Cal State San Bernardino to begin spring semester mostly online starting Saturday

Cal State University, San Bernardino, is scheduled to begin its spring semester mostly online this Saturday due to the surge in COVID-19 cases.

The "vast majority" of classes will be held online through Feb. 18, according to the college's website.

"Virtual instruction allows us to further slow the spread of COVID-19 by limiting the number of additional individuals on campus on a daily basis," Tomás D. Morales, CSUSB President, wrote in an email to students last week.

All campus offices and services, including those at the Palm Desert campus, will remain open during the virtual instruction period. Faculty, staff and students needing to access campus facilities must adhere to the school's COVID-19 safety protocols.

After Feb. 18, CSUSB plans to revert classes back to their original modality. That means classes originally scheduled to be offered in-person will pivot to in-person instruction; hybrid classes will be offered in-person and online; and, some classes intended to be online will remain that way.

"I know that many of you are anxious as we navigate yet another wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and omicron variant," Morales wrote to students. "I take all of your concerns seriously. I personally share them myself. The pandemic has impacted all of us in some form."

The CSUSB Palm Desert campus serves more than 2,300 students.

Jonathan Horwitz covers education for The Desert Sun. Reach him at jonathan.horwitz@desertsun.com or @Writes_Jonathan.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Cal State CSUSB to start spring semester mostly online Saturday