EC to move classes online March 16 due to the coronavirus

President Troy VanAken announced that Elmhurst College classes will move online starting March 16 amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

“We have reached the decision to move classes online beginning Monday, March 16, a week before the College’s scheduled Spring Break,” VanAken said in a campus-wide email. 

Students will resume their classes virtually starting on March 16. The decision to go online with classes for the next week comes as an effort to control the spread of the coronavirus by limiting large group gatherings. 

VanAken urges all students, if possible, to go home.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we are asking students who can return to their permanent residences to do so,” VanAken said in the email.

Dining halls and residence halls will remain open for students who decide to stay on campus during the closure. 

There is no word of when the campus will continue in-person instruction, but VanAken states that EC will keep communication coming regularly within the next few weeks. 

“We will monitor developments continually, and give you as much advance notice as we can about our next steps for the rest of the Spring Term,” VanAken stated in the email. “You can expect regular communication from us moving forward.” 

This decision came out after North Central College, Wheaton College, and Harper College announced today that instruction would become virtual in the upcoming weeks.