{
  "id": "2020-03-11-baylor-university-covid-shelter-in-place",
  "slug": "baylor-university-covid-shelter-in-place-2020-03-11",
  "institution": {
    "name": "Baylor University",
    "shortName": "Baylor",
    "state": "TX",
    "type": "private-r1",
    "alertSystemName": "Baylor Alert",
    "enrollment": 20600
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2020-03-11",
    "endDate": "2020-03-23",
    "type": "covid-19",
    "cleryCategory": "emergency-notification",
    "headline": "COVID-19 notice, March 11, 2020",
    "summary": "[Baylor University](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baylor_University) issued a [Clery Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clery_Act) emergency notification after the City of Waco amended its disaster declaration to include a shelter-in-place order effective March 23, 2020. The university had already extended spring break and moved to online instruction on March 11, but the city order required a formal emergency notification to all students and employees -- making COVID-19 a Clery compliance event.",
    "outcome": "Campus transitioned fully to remote operations. Shelter-in-place order initially set through April 7, later extended. In-person classes did not resume until Fall 2020 with hybrid format.",
    "resolution": "confirmed-threat"
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestampApprox": "March 11, 2020 (date line on the official Office of the President page; no send time shown)",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "Dear Students, Faculty, Staff and Parents:\n\nAs we all monitor the headlines regarding the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the actions of other institutions of higher education across the country, please be assured that Baylor University takes this rapidly evolving situation very seriously. We place a high priority on the safety and wellbeing of not only our students, but Baylor’s entire campus community.\n\nBaylor’s university-wide COVID-19 Task Force was formed in late January and continues to work diligently on this unprecedented situation by closely monitoring guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention specifically related to higher education, state and local public health authorities, and our own health care experts, as well as responses from other universities nationwide. The task force makes recommendations to University leadership to assist us in making well-informed decisions to ensure the continued health and safety of our community.\n\nPlease note there are currently no reported cases of the coronavirus on the Baylor campus, in the city of Waco, within McLennan County or the surrounding area. However, as reports of COVID-19 continue to spread across the state and country, our University leadership has made the following immediate decisions:\n\nClasses\n\nSpring Break for students has been extended through next week. The spring semester will resume on Monday, March 23; however, classes will be provided strictly in an online environment for a two-week period from March 23 through April 3.\nWe will continue to monitor the conditions around COVID-19 during this time period, and a future decision will be made as to when face-to-face instruction can resume.\nFaculty should use next week (March 16-20) to prepare for online course delivery beginning Monday, March 23. The University has launched a website to provide faculty with the resources necessary to transition courses to online delivery. Additionally, the Baylor Libraries are providing a series of in-person and online Canvas 101 training sessions. Faculty can register for these sessions at libcal.baylor.edu. Provost Brickhouse will send a separate communication to faculty shortly.\nAll Baylor University-related campuses and locations are included.\nGiven that the Law School operates on a different academic calendar, the Dean’s Office will provide specific instructions related to how these decisions impact that specific unit.\n\nOn-Campus Housing, Dining and Activities\n\nResidence halls and designated dining facilities, based on demand, will be open during the next three weeks; however, we ask students to determine whether their campus or permanent residence is safest.\nAs students think about and make decisions on returning to campus, please consider the CDC’s criteria for people considered to be at higher risk, including older adults and people with serious chronic medical conditions.\nAll student meetings and activities have been suspended for the next three weeks.\nThe University Libraries, McLane Student Life Center – including Baylor Health Services and Baylor Counseling Services – and the Bill Daniel Student Center will remain open.\nCampus Tours for prospective students and families will continue as scheduled.\nBaylor’s housekeeping services have increased the frequency and depth of cleaning and disinfection in residence halls, dining halls, the University Libraries, McLane Student Life Center, Bill Daniel Student Center, common spaces and common contact points, such as doorknobs, elevator buttons, light switches and bathrooms. In addition, the University is working to add more hand-sanitizing stations in high-traffic buildings and dining halls.\nStudents who return to campus should exercise social distancing and cough etiquette. As recommended by the CDC – wash your hands thoroughly and often; cover coughs and sneezes with your sleeve/elbow; avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth; clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces; and stay at away from campus if you are sick.\n\nFaculty and Staff\n\nOutside of course instruction, all University operations will continue as normal, and faculty and staff are expected to resume their normal work schedules and activities.\nIf you or a member of your household falls into one of the high-risk groups as identified by the CDC, such that you may be advised by a health authority not to come to work, please let Human Resources know.\nFaculty and staff are encouraged to practice social distancing and cough etiquette, as well as follow CDC recommendations for handwashing and the use of disinfectant on frequently touched surfaces.\nHuman Resources will communicate with all employees (faculty, staff and student employees) by the end of today regarding needs for temporary alternative work arrangements and additional employment resources.\nBaylor also provides full-time faculty and staff with helpful benefits, such as access through Blue Cross Blue Shield to be seen by an MDLIVE Doctor for non-emergency medical care, and an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), which provides access to other resources.