The University of Virginia will keep classes online through the rest of the spring semester. It has also canceled Final exercises, the university's series of commencement events. It said it would seek out alternatives for graduating students.
UVA President Jim Ryan announced the changes in a message to the university community Tuesday evening.
"We realize and regret that these additional steps will cause more disappointment and call for more sacrifice, but we see no other way to do our part to help confront this public health crisis," Ryan wrote.
All events on campus are canceled, no matter the size, through May 15th.
The university says it will honor existing commitments to employees for the "foreseeable future." Employees who are already working remotely will continue to do so and those who are currently reporting will have to continue. Other employees could be reassigned, the message says.
Click here to read the full message from UVA
The University of Richmond also said it would keep classes online through the end of the spring semester. It also postponed its spring commencement to sometime later in the year.
The University of Mary Washington said operations will not return to normal during the spring semester.
Also Tuesday, the Virginia Community College System canceled all of its spring commencement cermonies.
