Temple Suspends Fall In-Person Classes Due To Coronavirus

PHILADELPHIA — Temple University has suspended nearly all in-person classes for the fall semester due to increased cases of the coronavirus among its student population.

University President Richard Englert said in an email to the school community Thursday that most of its classes will be held virtually through the fall semester.

Some essentials-only courses will be held in person, as some have objectives that cannot be achieved without all or some in-person instruction.

Englert said about 95 percent of all classes will be online for the fall semester.

"Like so many of our colleagues around the country, we believed an in-person educational experience could be part of students' lives this fall," Englert said. "Our students told us loud and clear that they wanted to come back to campus, to be together again."

However, after more than 100 student cases of coronavirus were reported over the weekend, and now a total of 212 students have tested positive for the virus as of Wednesday afternoon, the university decided to go virtual.

Students who want to leave campus and return home can do so and will get a full refund of housing and meal plan charges for the fall semester if they leave by Sept. 13.

Those who want or need to stay on campus can do so.