20% of Framingham State Students Move Back To Campus, Only 1 Positive COVID Case, & Classes Start Wednesday

FRAMINGHAM – Classes begin for Framingham State University students on Wednesday September 2.

Students have been moving into the dorms since last week.

Framingham State University President F. Javier Cevallos said 790 students will live in the residence halls, which represents about 40% capacity of the residence halls.

The dorms are mostly singles this year, with some doubles, said the University spokesperson.

Only about 20% of the students will live on campus this fall semester, said the University spokesperson.

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“738 (students living on campus) are from Massachusetts,” said the University President. “The majority (451) are coming from communities color coded green or grey in the state’s data map breaking down the risk of spread.”

Ironically. the City of Framingham is listed as a red or high-risk community for COVID-19.

“Of the 52 students coming from out of state, 37 are from lower risk states (CO, CT, DE, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, VT, WV). Those not coming from lower risk states had to have a negative test within 72 hours of arrival in MA and produce results upon request, quarantine in MA for 14 days before coming to campus, or be quarantined upon arrival until a negative test result is received,” said Cevallos.

Out of state and in state resident students are also required to take part in the campus testing program, said the University.

A total of 1,226 students are taking at least one course on campus, said the University President.

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About 15 percent of the University’s courses this semester are being offered in-person, versus 85 percent offered remotely.

“As of now, we have a total of 52 faculty members and 158 staff working on campus. The remaining two-thirds of our employees will continue to work remotely,” said Cevallos.

“The University has contracted with Broad Institute to perform our COVID-19 testing this semester. The contract with Broad requires them to return results of tests back to the University within 24 hours of receiving the sample from FSU. We have received no indication to this point that the Broad Institute will be unable to comply with this contractual agreement,” said Cevallos.

There have been 886 tests, with only one positive result. No students are in quarantine on campus, and one student is in isolation at home.

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