Nichols College in Dudley will resume on-campus classes beginning Aug. 26, the school announced on Tuesday, joining an increasing number of Central Massachusetts colleges and universities planning to do the same.
Like other colleges planning to reopen at the end of summer, Nichols will utilize in-person and remote-learning hybrid courses, allowing for no more than 50% of students in a classroom at a time. In-person classes will only run until Thanksgiving, with courses moving entirely online until the semester ends on Dec. 9, according to the announcement.
“Resilience is a trait of the Nichols community that has served us well for over 200+ years and particularly in 2020,” said Nichols President Susan West Engelkemeyer, in a statement.
The Nichols reopening will include its residence halls, which will reopen in phases. Students will be given assigned move-in days and times, and the halls will close on Nov. 25. The school will alter the seating set-ups and hours of operation for dining facilities, with the goal of providing more flexibility.
Nichols joins other area colleges with similar reopening plans, including Clark University in Worcester, College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Worcester State University, Framingham State University and Fitchburg State University. Clark and College of the Holy Cross will both shift their classes online after Thanksgiving, with Holy Cross planning to run some classe entirely online. Clark plans to move its spring semester nearly a month forward, beginning in February.
In contrast, Quinsigamond Community College said it plans to run classes exclusively online for the fall semester.
