During our period of social silence, we have been listening intently to your feedback. Many members of our team are brainstorming ways that Young Harris College can better implement our commitments to diversity, inclusion, equality and justice in areas including our academic curriculum and campus culture.

Young Harris College announced today that classes for the fall 2020 semester will begin on Monday, Aug. 17, as previously scheduled. Modifications to the Academic Calendar have been made, and in-person classes will end on Friday, Nov. 20, prior to the Thanksgiving break. The last scheduled week of fall 2020 classes, Monday, Nov. 30 – Friday, Dec. 4, will take place via distance learning, and exams will be administered online from Monday, Dec. 7 – Friday, Dec. 11.

At Young Harris College, our historic affiliation with the United Methodist Church and our commitment to the Wesleyan tradition of higher education call us to develop trained minds and warm hearts. We seek to understand the roots of this evil that afflicts our society, to learn how it grows and poisons us, and to use this knowledge to build a better world in which such evil withers. To do so, we strive to build a diverse campus, one community composed of different races, different genders, different ages, different faiths and different life experiences. Yet for all these differences, we believe that each member of our community is perfectly equal in value, as each of us is equal before God.

"The danger of COVID-19 to our students, our faculty and staff, our loved ones, and the people of Towns County and the region is real. It poses a fundamental threat to lives and livelihoods. As President, it is my duty to do all in my power to mitigate this threat to our community. Therefore, today I announce that all spring 2020 courses will be offered online for the rest of the semester, and the May 9 Commencement ceremony will be postponed until a later date to be determined."