Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Classes will be canceled Friday, March 13 through Tuesday, March 17, then will resume online
Santa Monica College has now joined the long list of schools shutting down to contain the spread of Covid-19, or Coronavirus. Early this evening, SMC announced that all classes are going to be cancelled starting on Friday. And next Wednesday, classes will switch to online. All extra curriculars, travel, and clubs have also been cancelled. All volunteer activities by students have been curtailed until further notice.
SMC joins USC, UCLA, LMU, Pepperdine, and almost all local private schools in their Covid-19 closure. All Santa Monica and Malibu public schools still remain open at this time, although several extra-curricular events have been cancelled.
There are no confirmed cases of coronavirus at SMC.
The college remains open for business and most campus operations will continue during this time. Certain classes that require in-person instruction—some, but not all laboratory, physical education, and performing arts courses—will continue to meet on campus as scheduled.
In keeping with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding older adults being at high risk from COVID-19, Santa Monica College has temporarily suspended all classes at SMC Emeritus, the college’s program for older adults. This includes the suspension of all Emeritus-sponsored in-person activities both on- and off-campus. There will be no in-person classes until further notice; the SMC Emeritus office remains open for employees and is accessible for Emeritus students via telephone and email. Some classes will resume via remote methods.
Cancelation of Spring Study-Abroad Trips: SMC has canceled study-abroad trips to Costa Rica, Helsinki, and Tallinn, in keeping with guidance from the CDC’s advisory on student foreign travel to higher educational institutions.
Cancelation of Non-Essential Travel, Large Gatherings & Extra-Curricular Activities: Based on March 7 guidance from the California Department of Public Health to higher education institutions, the college has, effective today, canceled all large academic and student-focused gatherings and extra-curricular activities through the end of the Spring 2020 semester or until further notice. Athletic events will be conducted wherever possible without spectators. SMC sponsored and sanctioned non-essential travel has also been canceled until further notice. Please check smc.edu/canceled events for a list of canceled events that may have been previously publicized.
Reader Comments(1)
DC3 writes:
So there are ZERO cases at SMC and yet, they shut the ENTIRE college down, as if people wouldn't be just as easily exposed at the grocery store, bank, shopping center, or anywhere else in the world where humans interact. People have become entirely irrational over this. Around 30,000 people will die of the regular flu this season, and no one seems at all concerned about that. This certainly is a lesson in how FEAR, the real contagion, shapes people's behavior.
03/12/2020, 12:23 pm