Hilary L. Link – President
March 16, 2020 at 3:39pm
Dear Members of the Allegheny Community,
In this unprecedented and evolving time for our world, nation, and College, and immediately following Governor Wolf’s announcement today, we have made the very difficult decision to conduct all classes through remote instruction through the end of the spring semester. Because of this, we are also urging any student who possibly can, to leave campus as quickly as possible, and for any students who have already left campus to plan not to return.
Tomorrow (Tuesday), between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., staff will be available in the Campus Center to meet individually with students needing to make travel plans to leave campus.
We had fervently hoped that circumstances would allow the College to return to on-campus classes later this month, as we initially announced. When we communicated last week about the extension of Spring Break and the temporary transition to remote instruction, we did so with the best information available in that moment, while pledging to continue to analyze data and ask questions as the COVID-19 situation unfolded, domestically and internationally.
The landscape involving COVID-19 has indeed changed dramatically since last week and government officials have issued new guidance and instructions almost daily. In our utmost concern for our community’s health and safety, we have concluded that completing this semester through remote instruction is the best and most prudent decision for our community and for the larger population.
We recognize that this decision has a very real impact on how we deliver an Allegheny education and the experience we want for our students. This development is certainly not what any of us expected or desired for this semester, and our strength as a community has shined through, even amid uncertainty and challenge. I am very grateful for the time, attention, and insight on the part of our faculty in making the transition to remote learning. I deeply appreciate our staff and administrators who have worked in so many different ways to support our students, adjust office operations, and put in extra hours as we have navigated this rapidly developing situation and its effect on our students and our entire community.
We also understand that this decision will generate many questions, and we will provide information in the coming days to address some of those immediate questions, as best we can, at this time. We will continue to be in regular contact with you, as we know this is a very complex situation that affects each of us deeply as individuals and as part of this community. We know that there are many questions; please give us a chance and more detailed information will be sent to members of the community in the next days.
President Hilary Link