The university will not have fall break during the fall 2020 semester, as of June 25.

The office of the provost, with the recommendation of the office of deans and the approval from President Houston Davis, announced that the upcoming fall break has been removed. 

The two days, which would have been Oct. 16 and 17, are instead being added to the semester’s Thanksgiving break, giving students a full-week break beginning Nov. 23.

The announcement via email stated that the final day of on-campus instruction will be Friday, Nov. 20, then students will finish the remaining days of the semester through online platforms.

An email from the office of the provost said, “As previously planned, the four days of instruction following Thanksgiving, as well as final exams, will be online. Student support services will continue to be available through exams.”

Provost Patricia Poulter said the campus “will remain open following Thanksgiving, including residence halls, food service, and all student support services, we will not return to in-classroom instruction for the remaining four class days of the semester, rather all instruction will be online. In addition, all final examinations will be delivered and completed online. By doing so, we are limiting interaction in classroom spaces after people have traveled, been in contact with others off campus, and we are also likely to be experiencing the start of influenza season.”

Poulter said by taking the two days and adding them to the Thanksgiving break, the university will be able to limit travel away and back to campus by a large population as a way of mitigating possible community transmission of COVID-19 in the middle of the semester.

“Decisions such as these have been made at campuses all across the country,” she said. “They are certainly related to health and safety considerations for students, faculty, staff, and community members.”

The academic calendar can be found at https://uca.edu/registrar/academic-calendar/ in order to seek further information.