\n\nTravel\n\nIf you traveled over spring break either domestically or internationally to areas with widespread, ongoing community spread of COVID-19, you should follow CDC guidance to self-isolate for 14 days and monitor for symptoms, including fever, cough and shortness of breath. If you experience any of these symptoms, please consult with your supervisor, stay away from campus and call your doctor or health care provider.\nAll international travel for students, faculty and staff has been suspended through March 31. We are in process of returning groups studying abroad or on extended mission trips to the United States and their permanent residences.\nAll domestic travel has been restricted to essential business purposes only through March 31. This restriction includes academic conferences. Any mission-critical exceptions must be approved in advance by the appropriate senior administrator.\n\nEvents and Athletics Competition\n\nEvents, conferences and other large gatherings scheduled through the end of the spring semester are currently under review by the COVID-19 Task Force. We will have a follow-up communication regarding these activities in the near future.\nHome athletics competitions will continue pending the receipt of additional guidance from the NCAA and Big 12 Conference. Enhanced cleaning and communication procedures for these events have been implemented.\n\nWe encourage you to visit Baylor’s COVID-19 website at www.baylor.edu/coronavirus periodically for additional information and updates for the campus community. If you have specific questions or concerns, please email coronavirus@baylor.edu.\n\nThis is a challenging time, but the health and safety of our campus community remains our central focus at Baylor University. As members of the Baylor Family, we ask that you continue to pray for all those across the globe whose lives have been impacted by COVID-19 and for the public health officials, doctors and scientists who are working around the clock to end the outbreak. May they be the hands and feet of Jesus, our great physician.\n\nSincerely,\n\nLinda A. Livingstone, Ph.D.\nPresident",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "annotations": [
        "This was an advisory, not yet a Clery emergency notification, the formal Clery notification came later with the shelter-in-place order",
        "Two-week online window (March 23 - April 3) reflects the initial optimism that COVID disruption would be temporary",
        "Sent the same day WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic",
        "Lane B flip 2026-10-12: full text of President Livingstone's March 11, 2020 'Dear Students, Faculty, Staff and Parents' letter recovered from the official Office of the President Updates and News page (live). Replaced the 322-character reconstruction; section headings and list items are kept on their own lines (no bullet characters added), two interior non-breaking spaces around the 'website' link are kept, the page's date line is carried in timestampApprox, and the unsupported clock-time timestamp was dropped. Channel left as email: the page is the president's campus-communications archive, but the record does not show delivery. One annotation describing the reconstruction was removed."
      ],
      "characterCount": 7204,
      "sourceUrl": "https://president.web.baylor.edu/news/story/2020/covid-19-extends-spring-break-prepare-online-instruction",
      "sourceDescription": "Baylor Office of the President 'COVID-19 Extends Spring Break, Prepare for Online Instruction' letter to students, faculty, staff and parents dated March 11, 2020, signed by President Linda A. Livingstone (official Updates and News page, live)"
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "update",
      "timestampApprox": "On or around March 23, 2020",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "annotations": []
    }
  ],
  "context": "The COVID-19 pandemic forced an unprecedented question onto campus emergency managers: does a pandemic trigger [Clery Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clery_Act) emergency notification requirements? The Department of Education ultimately clarified that institutions were required to issue emergency notifications for COVID-19 when a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to health or safety was confirmed on campus. Baylor's response illustrates the awkward fit between Clery's framework -- designed for discrete, localized incidents -- and a global pandemic. The first alert (March 11) was institutional; the second (March 23) was triggered by a [city government shelter-in-place order](https://baylor.edu/president/news.php?action=story&story=218092). This distinction matters because Clery emergency notifications carry specific legal requirements about timing, content, and distribution that voluntary advisories do not. Nearly every college and university in America sent some form of COVID-19 notification in March 2020, making it the single largest mass-notification event in higher education history.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "COVID-19 forced the Clery Act framework to accommodate a threat type it was never designed for, a global pandemic rather than a localized campus incident",
    "The initial 'two weeks online' messaging (March 11) proved dramatically wrong, illustrating how early pandemic communications underestimated the duration",
    "City-level shelter-in-place orders created a compliance trigger that made COVID a formal Clery event regardless of institutional preference",
    "This case represents the most common emergency notification of 2020, virtually every US institution sent a similar alert, making it the largest synchronized campus notification event in history"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "COVID-19 Extends Spring Break, Prepare for Online Instruction — Baylor Office of the President",
      "url": "https://president.web.baylor.edu/news/story/2020/covid-19-extends-spring-break-prepare-online-instruction",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "Shelter in Place directions for the University — Baylor Office of the President",
      "url": "https://baylor.edu/president/news.php?action=story&story=218092",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "Required emergency notification of positive COVID-19 cases on campus — Baylor Coronavirus Information",
      "url": "https://coronavirus.web.baylor.edu/news/story/2020/required-emergency-notification-positive-covid-19-cases-campus",
      "type": "official-archive"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "high",
  "tags": [
    "covid-19",
    "pandemic",
    "shelter-in-place",
    "clery-compliance",
    "campus-closure",
    "online-instruction",
    "texas",
    "city-government-order",
    "first-of-its-kind"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-04-04",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-10-12",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}