UT discloses new details on virus education plan

University of Texas at Austin announced new details Monday on the fall semester and class structure during the coronavirus pandemic.

Plans include a shortened academic semester, an “instructional continuity plan” in the event professors fall ill, a mix of online and in-person classes and a flat tuition no matter the mode of instruction, its board said.

UT’s semester will begin Aug. 26, with in-person instruction ending Nov. 25 — the day before Thanksgiving.

The class day will run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., with courses “more evenly distributed,” and each course will have an “instructional continuity plan,” which will include a teaching partner, who will take over the class in the case of an emergency or if an instructor becomes ill.

Like many Texas schools, UT-Austin will offer classes online, hybrid and in-person options for students, but all is subject to change, according to UT’s Interim President Jay Hartzell.

“COVID-19 and its spread in Texas will continue to shape the exact ways we teach, learn, work and conduct research on and off campus,” Hartzell said in a letter to the university community Monday.

In-person classes will have no more than 40 percent occupancy. Students will also have the option to take their full fall semester online, and UT has advised that online courses have been “designed from the ground up” in this format.

Art Markman, a professor of psychology and chair of the academic planning work group at UT, said in a call with media Monday that the largest 400 classes, including big lectures, were placed online, which largely impacts lower division classes for freshmen and sophomores.

Classes offered in the hybrid mode will have in-person and remote learning elements. The frequency of in-person aspects of coursework will depend on the class and will be decided by departments and deans.

Lectures in many in-person and hybrid courses will be streamed and recorded, depending on the instructor, which will allow students who need to self-isolate or have health concerns to stay current in their studies.

Graduate programs will be more flexible about allowing international students, who might face delays when trying to enter the United States, the option to defer admissions or learn remotely, if requested.

Tuition for all classes, no matter the mode, will be the same, officials said, and the college is still discussing how student life activities will be held — whether that be online, in hybrid mode or in outdoor spaces.

The university will require members of the community to wear cloth masks when inside university buildings unless alone in a private office, in an assigned dorm room, while eating or drinking while practicing social distancing, or when an alternative has been approved by the Americans with Disabilities Act or as a part of a religious observance.

Wearing cloth masks will also be encouraged outdoors. Those who do not wear masks as mandated could face disciplinary action, all the way up to suspension, said Hartzell and Soncia Reagins-Lilly, UT’s dean of students.

Students’ off-campus activities are largely out of university control. But Hartzell said UT officials are “trying to instill in our students a sense of doing the right thing even if they’re not in the classroom our in our dorms or residence hall.”

Reagins-Lilly said the school is working those who own and manage facilities, including fraternity and sorority houses, to enforce and maintain guidelines.

“We’re in this together, and we’re going to protect Texas together by working closely and reinforcing and supporting each other as we trust our students to do the right thing and make good choices,” Reagins-Lilly said.

UT officials are also providing a new mobile app with a private diary function that will allow users to monitor symptoms and body temperature and access information about testing locations and processes.

On-campus COVID-19 testing will be available, and officials expect more than 1,500 tests per day. UT health professionals and Austin Public Health will together perform contact tracing for those who test positive. The college also plans to have hand hygiene products and cleaning stations around campus, but officials are encouraging people to carry their own hand sanitizing products.

Residence halls — most which are slated to be double occupancy — will open Aug. 20 and will require social distancing measures. Unless they are in their own assigned dorm room, students are to wear cloth masks.