The University of Oregon and Oregon State University on Wednesday announced they are instituting new social distancing policies, canceling in-person final exams and requiring classes to be taught online. The institutions join a growing nationwide shift to online-only class instruction in higher education amid concerns over the rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic.

University officials said the colleges would allow classes to continue March 12 and 13. Effective Sunday, all non-essential events and gatherings of more than 50 people are canceled. Attendance at university sporting events will be restricted to athletes, essential personnel and the media.

No final exams for winter terms will be offered in person. When the spring term begins March 30, the universities will deliver classes remotely, reevaluating their plans for the rest of the term by April 10.

Portland State University announced that most of its spring term classes would be held remotely and said it was encouraging faculty to offer final exams remotely next week.

The decisions are sweeping, affecting more than 75,000 students in the three universities, making clear that educators are beginning to take the threatened rapid spread of the novel coronavirus more seriously.

In a sign of just how fast-moving the response to the public health crisis is, the universities had on Sunday endorsed the Oregon Health Authority’s decision to minimize disruptions and keep campuses operating normally.

But by Wednesday, it was clear to university officials that they needed to move more aggressively. The Oregon Health Authority was not involved in drafting Oregon State’s plan, university spokesman Steve Clark said, though both the agency and Gov. Kate Brown’s staff did review it. Neither objected, Clark said.

“Quite simply, we are learning by the day how to manage the COVID-19 response,” Clark said. “We have successfully managed numerous infectious disease emergencies at Oregon State. The scale and the rapid nature of COVID-19′s impact is challenging and requires nimbleness and the willingness to act prudently.”

The universities acknowledged uncertainty about the path forward and what effect it would have on thousands of students.

“Many of the steps we are taking will be disruptive to our institution and to many of you individually,” University of Oregon president Michael Schill wrote in a campus-wide message. “We do not take these actions lightly, and even though the UO campus will remain open, we recognize and appreciate that many of these measures will have a significant impact on our operations. We also do not have answers to all the questions that will come from these decisions.”

Clark said the goal was to continue university operations while helping to minimize the spread of COVID-19 by engaging in social distancing. Students and faculty are also being urged not to engage in personal travel over spring break, Clark said.

Winter term finals week exams and activities will be delivered remotely where possible. Where remote teaching, coursework and testing is not possible, maximum social distancing measures will be utilized.

The state’s guidance had drawn a backlash from some university professors, including three University of Oregon professors living in Italy, which has been locked down in an attempt to staunch the rapidly spreading virus. And it left Oregon as the only state on the West Coast with a public university system holding in-person classes amid a nearly unprecedented outbreak.

The Oregon Health Authority had recommended against closing campuses where cases of COVID-19 are not present. But Oregon has conducted limited testing for the virus, creating a misleading picture of the virus’s community spread. Not everyone who has wanted to be tested has been.

“COVID-19’s rapid spread through Italy shows that actions that seem courageous today—the idea that the university stays open to serve its students in the midst of this difficult time—may seem foolhardy and needlessly risky when viewed just a few days later,” wrote the three UO professors, Melissa Graboyes, Alfredo Burlando, an economics professor and Eleonora Redaelli, a public policy professor.

Portland State University will continue classes as scheduled this week while encouraging faculty to move to a remote format for finals next week. Spring term classes will be offered as scheduled and most classes will be taught remotely, Portland State’s interim president, Stephen Percy, said in a campus-wide message.

“The threat of the coronavirus known as COVID-19 is presenting daunting challenges for all of us," Percy said. “We are committed to making decisions that promote the success and well-being of our campus community.”

A concert at the university’s Matthew Knight Arena by the band Tool will still be held Thursday night, a university spokesman said, with extra cleaning being done at the venue before the event. The university said anyone considered at high risk from COVID-19, per CDC guidelines, should not attend the event.

— Rob Davis

rdavis@oregonian.com

503.294.7657; @robwdavis

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