To: The Lafayette Community
From: John Meier, Provost
Re: Summer academic experiences
Due to the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, Lafayette will not be offering on-campus summer courses this year. Even the offering of credit-bearing courses taught remotely is not feasible for Lafayette as it would be a substantive change from our regular operations, which outside the current, exceptional semester could require going through a lengthy approval process mandated by Middle States. The registrar will process registration and credit for summer internships if the internship can still be offered by the host.
We greatly regret that it is highly unlikely we will be able to offer any campus-based research opportunities this summer. The Academic Research Committee is considering supporting Summer EXCEL proposals where the research can be conducted remotely. The College cannot make a definitive statement about access to on-campus facilities at this time and is unlikely to be able to do so until May or perhaps even June. Potential student-faculty research projects that have to take place on campus should be designed so as to not start before July and to extend for no more than six weeks. Those hoping to pursue on-campus student-faculty research projects starting in July should be aware there is a significant possibility that federal, state, or local requirements will not allow those projects to proceed this summer. We recognize that the possible absence of our regular on-campus student-faculty research programs over the summer will be deeply disappointing to faculty and students, and we thank you for your patience and understanding.
If you have particular questions about this summer, please refer to the Summer Academic Experiences FAQ that provides guidance on specific types of summer opportunities and indicates where decisions are yet to be made.