Amid skyrocketing nationwide case counts of Covid-19, Harvard administrators announced Monday that the College is cautiously moving forward with welcoming increased numbers of students back to campus for the spring semester.
In December, Harvard College announced that it would expand on-campus living to prioritize seniors, juniors who were enrolled in fall 2020, and students with learning environment needs.
Writing to all University affiliates Monday morning, University President Lawrence S. Bacow cited “record high numbers of cases worldwide and in the United States” as cause for caution and increased flexibility for spring plans.
“Those plans depend on the status of the pandemic and may need to change if the situation continues to deteriorate,” Bacow wrote. “Each School has developed contingency plans and will be in touch with more specific information as spring term approaches.
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Claiming she had made public assertions about voter fraud in November’s presidential election “that have no basis in evidence,” Harvard Kennedy School Dean Douglas Elmendorf today announced Rep. Elise Stefanik would be removed from a school political science advisory board.
“Moreover, these assertions and statements do not reflect policy disagreements but bear on the foundations of the electoral process through which this country’s leaders are chosen,” Elmendorf said in a letter released Tuesday.
“In my conversation with Elise, she declined to step aside, and I told her that I would therefore remove her from the Institute of Politics’ Senior Advisory Committee at this time,” Elmendorf wrote.
The storming of the U.S. Capitol building by a pro-Trump mob Wednesday drew shock, anger, and horror from Harvard University administrators, who called for a renewed commitment to truth and democracy.
Violence erupted on Jan. 6 after rioters breached the Capitol building as Congress met to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. Five people died in the chaos, including a Capitol Police officer.
In a statement Thursday, University President Lawrence S. Bacow called the events âan incomprehensible spectacle in the heart of our nation.â
âThe rioters who forced their way into the Capitol assaulted the democratic process and endangered public servants who have devoted themselves to the defining work of our democracy â carrying out the will of the people,â Bacow wrote.
Five representatives of Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard, a student group calling on the University to divest its endowment from the fossil fuel industry, met with University President Lawrence S. Bacow and several members of the Harvard Corporation the University’s highest governing body in a closed-door meeting last week.
In the meeting which took place virtually on Dec. 16 and marked the first discussions between divest organizers and administrators in more than a year the student activists pushed Harvard to adopt a seven-point plan released in May that calls for full disclosure and divestment of fossil fuels, according to a Divest Harvard press release.
Academic continuity was a guiding principle in Harvardâs planning for the spring semester, Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana said in a Monday interview.
Harvardâs plan for the spring semester â announced earlier this month by Khurana, along with University President Lawrence S. Bacow and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine Gay â welcomes roughly half of all undergraduates to live on campus. The plan gives preference to seniors, currently enrolled juniors, and students faced with learning environment or time zone challenges.
This past semester, the College hosted just a quarter of students â primarily first-years â in its dorms. Khurana said the success of the fall opened the door to bringing even more students back this spring.