NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Two more universities in the Tri-State announced they were shifting to remote final exams and canceling events amid a rise in COVID-19 cases and concern about the omicron variant.
Princeton University made the announcement Tuesday and NYU soon followed on Wednesday. The news came on the heels of a similar announcement by Cornell University.
NYU said it was seeing a “considerable acceleration in the rate of new cases in our community” and taking necessary action in response.
The university said it was “strongly” encouraging that final exams and assessments be changed to a remote/online format, with “only those assessments that are fundamentally unsuited to being conducted remotely” proceeding in person.
NYU also said that all “discretionary, non-essential, non-academic gatherings and events are to be canceled immediately,” including club meetings, holiday parties, celebrations, athletic events and other gatherings on- and off-campus for students and staff. Additionally, the university is suspending the use of all residence hall lounges, common spaces and recreational facilities.
“This is not quite how we expected to end the semester; however, if there is any consistency to the coronavirus, it is its unpredictability,” the university said in its announcement.
On Tuesday night, Princeton University announced that it will move its exams online and urged students to leave its New Jersey campus “at their earliest convenience” amid a rise in cases.
“Given that we’ve seen an uptick in cases among undergraduates during the last 24 hours—including suspected cases of the highly contagious omicron variant—we hope to avoid letting the final exam schedule interfere with students’ travel home for winter break,” university officials said.
Beginning Thursday, all exams at Princeton will move to a remote format.
The university also said members of the community must cancel or postpone all indoor gatherings with food, or those where face coverings can’t be worn, starting Thursday. The ban will last until Jan. 7, when the university will revisit its guidance on gatherings.
Earlier on Tuesday, Cornell University shut down all campus activities and moved final exams online after more than 700 students tested positive over three days. In a campus message, President Martha Pollack said there was evidence of the omicron variant in a “significant” number of samples.
“It is obviously extremely dispiriting to have to take these steps,” Pollack wrote. “However, since the start of the pandemic, our commitment has been to follow the science and do all we can to protect the health of our faculty, staff and students.”
Cornell and Princeton both report student vaccination rates of more than 98%. NYU’s student vaccination rate is 99%.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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