Letter regarding MIT’s initial decisions about the fall

The following letter was sent to the MIT community today by President L. Rafael Reif. To the members of the MIT community, In April, I asked Team 2020 to assess options for undergraduate education for the fall semester. Today, based on the team's in-depth analysis and extensive community consultation, I write to share a first round of decisions about the undergraduate experience this fall - and to sketch out our overall plans for returning to campus. Shaping Fall 2020 for undergraduates Team 2020 presented a spectrum of options, ranging from having all undergraduates on campus in September to having no undergraduates here and all instruction entirely online. (Options in between included variations on the shape and timing of the academic calendar and the percentage of undergraduates on campus at any one time. Every option comes with drawbacks, and our community process did not produce perfect consensus. But we have now settled on the approach that drew the most positive feedback and problem-solving attention from undergraduates, faculty and those administrators and staff closest to the work. With many thanks to everyone who participated - here's the basic outline: To allow students to stay on track to their degrees, we will maintain the basic two-semester structure of our academic calendar. However, we may need to start a week early (around September 1), end any in-person instruction before Thanksgiving, and finish the term remotely. Undergraduates who are on campus will have some small-group in-person learning experiences, with particular focus on classes that require access to labs, workshops and performance spaces. How many undergraduates will return to campus?