West Virginia University pushed back the start of its fall semester by a week and is switching some courses to online instruction. President Gordon Gee said the move is aimed at reducing the overall amount of people on campus while preserving the on-campus experience as much as possible.
WVU had a fall 2019 enrollment of nearly 27,000 students in Morgantown, and the university wants to minimize risks associated with that many students in one place. Gee said the move-in dates for residence halls will now occur from Aug. 15 to 22 with the start of classes set for Aug. 26.
Gee said some professional programs might have alternative start dates, while most upper-division undergraduate courses will transition to online or a combination of online and face-to-face instruction. The decision does not include the Beckley and Keyser campuses, which will return as scheduled on Aug. 19.