by Antoinette Aho
Campus Reform is monitoring the colleges and universities starting the 2022 academic year online.
These institutions are imposing the changes due to the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus.
Seven out of the 10 University of California chancellors decided to begin the winter quarter remotely. This includes UC Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz.
The university system also mandated booster shots to be considered fully vaccinated.
UC Berkeley and Merced operate on a semester schedule. UC Berkeley will resume in-person classes as intended for the upcoming semester, while Merced has not announced 2022 plans.
In a statement to chancellors, the President of the UC System, Dr. Michael Drake stated, “Given the differences in local conditions and campus operations across the university, the length of this remote instruction period may vary from campus to campus.”
Five Ivy League schools announced plans to begin 2022 online, including Cornell University which experienced a spike in positive cases at the end of the fall quarter, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, and Columbia University. Barnard College, which is affiliated with Columbia University, will also start online.
Stanford University also announced a two-week plan for remote classes, along with George Washington University, Northwestern University, and Emerson College. The University of Illinois at Chicago will also remain remote for two weeks, whereas UI Urbana-Champaign announced plans for only one week. Kean University will remain remote until January 30.
Trinity University has extended winter break due to COVID-19 concerns and will postpone all classes until January 31.
Campus Reform reached out to each university mentioned for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.
– – –
Antoinette Aho is a former Campus Reform intern at the Leadership Institute. She is from Sacramento, California, where she is involved with the local GOP and is a member of the Sacramento Republican Women’s Federation. As a student journalist, Antoinette reports on politics for Fact Based America and writes the occasional op-ed for outlets such as Left Middle Right. She previously worked for Turning Point USA as a High School Coordinator and volunteered on the Kevin Kiley campaign while also advocating for the California Recall Election.
