NYU Florence to Close Its Campus, Cancel Class Due to Coronavirus Concerns
Students living on campus will have two days to pack their belongings.
By Sophie Grieser, Anna Choi, and Andy Mager
Students were left scrambling in dorm halls at nearly midnight Monday to make last-minute travel and housing arrangements after NYU Florence announced it was closing campus this week in response to the spread of the coronavirus in Italy.
All in-person operations at NYU Florence will end this Thursday, Feb. 27 and will reopen no sooner than March 29, according to an email sent by NYU Global Programs. Classes will be canceled for the rest of the week and will resume remotely on March 2 through Zoom, an online conference platform.
“As you probably know, the occurrence of coronavirus cases has climbed steeply in northern Italy,” NYU Global Programs wrote in an email sent to students at 11:40 p.m., Italy time. “In response, the Italian government has been taking swift action to try to prevent its spread. Though there is no evidence of a pressing risk to the NYU Florence community, the past month has demonstrated that countries may swiftly and unexpectedly make decisions that can significantly affect one’s ability to travel.”
“NYU continues to be guided by two priorities — the health and well-being of our community across the globe, and the academic progress of our students,” University spokesman John Beckman said in a statement late Monday evening (EST).
Students living on-campus in Florence are required to move out no later than Thursday, Feb. 27, leaving them less than two days to pack their things and leave.
Aimee Burlamacchi, a freshman from Florence, was originally supposed to be placed in NYU Shanghai this semester. This is the second time she is being forced to relocate.
“Honestly we’re all really disappointed,” Burlamacchi said in an email to Local. “Many [former NYU Shanghai students] had to jump through endless hoops to get here and we don’t know what to do now.”
In NYU Florence’s email, administrators acknowledged students who were being removed from yet another campus due to the coronavirus.
“We recognize that these are challenging times, and clearly this isn’t the semester we envisioned for you at NYU Florence,” the Global Programs email read. “Indeed, some among our community are students who originally planned on being at NYU Shanghai, and this is an added hurdle for them.”
Burlamacchi described a panicked scene on campus.
“The school is a mess right now,” she said. “Students are going around, calling parents and friends, going from room to room to talk to their friends. The general atmosphere is chaotic.”
Christian Caballero, a sophomore and Peer Advisor (the NYU Florence equivalent of an RA), has been busy checking up on the rest of the students.
“Many are happy about the month-long vacation but many are worried about booking flights, affording flights and many are from the affected region of Wuhan and are worried about their alternative arrangements,” Caballero said. “At this point, it is chaos. Little is known by anyone at this point. More of students’ questions will be answered by the office of student life when they (hopefully) open at 9 a.m. Florence time tomorrow.”
NYU advised off-campus students to go home until the reopening date, citing the fact that NYU Florence will be unable to provide most services for those students. “We also urge you to keep in mind that if the situation in Italy worsens, it may grow increasingly difficult to travel,” the email added.
In January, the university delayed classes in NYU Shanghai and pushed some online. “[I]n the space of little more than two weeks nearly 300 courses were converted from meeting face-to-face to meeting remotely using online technologies,” Beckman said on Monday. “Several hundred students are pursuing their studies this way; several hundred others have been reassigned to other NYU academic sites around the world.”
While some New York-based students were encouraged to self-quarantine after traveling from China, Beckman said that NYU student housing did not have to make use of these provisions.
NYU President Andrew Hamilton sent out an email on the afternoon of Wednesday, Feb. 26 clarifying that the campus shutdown in Florence is due to action taken by the Italian government, including a quarantine of towns north of Tuscany (where NYU Florence is located).
“While we do not believe there is a particularly pressing health threat to the NYU Florence community,” Hamilton’s statement read, “the events of the last few weeks has conveyed a sharp lesson to us about how countries, in their public health efforts to curb the spread of the virus, can act swiftly and unexpectedly in ways that could abruptly restrict our community members’ ability to travel.”
As of 9 p.m. EST on Monday, it is unclear how much of students’ travel and hotel costs the university will cover. The email advised students in need of financial assistance to contact the NYU Florence Office of Student Life but made no promises concerning reimbursement for last-minute travel expenses.
“We have been told we need to leave by Thursday but not much else regarding accommodation or transportation,” Burlamacchi said. “Overall, this is an international health crisis, so there isn’t that much that the school could do. They definitely worked hard to have us placed here last minute. I’m guessing they’re as disappointed as we are that it was all for nothing.”
This story will be updated as we learn more.
Update: February 24, 2020
This article has been updated to include a statement from university spokesman John Beckman.
Update: February 26, 2020
The article has been updated to include a statement from university president Andrew Hamilton.
