6:47 p.m. ET, May 18, 2020
University of Notre Dame plans to end fall semester before Thanksgiving
From CNN’s Rebekah Riess
The University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana.
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The University of Notre Dame announced in a statement today that students will return to campus for their fall semester during the week of August 10, two weeks earlier than originally scheduled.
The university also announced that it will forgo fall break in October and end the semester before Thanksgiving.
Notre Dame students were sent home in mid-March due to the Covid-19 pandemic and completed their spring semester through remote learning.
“By far the most complex challenge before us is the return of our students to campus for the resumption of classes in the fall semester,” the university’s president, Rev. John I. Jenkins, said in the statement.
“Bringing our students back is in effect assembling a small city of people from many parts of the nation and the world, who may bring with them pathogens to which they have been exposed. We recognize the challenge, but we believe it is one we can meet," the statement said.
The university said its plan for the fall will include comprehensive Covid-19 testing, contact tracing, quarantine and isolation protocols, social distancing and mask requirements, and enhanced cleaning of all campus spaces.
As part of its planning, the university has identified facilities to isolate students who test positive and quarantine students who have been in close contact. These protocols will continue throughout the semester and as long as necessary, the university said.
Other schools: Purdue University, Rice University and Creighton University all announced plans to cancel fall breaks and end “face-to-face” instruction before Thanksgiving earlier today.