Coronavirus Sends Students Home
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The Harvard Crimson THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873 | VOLUME CXLVII NO. 34 | CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2020 NEWS PAGE 5 EDITORIAL PAGE 6 SPORTS PAGE 8 Archaeologist discusses the Pacific Harvard’s choice to close its doors Women’s basketball halts losing in the prehistoric era gives us deep reason for worry streak Friday, then loses to Yale CORONAVIRUS SENDS STUDENTS HOME INSIDE THIS Students Must ISSUE Vacate, Classes Move Online Unions Reply to Closures By THE CRIMSON NEWS STAFF Three unions say they All Harvard courses will move are making contingen- to remote instruction begin- cy plans and cancelling ning March 23 as a result of a events after Harvard’s growing global coronavirus announcement that it outbreak, University President will send undergrads Lawrence S. Bacow announced home and move to on- in an email Tuesday morning. line classes. The University will also ask students not to return from spring break. SEE UNIONS PAGE 4 “Students are asked not to return to campus after Spring Recess and to meet academ- ic requirements remotely until Seniors Party further notice,” Bacow wrote in the email. Before Packing “Students who need to re- main on campus will also re- ceive instruction remotely and must prepare for severely lim- ited on-campus activities and interactions. All graduate stu- dents will transition to remote work wherever possible,” Ba- cow added. The move follows both similar decisions at other Ivy League universities in recent Harvard seniors spent days and rapid changes on On Tuesday morning, Harvard University announced the upcoming transition to virtual instruction for graduate and undergraduate classes. A student time with friends in din- campus. waits with his belongings in preparation for vacating campus outside of Leverett House Tuesday morning. JONATHAN G. YUAN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER ing halls and at outdoor As the number of confirmed parties on Tuesday af- coronavirus cases in Massa- ter recieving the news chusetts rises, events and ven- that their final semes- ues across Harvard’s campus ter would be cut short. have closed, travel restrictions have tightened, and University affiliates have questioned how the disease will affect life and SEE SENIORS PAGE 3 work on campus. Harvard has seen similarly seismic changes to operations only in wartime. Intl. Students Spring recess officially be- gins this Saturday and con- React to News cludes on March 22. The next day, students will attend classes virtually — a International students possibility Harvard University at the College spent Health Services director Giang Tuesday questioning T. Nguyen and Dean of the Fac- the status of their visas, ulty of Arts and Sciences Clau- Harvard College students were notified to vacate their houses and dorms The Owl, a final club, hosted a day party following the notification of the working to secure hous- dine Gay first publicly raised at by March 15, five days away. RYAN N. GAJARAWALA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER decision to evacuate campus. RYAN N. GAJARAWALA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER ing, and wondering how a faculty meeting earlier this different time zones month. will impact online class. Since then, tabs for the on- line meeting platform Zoom Rapid Move-Outs Faculty Prepare have cropped up on course SEE GLOBAL PAGE 7 websites and many faculty have tested it with their class- es. Bring Challenges for Web Teaching Bacow wrote Monday that Mass. Declares Harvard will now strongly dis- courage gatherings of more By JULIET E. ISSELBACHER By JAMES S. BIKALES they felt largely prepared to de- Emergency than 25 people, a change from and AMANDA Y. SU “To wake up in the morn- CRIMSON STAFF WRITER liver classes online for the rest the previous guidance to re- CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS ing and receive what can only of the semester. think events of 100 or more. be called an eviction notice is Harvard’s response to the novel The University announced a Governor Charlie D. “Despite our best efforts Most days, Jordan H. Barton ’23 something that only invalidates coronavirus Tuesday triggered number of measures to reduce Baker ‘79 declared a to bring the University’s re- wakes up in his Canaday dorm what the school’s mission has perhaps one of the largest sud- risk to affiliates in emails Tues- state of emergency sources to bear on this virus, to a 9:30 a.m. alarm. stated since they’ve been in- den pedagogical shifts in Uni- day, including transitioning to in Massachusetts on we are still faced with un- On Tuesday, though, he ducted,” Barton said. versity history, as undergrad- online learning, canceling gath- Tuesday after the num- certainty—and the consid- woke up earlier. His phone was Dean of the College Rakesh uates are required to move off erings of more