Cleveland State Shifts Spring Break To January Over Coronavirus

CLEVELAND — In an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus, Cleveland State University officials announced Tuesday that the school will move its spring break from mid-March until January, which will keep students from traveling deep into the spring semester.

The move essentially adds a week to the winter break and will move the start of the spring semester to Jan. 16, Cleveland State President Harlan Sands wrote on a coronavirus updated posted to the school’s website. In the announcement, Sands said that 44 percent of classes in the spring will be offered on-campus, which, he said is in line with the university’s pandemic response planning and feedback received from students and faculty.

In lieu of spring break being moved up two months, the school announced that reading days will be held March 10 and April 8. Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, Cleveland State students were scheduled to return to class on Jan. 9, more than a month after final exams end on Dec. 7. Commencement is scheduled for Dec. 13.

According to campus data that is updated each Wednesday, the school had two students who are isolating on campus and five more who are isolating off-campus while an additional 11 students are in quarantine on campus and 25 are in quarantine off-campus. One faculty member is in quarantine off-campus.

“I am so proud of the way we have collectively adhered to our pandemic safety protocols,” Sands wrote. “To date, our COVID-19 infection rate has been slightly less than we expected and is generally lower than we have seen across other institutions of higher learning in the state.”

Sands added: “There is much work still left to do, but our progress so far suggests that we are within reach of completing our robust, on-campus fall semester as planned.”