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Friday, March 13, 2020
Volume 120, Issue 120
UNIVERSITY
COVID-19 brings policy changes UT, college athletics respond to the new coronavirus with policy changes, cancellations.
By Anna Canizales & Lauren Abel
By Alex Briseño @alex__briseno
@annaleonorc @laurena0324
resident Gregory Fenves, Executive Vice President and Provost Maurie McInnis, and chief medical officer Terrance Hines held a press conference on updates to the University’s coronavirus policies. Below is a list of changed policies. Calendar
Spring break has been extended by one week and students will resume classes March 30, according to an email from Fenves. There will be no change to the semester calendar or any weeks added, McInnis said. She said she advises faculty to adjust their syllabi accordingly. Classes
Large, lecture-style courses will be required to move online, McInnis said at the conference. Classes that cannot transition online, such as labs and performance-based classes, will have alternative arrangements, McInnis said. The specifics of changes will be left up to the dean of each school, according to an email to faculty from McInnis. As of now, there is no requirement to transition fully to online classes, McInnis said. McInnis said she has recommended faculty use flexible attendance policies to encourage students who are sick or have other health conditions to stay home. Faculty members are required to submit a course plan for “instructional continuity” that outlines how they will be changing instruction for each class they teach, according to the University’s coronavirus guideline website. The Butler School of Music is requiring all classes to move online, including small in-person classes, according to an email from Mary Poole, director of the Butler School of Music.
stephanie sonik
/ the daily texan staff
Graduation
Fenves said students who are set to graduate by Spring 2020 should still complete their degrees on time. He said the University has not yet decided whether to cancel the commencement ceremony scheduled for May 23. christiana peek
C H A N G E S PAGE 2
/ the daily texan staff
he NCAA has canceled not only the Division I men’s and women’s 2020 basketball tournaments, but all remaining winter and spring NCAA Championships entirely, NCAA President Mark Emmert said in a statement Thursday afternoon. “This decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to spread of the pandemic and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities,” Emmert said in the statement. Aside from March Madness, this decision also cancels championship events such as the men’s and women’s College World Series, men’s and women’s track and field indoor and outdoor championships, men’s and women’s golf finals, and the men’s and women’s tennis finals, among several others. This news comes the afternoon after 15 conferences across the country spent the day canceling their respective postseason basketball tournaments. Prior to the NCAA’s announcement, the Big 12 canceled the conference tournament and suspended all regular-season competitions, on- and off-campus recruiting and out-ofseason practices until March 29. “With the Big 12’s recent directive suspending athletics activities until Sunday, March 29, all regular-season Longhorn Athletics competitions will be cancelled until that date, beginning with our Baseball series on Friday,” Texas Athletics Director Chris Del Conte said in a statement. Among the cancellations on the Forty Acres, the Texas Relays ranks as one the higher profile events affected by the Big 12‘s decision. The final stretch for the swimming and diving and nonconference play of baseball, tennis and softball will also come to a halt for the time being. Del Conte said the Big 12’s announcement to suspend athletic events until March 29 forces them to postpone their decision regarding the start of spring football until the end of the month, A T H L E T I C S PAGE 3
NEWS
OPINION
LIFE&ARTS
Local band to continue with unnofficial SXSW show amid cancellations.
In recent years, Texas baseball has embraced new analytics to reach peak performance.
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UT System universities respond to the coronavirus pandemic, change policies.
Activists and organizers respond to sexual misconduct policy reform after years of work.
SPORTS
UNIVERSITY
CAMPUS
Texas Global suspends all study abroad trips through Aug. 18
University Health Services offers limited coronavirus testing
By Anna Canizales & Lauren Abel
@annaleonorc @laurena0324
Texas Global has suspended all education abroad programs through Aug. 18 due to coronavirus concerns, according to an email sent to study abroad students Thursday morning. Sonia Feigenbaum, senior vice provost for Global Engagement, said in the email that students currently studying abroad are required to return home by March 30 and self-isolate for 14 days after returning.
Feigenbaum said students studying abroad should stay in close communication with Texas Global for information regarding academics and finances. President Donald Trump implemented a 30-day travel ban Wednesday restricting travel to the United States from European countries in the Schengen Area, which are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. The ban applies to people who have been in those countries in the past 14 days but does not include U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents. This decision was made after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention elevated the entire world to Level 2 following the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 as a pandemic. In an email sent Thursday to UT students abroad, Heather A B R O A D PAGE 2
By Brooke Ontiveros @brookexpanic
University Health Services currently has limited capacity to test for COVID-19 and will not test asymptomatic patients, according to the UHS website. Students should call the UHS Nurse Advice Line at 512-475-6877 for instructions if they have a fever, respiratory symptoms and have recently traveled internationally or had contact
with someone with the coronavirus, according to the UHS website. Sherry Bell, consumer education and outreach coordinator for the UT Counseling and Mental Health Center, said in an email that individual health care providers will decide who to test based on relevant travel history, other medical conditions that increase the risk of a severe COVID-19 infection and other causes for symptoms. Students should call the
advice line to minimize risk of infection for those at the hospital, Bell said. The advice line may advise students to care for themselves at home, she said. Bell said self-isolation guidelines for students returning to the United States apply to everyone, not just those exhibiting symptoms. Isolation lasts two weeks, and students should check their temperature twice a day. Students will report U H S PAGE 3