than 25 people, ber of reported cases of erable unease brought on by ringing as he began receiving Khurana wrote to Barton and campus and classes transition and requiring that College stu- coronavirus in the state uncertainty,” Bacow wrote. a flood of texts informing him more than 6,000 other under- to an online format. dents vacate their dorms by jumped to 92. “It will take time for re- Harvard College would require graduates on Tuesday morn- In the wake of the changes, Sunday. searchers, a good many of them undergraduates to vacate cam- ing that campus would not several Harvard faculty mem- Last week, Dean of the pus by Sunday to prevent the bers said that, while they still SEE EMERGENCY PAGE 3 SEE VACATE PAGE 7 spread of the coronavirus. SEE MOVE-OUT PAGE 4 need to iron out several details, SEE FACULTY PAGE 5 Experts Support Schools Unveil Contingency Plans for Virus Response to Virus By JAMES S. BIKALES, MICHELLE G. KURILLA, and RUOQI ZHANG By FIONA K. BRENNAN uled classes after spring recess. CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS CRIMSON STAFF WRITER As of Tuesday evening, there were 973 confirmed cases of Administrators from across Public health experts largely coronavirus and 29 deaths in Harvard’s 12 degree-granting support the University’s deci- the United States. Governor schools and the Radcliffe In- sion to transition to remote in- Charlie D. Baker ’79 declared stitute for Advanced Study sent struction and restrict students’ a state of emergency in Mas- school-specific instructions presence on campus as the glob- sachusetts Tuesday, after the and reassurances to students al coronavirus outbreak grows. number of coronavirus cases Tuesday following University University President Law- doubled overnight to 92. President Lawrence S. Bacow’s rence S. Bacow and Dean of the To date, there are nine re- announcement that Harvard College Rakesh Khurana in- ported cases in Boston but none would move to remote instruc- formed students of the mea- on Harvard’s campus. tion beginning March 23 as a re- sures in a series of emails Tues- Harvard School of Pub- sult of the growing coronavirus day morning. Khurana asked lic Health epidemiology pro- outbreak. undergraduates to vacate their fessor Donald A. Goldmann Bacow’s announcement, rooms no later than Sunday said that while Harvard’s deci- which also stipulated that stu- March 15 at 5 p.m. and begin sion to send students home was dents not return to campus attending courses virtually on A Harvard undergraduate talks on the phone in the Science Center Plaza Tuesday morning, reacting to the March 23, the first day of sched- SEE EXPERTS PAGE 3 SEE SCHOOLS PAGE 5 University’s early morning decision. JONATHAN G. YUAN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER INSIDE TODAY’S PARTLY SUNNY VISIT THECRIMSON.COM. THIS Harvard Today 2 News 3 Editorial 6 Sports 8 wash FORECAST High: 51 Low: 33 FOLLOW @THECRIMSON ON TWITTER. ISSUE THE HARVARD CRIMSON | MARCH 11. 2020 PAGE 4 Unions Respond MOVE-OUT FROM PAGE 1 to Univ. Closures Sudden Move-Outs Pose Unexpected Issues reopen after spring break, sources necessary to evacu- planned to return to Boston for prehensive subsidies was nec- By DAVIT ANTONYAN cerned the closure could cause which stretches from March 14 ate and move off-campus,” the the summer. essary,” the letter further stat- CRIMSON STAFF WRITER “about 60% of our overtime to to 22. group wrote in a statement “All of these flights total up ed. be gone.” Within hours, the email sent emailed to its members. to about $700. That’s like half Primus’s leaders wrote that Three of Harvard’s labor Harvard’s graduate student students scrambling to pack up First-generation students my net worth,” Olvera said. they are focused on continuing unions are forming contingen- union cancelled its scheduled all their belongings and make constitute 15 percent of Har- Olvera said he was unsure to communicate with affected cy plans and cancelling events work-in on Thursday and an- plans to vacate. But Barton and vard’s undergraduate popula- whether he could get refunds students and working with ad- after Harvard announced nounced it would stop holding others say it hit one group of un- tion; more than 20 percent of from the airlines or receive fi- ministrators and alumni to con- Tuesday that it would send un- mass events following a Uni- dergraduates particularly hard: students are on full financial aid nancial assistance from Har- nect students with additional dergraduates home for the re- versity-wide email announcing first-generation and low-in- at the College, according to Pri- vard to cover sunk costs. resources. mainder of the semester and that classes will move online come students, many of whom mus’s statement. Similarly, some students In its open letter, HUDUA hold classes online due to the beginning March 23. depend upon Harvard for food, James A. Bedford ’20 — who have been forced to make demanded that Harvard open global coronavirus outbreak.