Friday, March 29

UCLA announces winter quarter will continue with remote instruction


Winter quarter will remain mostly remote, a UCLA administrator announced Monday. This marks no change from fall quarter, where most courses were also taught remotely. (Noah Danesh/Daily Bruin)


Winter quarter classes at UCLA will remain mostly online, marking no changes from fall quarter, a UCLA administrator announced in an email sent to students Monday.

Nearly all courses will continue operating online, said Emily Carter, the executive vice chancellor and provost, in the emailed statement. UCLA will offer a limited number of in-person courses that train students in essential workforces, which Carter said will be announced Tuesday.

UCLA also will not increase the capacity of university housing, Carter said, which will again be limited to around 4% of UCLA Housing’s full 14,000 person capacity. UCLA Housing will not make any new housing offers for undergraduates, according to a statement on the UCLA Housing website.

“We were hopeful that we could expand instruction to include more in-person classes next quarter, but given the continued spread of COVID-19, and in line with strict county public health mandates, we must maintain a reduced population and limit person-to-person contact on campus,” Carter said in the email.

UCLA is still in Phase 1 of its four-phase reopening plan, which only allows for less than 8% of courses to be held in person. UCLA is not expected to fully reopen until an effective COVID-19 treatment becomes widely available, according to its own guidelines. And without a timeline of when a COVID-19 vaccine will become widely accessible, it is not known when UCLA can return to in-person instruction.

Carter said the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Task Force, tasked with deciding UCLA’s plans for the winter quarter, made the recommendation alongside guidelines from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

LACDPH Protocols for Institutes of Higher Education recommended that colleges and universities offer all non-essential classes remotely and limit university housing to students who do not have alternative housing options.

Most university staff will work from home until at least the end of winter quarter, except for some researchers and medical workers, a university administrator announced in September.

At least 322 people in the UCLA community have tested positive for COVID-19 since March, according to UCLA’s COVID-19 tracker.

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