Yale Administrator Warns Students to ‘Prepare’ for Terrible Fall, Says School May ‘Look More Like a Hospital’ Than College

Christopher Capozziello/Getty Images

A Yale University psychologist warned students in an email to “emotionally prepare” for the campus to look “more like a hospital” than a college this fall.

“We all should be emotionally prepared for widespread infections — and possibly deaths — in our community,” Psychology Professor Laurie Santos — who also heads the school’s Silliman College — wrote in an email to Silliman residents. “You should emotionally prepare for the fact that your residential college life will look more like a hospital unit than a residential college.”

The message was sent on July 1 but wasn’t disclosed until a Wednesday report in the school’s Yale Daily News.

Yale is among the colleges allowing students to return in the fall semester, though classes will mostly be held online. The Yale Daily News noted Yale plans to test students for the virus twice weekly, once more than it intended at the time Santos sent her email.

The school faced repercussions earlier in the month over its decision to move classes online last spring, when undergraduate student Jonathan Michel filed a federal lawsuit seeking a tuition refund. Michel is claiming he was shortchanged by the online experience and that the school breached its contract.