COVID-19 Turns Villanova to Alternative Learning

Students walk past the back of Saint Thomas of Villanova Church on Villanova University’s main campus located on the Philadelphia Main Line. (Maggie Mengel/AKSM Photography).

Villanova University will be suspending all in-person classes starting on Monday, March 16, 2020. […] This course of action is simply being used as a way to prevent that from happening. Despite classes being put online, Villanova’s campus will remain open.

Article by Alexann Konyk, AKSM News

VILLANOVA, PA - As said in an email sent by University President Fr. Peter Donohue, OSA yesterday, Villanova University will be suspending all in-person classes starting on Monday, March 16, 2020. This means that all classes will be taught online through Blackboard and other lecture programs such as Zoom. Additionally, all events, including any lectures, meetings, conferences, etc. are cancelled, and all university international travel will be as well.

Villanova also wanted to stress that there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 present on Villanova’s campus. This course of action is simply being used as a way to prevent that from happening. Despite classes being put online, Villanova’s campus will remain open. All staff are still reporting to work, and all residence halls, dining halls, academic support services, the Health Center, the Counseling Center, and the library are going to stay open. This means that students can choose to leave or stay during this period of time, it is completely up to them.

Surprisingly, many have decided that they are going to stay on campus. Some of those decisions are caused by the fact that the last day to get refunded for 40% of room and board costs was on March 10th, and it is past that date, while others are staying simply because of the cost or distance it is to travel back home immediately after just coming back from spring break. However, there are some that have decided that they are going home immediately after classes on Friday, March 13th. The University has not yet decided if classes are going to resume in-person after Easter break (April 14th); however, that information will become available no later than April 3, 2020.