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A boat blowout in Boston Harbor. A clubhouse bash in Harvard Square. An orchard fête in northern Massachusetts.
Some students, determined to end a fraught school year on a note of normalcy, defied Harvardâs Covid-19 rules this past semester in the name of fun â and to the chagrin of some of their classmates.
Concerned by a spike in Covid-19 cases among undergraduates living on and near campus this spring, University administrators have urged students to continue observing public health practices and avoiding gatherings.
âHere in Cambridge and near campus, we see some worrisome trends in the number of positive cases, especially among students living together off-campus,â Dean of Students Katherine G. OâDair and Harvard University Health Services Director Giang T. Nguyen wrote in an April 16 email. âIt is spring, the weather is warming up, and we know that you want to gather with each other; please do this safely, using sound public health pract
Harvard will expand its undergraduate housing capacity on and near campus to accommodate ânormal housing densityâ in fall 2021, even as it anticipates the largest matriculating class in its history, administrators wrote in an email to Faculty of Arts and Sciences affiliates Tuesday afternoon.
The administrators â University President Lawrence A. Bacow, FAS Dean Claudine Gay, Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana, and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dean Emma Dench â also shared that all graduate and undergraduate instruction will take place in the classroom, with the option of online supplemental instruction.
Gay first shared in a March interview with The Crimson that the University was âcharting a path to a full return for our students, our faculty, and staff.â Weeks later, the College announced a planned return to âin-person learningâ in the fall semester.
Harvard University Health Services Director Giang T. Nguyen said the University waited until doses were readily accessible across the country before joining other Boston-area colleges in mandating Covid-19 vaccinations for students before returning to campus in the fall in a Thursday interview.
Harvard announced the vaccine mandate on Wednesday, two weeks after all people 16 years and older became eligible for the coronavirus vaccine in every state. Massachusetts was one of the last six states to open adult eligibility by the April 19 deadline set by President Joe Biden.
Though other colleges issued vaccine requirements “fairly early,” Nguyen noted that college students were not yet eligible to receive the vaccine in every state by then.