Cornell University has announced several 2020-21 calendar options given the threat of COVID-19, though nothing has been decided and the university said the likely course of action will be a mix of these options:
Calendar |
Essential Features |
| Option 0 | Normal calendar with everything online. |
| Option 1 | Fall starts at the regular time on-campus and then wraps up online after Thanksgiving. Spring starts online at the regular time and switches to on-campus early March. |
| Option 2 | Fall starts four weeks later on-campus, then switches to online after Thanksgiving, and wraps up in January. Spring starts end of January online and switches to on-campus mid-March. |
| Option 3 | Fall starts two weeks later on-campus, stages an “final-exam-like” week just before Thanksgiving, then switches to online after Thanksgiving, and wraps up in December. Spring starts at the regular time online, then switches to on-campus early March, and wraps up in usual way one week later than normal |
| Option 4 | Same as Option 3 except the Fall semester is split into a pair of half-semesters. The first starts just after Labor Day, is entirely on-campus, and ends with an exam period late October. The second half-semester begins shortly thereafter and switches to online after Thanksgiving. |
| Option 5 | Same as Option 3 except the Fall semester is split into an 11-week module and a 5-week module. The former has on-campus final exams. The latter is online after a 2-day on-campus start. Students would take 3 or 4 courses in the first module and just one course in the second. A course offered in either module must be taught at an accelerated pace so that it “looks like” the normal 14-week version. |
With these calls for students to be away from campus for all or most of the winter sports season, the fate of Ivy men’s and women’s basketball for the 2020-21 season remains up in the air.
“The league continues to monitor and evaluate all options for athletics in the upcoming 2020-21 academic year,” Matt Panto, Ivy League associate executive director, strategic communications & external relations, told Ivy Hoops Online writer Rob Browne.
Brown last month created a task force to plan the reopening of Brown’s campus, and university President Christina Paxson wrote to the Brown community that she was “cautiously optimistic” that students would be able to return to campus in the fall in a community-wide, according to the Brown Daily Herald.
“We all wish to return to in-person instruction and campus life, and our intent is to make that possible as soon as it is safe to do so,” Columbia President Lee Bollinger wrote on May 14 to the Columbia community. “The hard fact is, however, that we just cannot predict now when that moment will arrive.”
Dartmouth President Philip J. Hanlon and Provost Joseph Helble told the campus community earlier this month that they want as many faculty, staff, and students to return to campus in the fall as can be safely accommodated but that there is not expected to be enough room for all students to return so some portion of the student population will need to remain off campus and continue taking classes remotely.
Harvard President Lawrence S. Bacow said in an interview with The Harvard Crimson Friday that Harvard administrators are considering “all possible scenarios” as they plan for the fall semester but that plans are “likely to vary by school.” Harvard Provost Alan M. Garber said last month that Harvard will resume teaching and research this fall whether on campus or virtually.
Bacow also noted to The Crimson that all Ivies won’t have the same considerations based on their geography.
“The urban campuses — Penn, Columbia, ourselves — many of our employees rely upon public transit to get to and from campus,” Bacow said. “That’s not true at Cornell, for example, or Dartmouth. The availability of public transit and the safety of public transit is a factor that we have to consider in determining what we’re going to do in the fall.”
Penn administrators on Thursday outlined four scenarios under consideration for fall 2020, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian: a hybrid experience with some in-person instruction, in-person courses ending at Thanksgiving, an entirely online experience and more robust summer 2021 offerings. Administrators said they will finalize more specific plans for fall 2020 by the end of June.
Similarly, Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber said earlier this month that the university will decide in early July whether undergraduate teaching will be online or residential in the fall term.
Yale President Peter Salovey also announced last month that the university would announce decisions about the fall no later than July.
Writing about perseverance
The Sideline Post, a platform for college athletes to be heard founded by rising Penn women’s basketball sophomore Kayla Padilla, on Wednesday published a thoughtful piece by 2020 Penn men’s hoops graduate Devon Goodman, who reflected on a challenging senior season in which he had to persevere through a broken wrist only for his season to end abruptly due to COVID-19. “Through it all, I have failed and had setbacks, but persevered and will continue to,” Goodman wrote. “The Coronavirus pandemic for me and hopefully for everybody else is just another setback that will make the end goal even more rewarding.”
Dream resumed
The Atlanta Dream announced its 2020 roster Tuesday, and 2015 Ivy Player of the Year Blake Dietrick is on it, keeping her Dream career alive. The former Princeton guard played in 26 games for the Dream in 2018, averaging 7.2 minutes per game before joining the Seattle Storm last season. Dietrick previously played in two games with Seattle and one with the San Antonio Stars in 2016 and has played overseas in addition to her WNBA career.
No. 1 overall pick
Former Harvard men’s standout Christian Juzang was selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the VBA (Vietnam Basketball Association) Draft last week, per ASEAN Sports. A Tarzana, Calif. native, Juzang averaged 6.6 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game in four seasons with the Crimson, scoring in double figures in 11 of 25 games this past season.
Princeton women’s basketball Class of 2024
Princeton women’s hoops announced its Class of 2024 Thursday. The three-member class consists of Kaitlyn Chen of San Marino, Calif. (Flintridge Prep), McDonald’s All-American nominee; Paige Morton of Summit, N.J. (Oak Knoll), also a McDonald’s All-American nominee; Chet Nweke of Woodbine, Md. (Stone Ridge), Montgomery County Player of the Year and sister of rising Columbia junior forward Ike Nweke.
A Finnish start
Princeton alum Myles Stephens has agreed to a deal with the Vilpas Vikings to play in Finland’s Korisliiga basketball league, Nicola Lupo of Sportando reported on Twitter Wednesday. Lupo noted that Stephens played last season in Germany, averaging 21.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game for Baskets Juniors Oldenburg in Oldenburg, Germany.