The Faculty Senate Steering Committee voted unanimously on Tuesday to begin fall quarter on Sept. 14, one week earlier than planned, and end classes before Thanksgiving for students not in the Graduate School of Business, the Law School, the Graduate School of Education or the School of Medicine. 

Under the plan, “students in residence” would be expected to leave campus after classes end on Nov. 20, and they would take exams remotely from Nov. 30 through Dec. 4. 

The Daily has reached out to the University to ask which students would be allowed to return to campus. 

The Faculty Senate has jurisdiction over the Academic Calendar, but the Graduate School of Business, the Law School, the Graduate School of Education, and the School of Medicine may adopt different calendars with consultation with the provost. 

Last week, both the University of Notre Dame and Yale announced plans to finish their semesters before Thanksgiving. According to The New York Times, the University of South Carolina, Notre Dame, Rice and Creighton plan to shorten fall semester in an effort to avoid a second wave of coronavirus infections. 

“We don’t know if the second wave will be weaker or stronger, but there’s a significant risk that this will resurge in the winter,” Rice University President David W. Leebron told The New York Times.

In late April, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield warned that the next wave of coronavirus could potentially be worse because it could coincide with flu season. 

“There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” Redfield said in an interview with The Washington Post. “We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time.” 

Contact Ashlee Kupor at akupor ‘at’ stanford.edu and Emma Talley at emmat332 ‘at’ stanford.edu.