IUP shifts to mostly remote classes
Indiana University of Pennsylvania is reducing by two-thirds the number of fall students it invites to campus given the COVID19 pandemic, offering remote instruction to all but freshmen, most graduate students, international students in the U.S. and others with specialized needs.
IUP, Western Pennsylvania’s largest state-owned university, becomes the ninth of 14 members of the State System of Higher Education to shift away from most face-to-face classes given a summer surge in Pennsylvania and elsewhere of a virus that has killed about 155,000 nationwide since February.
It came as Gov. Tom Wolf announced that $28 million will be distributed among postsecondary institutions statewide, IUP among them, to support health and safety plans related to the pandemic this fall.
Cases of the virus “in our community and our state are on the increase, with projections for a continued upward trajectory of positive cases,” IUP President Michael Driscoll told students and employees in an email made public Monday morning. “As we have stressed in earlier messaging, new information may result in new — and quick — decision making.”
Counties in which public and private campuses have revisited fall plans range in volume of COVID-19 cases, though officials have cited risks to students, faculty and the surrounding community of bringing individuals to campus from locales where the virus has spiked in recent weeks, including the South and Midwest. Hot spots are reported in 40 states, they said.
“With this very concerning information, we must move forward in a new direction that balances our commitment to protecting health and safety with our educational mission,’’ Mr. Driscoll said.
In Indiana County, there are 255 confirmed cases of the virus, compared with 8,081 in Allegheny County and 25,969 in
Philadelphia, according to the state Health Department.
“We do not have any reported or confirmed cases of coronavirus infection on our [IUP] campuses at this time,” Mr. Driscoll said.
State System spokesman David Pidgeon on Monday reiterated the system’s belief fall decisions should be made at the campus level. He offered no indication other schools planned to make any modifications.
Move-in at IUP will occur Aug. 15 and 16 with classes set to begin Aug. 24 as scheduled, Mr. Driscoll said.
But instruction will be conducted remotely for all but the following:
• New freshmen.
• Most graduate students.
• Most international students who are in the U.S.
• Students with special circumstances that require faceto-face instruction or their presence on campus.
Meanwhile Monday, the governor’s office detailed assistance efforts for campuses to offset costs related to safeguarding students, employees and others from the COVID-19 pandemic.
A list of amounts going to scores of public and private institutions ranges from million-plus amounts, including $1.9 million to Penn State University, $1.4 million to Temple University and $1.1 million to the University of Pittsburgh, to smaller grants, among them $133,000 for Duquesne University, $139,000 for Robert Morris University, $74,000 to Chatham University, $615,000 to Community College of Allegheny County and $11,000 to Triangle Tech, Pittsburgh.
IUP is slated to receive $358,000. Eric Levis, a spokesman for the state Department of Education, said the amounts for that school and others will stand becausethe aid is not tied to in-person classes only.
“Postsecondary opportunities are key to a better life and the social and economic well-being of the state, and we must do everything we can to keep this pathway available for students,” state Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera said in a statement accompanying the announcement.
The changes will reduce the university’s 10,600 enrollment on campus to about one-third.
Freshmen are not required to be physically present, but the school wanted to give them priority, Mr. Driscoll said.
“We have chosen to invite our new freshmen to campus with the understanding that a transition to college life is challenging, even in the best of circumstances, and remote instruction may not be the best option for them,” he said.
Already, West Chester, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Clarion, Millersville, Lock Haven and California have announced similar shifts, and Slippery Rock has cut the share of in-person classes from 50% to 20%.
The 14 State System universities collectively enroll nearly 96,000 students.