Flags adorn the walkway to Macky Auditorium for the 2019 Conference on World Affairs. (Fiona Matson/CU Independent file)
The University of Colorado Boulder’s 72nd Conference on World Affairs has been canceled due to the continued worldwide spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The news comes just hours after CU Boulder announced it was suspending all in-person classes and moving to online courses effective Monday, March 16.
The annual conference would have seen over 150 experts in various fields come to the Boulder campus for a five-day-long series of events and panels in early April.
“Effective immediately, the chancellor announced multi-day university-sponsored gatherings or those with more than 150 attendees are suspended. We agree this is the best course of action given the nature of our event and to protect the health of our student and community audiences,” the statement reads.
No new date has been announced.
The outbreak of the coronavirus has gripped the university, disrupting classes and study abroad programs. Two people affiliated with the university are undergoing tests for the virus, the results of which have yet to be announced. Despite halting in-person classes, there are no known cases of the virus on any of CU’s four Colorado campuses.
Contact CU Independent Editor-in-Chief Robert Tann at robert.tann@colorado.edu.
