Classes at Rice will go virtual for two weeks
Rice University will shift the first two weeks of the fall semester online and has implemented a host of “temporary” restrictions after a surge in COVID-19 cases on campus and in the greater Houston area.
Since students’ arrival last week, the campus, which is largely vaccinated, has experienced an increase in cases, Rice Provost Reginald DesRoches wrote in a letter to the university community Thursday.
Harris County has seen more than 2,300 new COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday, the highest since
January, according to data from Harris County Public Health and the Houston Health Department.
Classes at Rice will now begin Wednesday instead of Monday and will run online through Sept. 3 while university officials reassess policies and how instruction will be held. Courses that can be conducted with masking and social distancing, such as graduate research, will remain in person, DesRoches said. Dining in groups indoors and drinking on campus are also banned through Sept. 3, making it a dry campus for at least two weeks, according to Bridget Gorman, Rice’s dean of undergraduates.
Gorman said in a letter to students Thursday that the number of breakthrough cases — positive tests among vaccinated people — was “much higher than anticipated.” No exact number was stated.
“And while it’s important to recognize that we can expect illness to be much milder among the fully vaccinated, it has become clear that as a campus community we need to take steps to further assess and recalibrate how we will manage this illness at Rice this year,” Gorman wrote.
The university has also asked upperclassmen who were expected to move in during the coming days to delay their return to campus until the weekend of Sept. 4. Students who live farther away and have not yet moved in are also encouraged to stay home. Those who have already relocated on campus can choose to return home until instruction begins again in person.
“This will provide us more flexibility in assessing and arranging for housing needs for students who may need to isolate or quarantine following exposure to COVID in the coming weeks,” Gorman said.
Rice officials are also offering to waive fees and provide refunds for students who decide that they no longer want to live on campus because of the recent changes. Students living on campus who want to move off can have their fees waived and will have to pay only for the days they lived on campus before Sept. 3. Those who have yet to move and have decided to stay off campus can receive a full refund for room and board.
Undergraduates have also been notified that they must take a COVID-19 test by the end of the day Friday, and all upperclassmen returning to campus must get tested before their arrival, regardless of vaccination status. Those who are vaccinated must take a test the day they arrive to campus and another test three to five days later.
“I am sure that reading this, you feel a sense of disappointment that we find ourselves in this situation — I know that I do. But, as much as our vision for our fall start is shifting, I remain optimistic that these changes reflect a relatively short-term opportunity to pauseand-reset, rather than permanent alterations to how life on campus will be this semester,” Gorman wrote in the letter. “If we can all embrace these safety protocols, our ability to provide a healthy campus environment will improve and the time frame for these extra protections to be in place will be more limited.”
Officials will use the following weeks of remote learning to “test and assess the prevalence of COVID-19 in the Rice community and its related health outcomes, and to implement any appropriate risk mitigation actions,” DesRoches said.
Instructors can choose whether they want to teach live or allow students to view prepared or prerecorded coursework, whether they want to teach on campus or at home, and how they’d like to conduct office hours — whether online or in-person. Any faculty who wishes to teach in person for the first two weeks should send a request to the provost explaining why they wish to be exempt.
Despite all the recent changes, DesRoches said “it remains our intention to return to fully in-person instruction this semester.”
The university expected a “more normal posture for the fall semester” a few weeks ago, but he added that “much remains to be learned about the delta variant, and we need to pay close attention to the current surge that is especially pronounced in Texas.”
The announcement comes as many Texas colleges, including Rice, have altered original plans for a close-to-normal fall semester.
Houston Community College announced Monday that it would hold its first four weeks of classes largely online.
The University of Texas at Austin, Prairie View A&M University and Texas A&M University are requiring students to be tested before arriving on campus or in student housing. Texas A&M and others, such as the University of Houston, have strongly encouraged
masks and have offered incentives, including free tuition, parking permits or cash credit, for students to get vaccinated.
Rice lifted mask mandates in May, but will now require masks indoors for all individuals this fall. The university also banned college events typically open to the public and delayed the reopening of its on-campus pub, and it plans to ramp up testing on campus. All students are required to be vaccinated unless they have a medical waiver or cite religious reasons.
The university expects at least 90 percent of its community to be vaccinated by the start of school. Still, those who are vaccinated
must be tested every two weeks, and those who are not, twice a week, officials have said.