Stanford University welcomes upperclassmen back to campus

Junior- and senior-year students will be invited to return to campus when the spring quarter at Stanford University begins March 29, the university announced.

The university said in an announcement:

“We have concluded that the conditions support moving forward with offering juniors and seniors the opportunity to return to campus for the spring quarter, with systems and safeguards in place to protect our community’s health. … We will need everyone in our community to continue doing their part to support one another’s health and safety.”

The university said that modeling by the Stanford School of Medicine “suggests that the trajectory of COVID-19 this spring is likely to be manageable” and that testing and response protocols have been “highly effective in limiting community spread.”

The university said it hopes to offer “a meaningful on-campus experience in the spring,” but noted that most undergraduate instruction would continue to be remote.

Noting that similar testing during the winter quarter proved effective in identifying and isolating positive cases, the university said:

“Students on campus will continue to have mandatory twice-weekly COVID-19 testing, through the university, along with two-test arrival testing for newly arriving undergraduates.”

The university continued:

“Stanford saw almost no community spread throughout the winter quarter due to our robust contract tracing and quarantine systems for close contacts of infected individuals.”