Greensboro Reporter

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and N.C. A&T State University will end the fall semesters before Thanksgiving, in a move that the higher-education institutions are taking to find ways to keep students and staff safe, but also continue instruction in a COVID-19 world. 

The two Greensboro-based state schools also eliminated fall breaks and will start the semester in mid-August on-site, which is in-line with the overall University of North Carolina system policy that includes the two colleges, the News & Record reported on May 18. Final exams, however, would take place remotely. 

"This plan reduces the need for people to leave campus, disperse widely and then return in the middle of the semester," UNC Greensboro Chancellor Frank Gilliam said in a statement on May 18. "Limiting movement is key for managing virus spread. It also enables us to maintain the necessary instructional days required to meet our academic standards and best serve our students." 

The University of North Carolina's plan is similar to what some higher-education institutions have or are considering implementing. One of the most notable colleges is the University of Notre Dame, which is leadership said in May that the fall semester would start earlier and end before Thanksgiving with no breaks. 

"We felt this revised calendar gave us both traditional start and end dates of the formal semester ... while prioritizing health and wellness and also minimizing the need for our constituents to come and go from campus," library and information science professor and Faculty Senate Chairman Anthony Chow wrote in an email, the News & Record reported.