AMHERST — Several weeks into a mostly remote start to the academic year, University of Massachusetts officials are beginning to plan for a spring semester that could remain partially remote.
In a message to the campus community, UMass Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy said Thursday that a newly established strategy group will provide a set of recommendations to him for the spring semester by Oct. 21.
“Based on what we have learned from the transition last spring, this semester so far, and from other institutions, we should prepare for the possibility that a portion of our teaching and learning will continue to be delivered remotely in the spring,” Subbaswamy wrote.
“However, we should also build the infrastructure to gradually repopulate campus and resume in-person operations as much as the public health situation permits so we can provide an immersive educational experience and bring back our displaced employees,” he said.
The strategy group, co-chaired by Provost John McCarthy and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life Brandi Hephner LaBanc, will include other senior campus officials.
A day after sending out this message, the university announced that a cluster of 13 students, some of whom had attended a party together, had tested positive for COVID-19. As of Monday afternoon, the number rose to 18 students who tested positive.
Campus spokesman Ed Blaguszewsi said the university will move forward with its spring planning while keeping such risks in mind.
“We’re well aware that these are situations that, if they occurred frequently, would be something of great concern if we saw that pattern continue for spring planning,” he said. “So we’re very focused on minimizing spread.”
The university recognizes that “managing the pandemic is going to be an exercise in vigilance and education, and we’ve been very clear to our whole community that we all have to work together to adopt the best social practices so that we can aspire over time to bring people in larger numbers back to campus,” Blaguszewski said.
The university will continue to assess the state of the pandemic locally, statewide and nationally as officials plan for the spring, he said.