Brock University is suspending face-to-face classes and exams for the rest of this academic term and is working on a plan to move to alternative forms of class and exam delivery, including online. The academic term is not at risk.

In-person classes, labs, seminars and exams will be suspended as of 5 p.m. on Friday, March 13.

Faculty members will be asked for alternatives for course delivery, and the goal will be to resume virtual classes the week of Monday, March 23 for those instructors who are able to mount their classes in a virtual environment.

The University will encourage faculty members to consider re-distributing the assessment for a course based on the material and work already completed.

This decision provides time for faculty to move final exams to an alternative format, including take-home and virtual exams, which would run during the regularly scheduled exam period from April 6 to April 23.

Instructors of Spring/Summer Term courses can begin planning for alternate modes of delivery prior to the start of classes on May 4.

The University campuses in St. Catharines and Hamilton will remain open and operational and staff are expected to attend work as scheduled. Researchers and grad students will have access to their labs. However, all members of the Brock community are encouraged to be mindful of health and well-being.

Brock’s on-campus residences will remain open. Students who are able to head home are strongly advised to do so, but will still be expected to continue their studies online on March 23 for the remainder of Winter Term if course instructors decide to require it.

This follows an announcement on Thursday, March 12 that Brock was prohibiting all student, faculty and staff travel outside Canada that is not vital to the academic mission. This includes banning travel to academic conferences, meeting colleagues and collaborators, and attending professional development events and classes.

The University is also updating and clarifying its travel cancellation policies.

Where travel is allowed, Brock will continue to adhere to the travel advisories as issued by Global Affairs Canada.

Additionally, the University has cancelled all discretionary events and programming not required for academic courses or credit through June 1. This includes events such as March Break tours and Spring Open House, and other non-academic events organized by or hosted at Brock, or events organized by Brock but held off-site such as Cuvée and the Brock Sports Athletic Banquet. Events organized or hosted at Brock by third parties are also cancelled. All recreational programs are also cancelled.

University officials continue to closely monitor the situation locally, nationally and internationally. Brock staff are in regular contact with public health experts to ensure that we have current information about any risk levels in this community.

To help inform our responses and actions in this rapidly changing environment, Brock takes direction from health officials at the Public Health Agency of Canada and Niagara Region Public Health.

For more information on Brock University’s COVID-19 response, please visit our dedicated webpage brocku.ca/coronavirus that is updated regularly with the latest information available.