UI Suspends In Person Courses For Spring Semester; Asks Students To Move Home

University of Illinois Urbana Champaign

URBANA – In the latest effort to avoid the spread of the COVID-19 disease, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign says it will suspend face-to-face instruction for the rest of the spring 2020 semester. Also, students in residence halls and Greek housing are being asked to begin to move out. The university wants students to return to their permanent home address to take the rest of their classes online.

The details were spelled out in an email to students, faculty and staff on Monday afternoon from Robert J. Jones, Chancellor of U of I Urbana-Champaign.

Jones stressed that the residence halls are not being closed. The university will work with students who cannot leave. He also said the U of I is not closing or ceasing operations. 

Last week, the university said it would migrate to online courses by March 23, the Monday after Spring Break. 

U of I suspended school-sponsored events with more than 50 attendees.  It also prohibited university-sponsored international travel and non-essential domestic travel until further notice.

Information regarding the Spring 2020 commencement will be released later, according to the email.

Reginald Hardwick

Reginald Hardwick is the News & Public Affairs Director at Illinois Public Media. He oversees daily newscasts and online stories. He also manages The 21st Show, a live, weekday talk show that airs on six NPR stations throughout Illinois. He is the executive producer of IPM's annual environmental TV special "State of Change." And he is the co-creator of Illinois Soul, IPM's Black-focused audio service that launched in February 2024. Before arriving at IPM in 2019, he served as News Director at WKAR in East Lansing and spent 17 years as a TV news producer and manager at KXAS, the NBC-owned station in Dallas/Fort Worth. Reginald is the recipient of three Edward R. Murrow regional awards, seven regional Emmy awards, and multiple honors from the National Association of Black Journalists. Born in Vietnam, Reginald grew up in Colorado and is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado. Email: rh14@illinois.edu Twitter: @RNewsIPM