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Ithaca College (IC) President Shirley M. Collado announced Tuesday that the IC campus will remain closed for the fall semester.  Collado said that remote instruction will continue to be offered to IC students.  Calling the decision "agonizing" she said that the extent of changes necessary for on-campus instruction and housing would result in an experience different from what IC students expect and college officials want them to have.

"The reality of COVID-19 is deeply concerning," she said. "This pandemic has infected more than 5.4 million people in the United States and has taken the lives of more than 170,000. We have been fortunate in New York State, and specifically in the Ithaca area, to currently have a low prevalence of infections. These numbers are encouraging, but we have learned from watching other communities how delicate this equilibrium is, and how quickly it can be disrupted."

The announcement came before a public online forum Tuesday evening at which Cornell, IC, and TC3 Provosts and vice presidents overseeing academic, financial and student life provided upadatesand answered questions.  Public outcry about Cornell's campus reopening plan has been vocal, with residents worried about students travelling from countries and states with much higher infection rates and the impact they may have on the Tompkins County population.  Collado said another consideration is uncertainty about the future.

"Though none of us can predict the future with any certainty, it is easy to foresee the likelihood of a public health trajectory that would mandate the closure of the college due to circumstances beyond our control. Bringing students here, only to send them back home, would cause unnecessary disruption in the continuity of their academic experience," she said.

After sending students home last spring, IC began remote teaching to finish the spring semester on March 23rd.  Summer school was also online, with some courses offered at discounted rates and a free credit-bbearing class offered to new IC studnets.  At that point college officials hoped to be able to reopen the campus a month later than usual.  In May Collado announced that IC would reopen its campus on October 5th.

At an online 'town hall' Tuesday evening at which officials from IC, Cornell, and Tompkins Cortland Community College talked about their reopening plans IC's Vice President of Student Affairs and Campus Life Rosanna Ferro said that a small number of students will be allowed to come back to campus.

"We are mostly going to be closed for residential students, and we are going to have some exceptions, mostly students who have health related majors," she said.  So some of our physical therapy, occupational therapy... those types of students.  Today we launched an exception process, for students who might have circumstances at home that will not allow them to continue their academic studies, or may not have access to resources and things of that nature.  We're not expecting it to be a big number. We're expecting it to be small enough that will allow us to manage everything we need to manage, but making sure, again, that all students, regardless of location can continue their studies."

Collado's announcement explained what students may expect for the remote semester, including academic engagement, student life initiatives including a number of online programs.  She said college officials are continuing to work on a reopening plan to be used in the future.

"I know that our fall semester is looking very different from what we all had hoped would be possible. I also know that this is a resilient, tight-knit, and dedicated community that is familiar with challenge. I ask that all of us rise to this challenge together and resist the temptation to allow the disappointment of this moment to undercut our potential as individuals and as an institution. We can build an amazing academic experience amid a pandemic. We can support students with innovative programming that affirms who they are and who they want to become. And we can realize our vision to contribute to a thriving, equitable, and inspiring world. I’m ready to continue doing this work, and I hope you will join me," she concluded.

At this point both Cornell (in-person and virtual classes begin September 2) and TC3 (classes begin August 31) intend to reopen their campuses for the fall semester.

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