UNC to let faculty choose remote instruction until Feb. 17 after postgame celebrations

UNC-Chapel Hill will allow faculty to teach remotely until Feb. 17 after Saturday’s crowded, maskless celebrations of the school’s men’s basketball team’s win over Duke.

Hundreds of students rushed Franklin Street Saturday night to celebrate the 91-87 victory as new variants of COVID-19 continue to spread across the country.

The university says it has already received hundreds of student conduct complaints related to the celebrations. Students who are found to have violated the school’s COVID-19 Community Standards face disciplinary action, UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz and Provost Robert Blouin wrote in a message Sunday to UNC students and faculty.

Despite the celebrations, and concerns on social media that they would be a potential superspreader event, the university will follow through on its plans to switch to in-person classes.

But faculty members have voiced concerns over the celebrations. The university will allow faculty members to stay remote this week.

“We are, once again, asking our students, faculty, staff and our neighbors who call this area home to stay vigilant with the established safe practices — wear a mask, wash your hands and wait six feet apart. Get tested regularly and, as soon as you are able, get vaccinated,” the message from Guskiewicz and Blouin says.

UNC has a “de-densified” campus with 31% of undergraduate students taking one or two classes in-person, the message says. The class sizes are small and students are physically distanced, it says. Students taking in-person classes will be tested twice a week, the message states.

UNC’s community standards require mask wearing, maintaining a physical distance of six feet and complying with gathering limits and testing, tracing and quarantine requirements. The gathering limit is 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors.