UPDATE: Temple University also moved to online instruction. Read more here.
Temple University is the last of Pennsylvania’s four state-related universities to not suspend in-person teaching in light of COVID-19 after the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State University announced they would move to online classes today.
Yesterday, Lincoln University announced that classes would be canceled for a week before moving online on March 16.
Temple is also among the last of several Philadelphia-area universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University, Villanova University and West Chester University, to not announce that it would move online, though students and faculty were told on Monday to prepare for the possibility, The Temple News reported. Drexel University announced today it would conduct next week’s quarter finals online.
In an announcement posted today, the University of Pittsburgh said it would postpone the start of classes until March 23 before moving all classes online for the remainder of the semester. Penn State’s classes will move online on March 16 and will resume as early as April 6, the university announced. Beginning March 16, Lincoln’s courses will transition online for the rest of the semester.
Philadelphia currently has one presumed positive case of COVID-19 while Pennsylvania has a total of 16 cases, The Temple News reported. No one associated with Temple University has the virus, according to the university’s landing page for information on COVID-19.
What is it going to take for Temple to go to online instruction? I don’t understand why they’re not sharing any information.
As both a Temple Parent and an alumni, I am appalled at Temple’s handling of the situation. When questioned, students are told to refer to the website for updates. The last update on the site was on March 9. Italian officials warned that swift action is necessary to avoid the lockdown they are now facing. Temple needs to take proactive steps now.
They are going to very soon. A lot of these other schools are smaller, have students with more means,and/or can take advantage of Spring Break to do a soft rollout. Temple’s now getting organized behind the scenes so when it comes it’ll be swift and complete more or less.