New york’s top fashion schools Parsons School of Design and Fashion Institute of Technology, have canceled their classes and will rely on online instruction.

New york’s fashion schools have canceled classes in the premise and have transitioned to online mode after WHO declared coronavirus a pandemic. Both the fashion schools are taking extensive measures to avoid virus outbreak on campus.

Andrew Cuomo, New York’s Governor, announced on Wednesday that New York City government-affiliated and state universities would shift to online instruction starting on March 19 as an effort to promote “distance learning” and minimize “campus density,” throughout this spring semester. The Fashion Institute of Technology, is a SUNY school, is also a part of this mandate. The school has suspended all classes from March 16 to 22 to help professors “prepare for potential online class instruction and for employees to prepare to work remotely.”

Joyce Brown, FIT president issued a memo this afternoon to the students noting, “Beginning March 16, all classes will be suspended for a week to allow faculty to prepare for potential online class instruction and for staff and administration to prepare contingency plans for working remotely or implementing alternative scheduling in the event the campus is required to close or there is a determination to reduce the population density of the campus. This will be a regular workweek for all faculty, staff, and administration.”

Students will be allowed to stay on campus and will have to maintain their dorm residencies. Libraries, medical services, dining halls, and technology labs will remain open. 

It is still unclear how the student’s garment submission and art-work submission will be done through online instruction, which is a part of their curriculums.

All the students and staff members will need to register their travel through an online portal. The FIT has canceled any large-scale event scheduled for March and April. Till now FIT maintains that there is no cases of COVID-19 have been detected in the school premise and community.

Parsons School of Design-affiliated university, The New School, has also announced that classes will be conducted online till April 12. Teachers during this time will prepare and transition for remote instructions, as mentioned in a memo posted on the school’s official website.  

When teachers will “transition and prepare for remote instruction,” according to a memo posted on the school’s website. 

The school has canceled classes from March 23 to 27. The FIT will follow a cleaning and “sanitizing initiative.”

Studios, libraries, laboratories, and other facilities will remain open, but for limited hours. The school residence halls are expected to remain open. Online classes will start from March 30 to April 12.

The spring semester is critical for the fashion design students who are in their senior year. They create thesis garments and collections, which are shown at a graduate fashion show. Both FIT and Parsons did not make any announcements about future events amidst the COVID-19 outbreak.