The decision to prepare for the possibility of teaching online in the fall semester “comes down to health and safety of our faculty and our students and our staff,” university president Fram Virjee told CNN Wednesday.
“Our two North stars, if you will, are keeping our community safe and providing inclusive, excellent education for our students, and we’re looking for the balance to be able to continue to do both,” he told CNN news anchor Kate Bolduan, Wednesday, shortly after noon during a discussion about the university’s plans for the fall 2020 semester.
The discussion comes a day after CSU Chancellor Timothy White announced that the Cal State University system’s 23 campuses will plan for courses to be primarily delivered virtually for the fall 2020 term, with limited exceptions for in-person teaching, learning and research activities, and some hybrid approaches.
The California State University is the largest system of four-year higher education in the country, with 23 campuses, 53,000 faculty and staff and 482,000 students. Cal State Fullerton is the largest campus in the system, with about 40,000 students.