Oklahoma State Moves Classes Online In Light of Coronavirus

Oklahoma State is the latest university to move classes online because of Coronavirus. The school announced the news to students on Thursday.

“While today there remains no known cases directly linking COVID-19 to our Stillwater and Tulsa campuses, it has become evident in the past couple of days that we must do our part at Oklahoma State University to help prevent the spread of this virus by taking prudent steps to protect our campuses,” OSU said in a statement. “Your safety and well-being must be priority number one.”

Again, this is all about flattening the curve.

“In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and to protect our campus community, we will be conducting classes online for the Stillwater and Tulsa campuses the two weeks following spring break, beginning Monday, March 23 through Friday, April 3. Please be advised there are currently no known cases of COVID-19 at OSU. The clear guidance from our public health experts is that this step is a move to protect the health of our campus community.”

This is unsurprising and probably the right move. I have interest around two things as it relates to this.

1. How long does this continue? Is it infeasible to envision online classes for the rest of the semester? I say, no. I think you could very well see OSU finishing out the semester online and reconvening only when the new semester starts in August.

2. How does this affect athletics. I posed some of those questions here, but will media be allowed to cover everything? Will football operate autonomously? Will spring sports be without fans? We’ve seen other Big 12 schools close their spring sports to fans. Could OSU do the same, and what would that mean for the opening of its new baseball stadium?

Again, all of this is inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, but it’s not irrelevant. OSU has some decisions to make (just like other universities across the country), and it’s good to see the school being proactive about classes as it tries to stay ahead of Coronavarius and all its myriad tentacles.