Boston University Year in Review
Explore the Moments
01
2020: A Year for the Ages
02
Expanding the Legacy of Howard Thurman
03
Building the Future
04
Virtual Teaching in the Age of COVID
05
A Quiet Celebration
06
A Terrier Title
07
A Race to Bring Students Home
08
Taking on Racism
09
BU Launches COVID Testing Lab
10
Six Months on the COVID-19 Frontlines
11
Launching Learn from Anywhere
12
Responding to National Unrest
13
A Ghost Town
14
A Spotlight Shines on NEIDL
15
By the Numbers: COVID-19's Impact
16
Fighting for the Planet
17
Be F*cking Careful
18
Big Steps for Diversity, Inclusion, Fairness
19
The New Normal Begins
20
Our Responsibility
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Above: [Left] Jean Morrison, provost and chief academic officer [Right] Robert A. Brown, BU president

At first, it seemed like college leaders nationwide had two choices when it came to their fall 2020 semester plans: They could tell students to stay home and take their classes remotely. Or reopen campus, set up as safe an environment as possible, and hope for the best.

In this dilemma, BU President Robert A. Brown and Provost and Chief Academic Officer Jean Morrison saw a compromise. Let students choose—remote or in person. Learn from Anywhere, or LfA, became the University’s defining decision for 2020. “We wanted to offer students the flexibility so that our new students can be on campus and engaging in person and so that our returning students can continue to make progress towards their degrees,” Morrison explained.

LfA gave students total control and flexibility of their BU experience: They could stay home and study remotely, or come back to Boston, living on campus or off campus, and take in-person, safe, socially distanced classes mixed with remote classes.

Among undergraduates, 55 percent attended in-person classes versus 45 percent who stayed remote. And among graduate students, 48 percent attended in-person compared to 52 percent who studied remotely.

But students weren’t the only ones impacted by the LfA decision. It meant professors had to return to classes, and there was apprehension, anger, and resentment among many faculty and PhD students, who argued that BU was putting money above the health of its community. “Colleges and universities should not be behaving like used-car salespeople,” CAS associate professor of philosophy Daniel Star wrote in an essay for BU Today. “And students need to be holding institutions to account—not by refusing to be their customers, but rather by insisting that they are not merely customers and hence should not be treated as such.”

Saida Grundy, a CAS assistant professor of sociology and African American studies, said she was surprised how students warmed up to her as she got more comfortable on Zoom. “If your personality can come through the technology, it works well. I never expected that.”

10.
On the Frontlines
12.
Responding to National Unrest
10.
Six Months on the COVID-19 Frontlines
11
12.
Responding to National Unrest