#SUNY to transition to remote learning after Thanksgiving break

ALBANY — SUNY students will finish their fall semester online after Thanksgiving break, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday.

“SUNY is also going to cancel the return from the Thanksgiving break and do remote learning for the rest of the semester,” the Democratic governor told reporters during a conference call.

New York’s public university system — comprising 64 campuses and roughly 420,000 students throughout the state — will then reassess a return to in-person instruction ahead of the spring semester, which begins in early February.

“To send children home for Thanksgiving, to then bring them back basically for a couple of weeks from across the country and then end the semester, literally, two, three weeks later doesn’t make sense to me,” Cuomo explained.

Students will also have to take a coronavirus test and provide proof of negative results prior to returning home, under the university system’s policy announced policy last month.

Kids will be tested over a 10-day period ahead of Nov. 23 if they are enrolled in at least one on-campus class, employed on campus or using on-campus perks like gyms, the library or dining hall.

Cuomo also said he is asking private colleges in the state to review the SUNY plan and “take that action into consideration,” urging them to also announce their plan following Turkey Day.

“I need to make a decision whether the state should set a policy for private colleges,” he explained.

SUNY has yet to announce official guidance for testing and in-person learning for the spring semester.