'This Is Really An Unprecedented Time': Pitt And Carlow Cancel Classes For Remainder Of Semester, Move Online Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - "I have been in Higher Ed(ucation) for 25 plus years, and this is really an unprecedented time."
Those are the words of Carlow University President Dr. Suzanne Mellon, PhD.
On Thursday morning, her university made the call to cancel all face-to-face classes and switch to alternative methods for the remainder of the spring semester amid the global coronavirus pandemic.
Pitt made a similar decision and sent students an email in the middle of spring break asking them to come get their things out of the dorms.
Pitt sophomore Julia Correa is from Franklin Park. She made the 30-minute drive from her parents' home to clean out her Oakland dorm room. She has lots of questions about how she can complete her science labs online.
"Right now I am taking Microbiology, and I have an O(rganic) Chem lab," says Correa.
When asked how whether she will be able to do the lab work outside of a lab setting, she simply shrugged. "Beats me. I have no idea what they expect us to do. I might be more concept learning, but I don't have the chemicals at home like I do here."
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Some parents are already asking if they will get money back for the unused portion room and board. They say they paid it months ago.
Dr. Mellon acknowledges that is a fair question and must be part of the conversation. "I think that is happening with all the universities in this area."
Carlow is giving traditional face-to-face students an extra week of spring break.
That time will be used by faculty and staff to work through plans on how to teach those classes remotely. It means college campuses will look and feel very different this spring.
Ethan Rosentel is a Pitt senior from Scranton. Even though his friends left campus for spring break, he stayed in Oakland to study for the MCAT in hopes of going to medical school after graduation. He says this feels like his college career is ending with a whimper instead of a bang.
"It's crazy to think I won't get to see a lot of my friends," says Rosentel.
"They won't be coming back because they are living off-campus and won't really have a reason to get things. It hasn't really hit me there will be a lot of things I will definitely be missing out on at the end of my senior year."
College administrators know that, and they want to stress they did not make these decisions lightly. They also know it may not be the last hard decision they will have to make this spring.
"It is such a fluid situation that what we are planning to do right now and what's been decided in the last 24 hours may change in the next 48 hours," says Dr. Mellon.
