Rutgers To Be Mostly Virtual This Fall; Dorms 'Extremely Limited'

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — Rutgers University announced Monday morning that fall semester classes will remain mostly online, with very limited on-campus housing this fall.

When Rutgers resumes in September, a majority of classes will be delivered remotely, "with a limited number of in-person classes," said new Rutgers president Jonathan Holloway.

Additionally, on-campus housing across Rutgers will be "extremely limited," he said, because of the need for social distancing. He also said it would not be necessary to open most dorms "since most courses will be delivered remotely."

Most campus events will also be suspended this fall.

Holloway made the surprising announcement Monday, in this statement mass-emailed to all Rutgers students, professors and staff. He said the university made the decision due to the continuing climb in COVID cases.

"This decision was not made easily or hastily. We have had extensive consultation with our public health experts, faculty, deans, provosts, and chancellors over the past several months," said Holloway.

He said he "very fervently" wanted to have "some version of a normal semester" this fall.

But that does not look possible right now.

"Given the continued increase in COVID-19 cases across the country, the near-term outlook for the public health crisis in our state, and the uncertainty about the course of the pandemic, we had to make a different decision," he said.

“I want our students to know that Rutgers faculty are busy preparing for remote undergraduate instruction and building on lessons learned from the spring semester,” Holloway said.

Rutgers made their decision a week after Gov. Phil Murphy said public schools can resume this fall, but with restrictions in place.

Rutgers has not made any decisions regarding winter session or the spring 2021 semester. Decisions on Rutgers' upcoming athletic season have also not yet been made.

Princeton University made a similar announced Monday morning, but the Ivy League school took a different tack than Rutgers: Princeton decided to split the 20-21 academic year, allowing freshmen and juniors to return to campus for the fall semester, and sophomores and seniors for the spring semester. This is an attempt to reduce the number of students on campus.

However, most classes will remain online at Princeton, the school said.

Related: Princeton University Students Allowed To Return To Campus In Fall (July 6)

Rutgers students will not pay room and board this fall, as dorms will be closed. The Rutgers Board of Governors froze tuition and fees for the upcoming 2020/21 academic year, something the state university rarely does.

The university does not anticipate any reduction in tuition for the 20-21 year; it will remain the same as what it was last year.

Holloway new on the job as head of Rutgers

Holloway just took the helm as Rutgers president July 1, and he announced over the weekend that he would take a 10 percent pay cut from his $780,000 yearly salary “in the spirit of shared sacrifice that this moment requires.”

In addition to the pay cut, Holloway will personally donate $75,000 to the Scarlet Promise Grants program to help meet the needs of the university’s most economically at-risk students due to COVID.

Holloway took over as Rutgers president from Robert Barchi, who announced last year he would be stepping down.

Holloway has not made any decisions yet on the spring semester.

"We will make those determinations later this year, informed by ongoing analysis of the public health crisis and guidelines from the state and federal governments," he said.

Related: Rutgers Hires New University President Jonathan Holloway (Jan. 2020)