last week, Michael Berthel, Chief of Student Affairs, announced that after Thanksgiving break all classes will be remote for the remainder of the semester. Furthermore, when students come back for Spring 2021, there will be no spring break or other holiday breaks.
“After the Thanksgiving break, the University will move to remote learning beginning Monday, November 30. Classes will be conducted virtually through the end of the Fall semester. All offices, residence halls, and food services will remain open for resident students as scheduled until December 23, 2020,” Berthel stated.
Residence halls, Shark Bite and Freshens will remain open and students are allowed to stay on campus during this time, there will just be no in-person classes.
For some students and faculty, the news of being fully remote is upsetting.
“Personally I am taking the decision horribly,” said Elizabeth Kurchak, a freshman chemistry major at LIU, “I have no private space at home, I can’t study quietly there, for me it will be hard going remote, but since it is for the good [of the students], I can accept it.”
Hilary Lorenz, an Associate Professor of Art and Media Art at LIU, stated her frustration comes from a lack of communication from the school. “It is frustrating because when other universities made their 2020-2021 plans, they made these decisions back in May [of 2020]. At times I feel like a puppet, one day being told, ‘we will absolutely not close’ to ‘we are closing after Thanksgiving’. It screws with my pedagogical planning and creates a culture of mistrust between faculty and admin. However, I am grateful that the decision was made and delivered now concerning the February 1 re-opening. It allows for effective planning,” Lorenz said.
On the other hand, some students are understanding when it comes to this decision.
“I do understand the decision, cases are rising in hotspots near campus so it’s better to go remote rather than wait for the cases to rise on campus,” said Emily John, a freshman pharmacy student at the LIU Brooklyn campus.
With the announcement of remote classes after Thanksgiving break, Berthel announced that there will be no spring break or any other holidays during next semester either. “In order to help prevent the spread of the virus and limit non-essential travel, the University will suspend holiday breaks, including Spring Break and President’s Day,” Berthel said.
The semester, which was originally scheduled to begin Tuesday, January 19 after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, will now start on February 1st. In addition, President’s Day, which is February 15, will now be a school day where classes will run.
LIU’s spring break scheduled from March 8-14 will no longer be part of the academic schedule and classes will be held during that time. Delaying the start of the semester will take into account the time students were supposed to have off.
“I wasn’t happy about them cutting out spring break but winter break is extended so i guess that’s a good compromise,” added John on the topic.
Surprisingly, LIU is not the first school to do this. Schools like Boston University, St. John Fisher College in Rochester N.Y, Ohio State University, Purdue University and many others have altered their spring schedules and cancelled spring break.
Surprisingly, LIU is not the first school to do this. Schools like Boston University, St. John Fisher College in Rochester N.Y, Ohio State University, Purdue University, and many others have altered their spring schedules and canceled spring break.