Dear Concordia University administration,

The novel coronavirus(COVID-19) has now spread to over 100,000 people globally and has registered more than 100 cases in the State of New York alone. 

The reason that Concordia University should consider suspending all in-person classroom instruction has nothing to do with the current number in Quebec, but because that virus knows no border, and that Concordia University is located only 45 minutes away from the state of New York. Moreover, many Concordia students have travelled to and returned from the tri-state area for the Spring Break.

Columbia University has moved all of its instruction online and cancelled all classes for two days in preparation for the switch. Amherst College in Massachusetts just announced that they're cancelling all physical classes and moving the classroom online. The University of Washington has shifted to remote teaching as well. So have Stanford University and University of Southern California.

University of New Haven to Suspend Classes and Events Until Further Notice.

Fordham University in The Bronx suspended face-to-face instruction through Tuesday. Classes will begin online Wednesday.

Hofstra University in Nassau County has cancelled in-person classes for the rest of the week as a precautionary measure.

Princeton University announced that all lectures, seminars and precepts will move to virtual instruction starting on Mar. 23. The school encouraged students to stay home after spring break and meet their academic requirements remotely.

New York University Wednesday 3/11–Friday 3/13, all classes to be conducted remotely

UC Berkeley has also followed suit.

As of March 10, all major universities in the Northeast have cancelled in-person instruction or announced plans to do so. McGill, Concordia, SUNY and CUNY are the last four anglophone institutions of more than 20,000+ enrolment that are still business-as-usual.

Right now, there are almost as many cases in New York State as there are in Washington, the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

Once again, Montreal is located only 45 minutes away from the state of New York, where many Concordia students are from.

It has been confirmed that there is now community spread in the United States and Canada.

It is true that the risk for people in Canada remains generally low, per Health Canada guidelines. However, as a global institution, Concordia has many of its students return from Spring Break merely a few days ago, and a lot of those students have travelled to the tri-state area. It is not a matter of if one of those students contracted the disease, but when will the case being diagnosed and reported in Quebec. 

Fearmongering is NOT the intention of this petition. The coronavirus might be formidable, but we should have unconditional faith in Concordia administration and the public health authority in Quebec as we are privileged to have the backing of the most competent healthcare system in the world.

We'd also like to thank all Concordia University administrators for monitoring the rapidly escalating situation for the past few weeks. We want to thank you for all of your hard work behind the scene.❤️ 

With that said, we shouldn't be sitting ducks waiting for the epidemic(pandemic) to come and get us.

We should exercise caution and be preemptive and better do something before the worst has already happened.

We are calling on Concordia University administration to be proactive and protect its students and faculty. The virus is already here. Please act before it's too late. 

As a reminder, we're NOT asking the university to close the campus, but we're merely asking you to move all instruction activities online, where no virus transmission could ever occur.

Better safe than sorry.