Washington University To Bar Students From Campus That Travel Too Far For Thanksgiving

Washington University in St. Louis will reportedly bar students that travel out of the immediate region of the college for Thanksgiving from campus buildings.

All undergraduates at the Missouri institution have been mandated to fill out a travel form ahead of the holiday and those that indicate they will be venturing more than 60 miles away from the university will face student ID deactivation, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The school also plans to lock traveling students out of campus facilities for the rest of the Fall semester and require their coursework be done remotely, the local outlet reported.

“Unfortunately, we have had to make a change to our guidance surrounding the Thanksgiving Break and we are returning to our original requirement that students can make a choice – to remain here in St. Louis for the Thanksgiving Break and complete the final three weeks of the fall semester in-person and on-campus, or travel home and complete the final three weeks remotely,” the university wrote in a Thursday statement.

“I think that now, [coronavirus spread] really is being driven right by our collective behaviors, even more so than it was before.”

Dr. Elvin Geng, an epidemiologist at WashU, weighs in on the surge in COVID-19 cases in the St.Louis region. https://t.co/g25tIT2qgh

— Washington University in St. Louis (@WUSTL) November 12, 2020

The school’s “original requirement” stated that “students who travel outside of the St. Louis region during the Thanksgiving break will not be allowed to return to campus and will have to complete their courses remotely,” according to a September release from the institution.

Toward the end of September, the school changed its “original requirement” and instead issued a strong recommendation against traveling outside of the region for the holiday, according to the release. However, college executives have since returned to their original stance on the issue following an “increase in cases” in the “student community,” according to the school’s Thursday guidance.