The University of Colorado Boulder will begin the second semester on Jan. 14 online, the school announced Thursday.

Classes will be kept online for four weeks; “a mix of in-person, remote and hybrid courses” will begin on Feb. 14. At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Chancellor Philip DiStefano said the university “didn’t arrive at this decision rightly” but that officials “firmly believe” it’s the right decision for student and staff health. 

He advised students returning to campus to delay traveling and to stay in their home communities as long as they can. School officials will have a question-and-answer session for the campus community on Dec. 17, and DiStefano committed to sharing information “as clearly, transparently and quickly as possible.” 

Still, though the school has already set a date for a return to campus, that is subject to change. Patrick O’Rourke, the school’s chief operating officer, said the return was “tied less to a date than where we are” in terms of the virus’s spread. 

DiStefano said that the school wants Boulder to improve its situation to the point that the state loosens up restrictions, which would make it easier for students to return to campus. O’Rourke said CU-Boulder will be monitoring how the winter holidays affect spread and that the impacts from those festivities will influence the decision to return or not.

The university has been completely online since mid-November, as the Boulder and Denver areas, as well as the state at large, have faced a significant jump in coronavirus cases and related hospitalizations.

DiStefano said there hadn’t been discussions about lowering tuition because of online learning because the school feels “very strongly that students are getting a quality education with remote learning.” In the spring, 30 percent of classes will be in person; 20 percent will be a mix of online and in-person; and 50 percent will be fully remote.

The spring commencement will be held virtually “because indications are that large gatherings, such as commencement, will not yet be safe by early May,” the university wrote. Officials said there had been some discussion about having smaller, college-specific ceremonies, but even those would likely exceed acceptable gathering sizes.

There will be no spring break, which is why the school is starting its spring semester later. There will also be two “wellness days” when classes will be canceled on Feb. 17 and March 25.

Russell Moore, the school’s provost, said there hasn’t been discussion about bringing back spring break; the weeklong hiatus has been suspended at institutions across the country because of concerns about students traveling and then returning to Boulder. In addition to the wellness days, he said individual departments colleges have talked about “having a pause week,” in which classes would still be offered alongside social activities to “take a little of the stress and pressure off our students.”

Referencing the imminent, if limited, arrival of a vaccine, DiStefano said there was a “light at the end of the tunnel.” Still, it doesn’t appear that college personnel, and certainly not students, will be given any priority in receiving inoculations. Though initial state plans prioritized dorm residents, the newly released state plan makes no mention of them, though it does give some preference to school staff; it’s unclear if that applies to personnel at institutions of higher learning.

Moore said what students want most is a “traditional college experience,” particularly when it comes to social events. He said the school will be actively working this semester to provide more of those opportunities, albeit while following public health recommendations and orders.