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In the most sweeping sign yet of the long-term impact of the coronavirus on American higher education, California State University, the nation’s largest four-year public university system, said on Tuesday that classes at its 23 campuses would be canceled for the fall semester, with instruction taking place almost exclusively online. The system is the first large American university to tell students they will not be returning to campus in the fall. Most of the nation’s colleges and universities have gone out of their way to say they intend to reopen, but they are also making backup plans for online classes. (Hubler, 5/12)

“Our university, when open without restrictions and fully in person, as is the traditional norm of the past, is a place where over 500,000 people come together in close and vibrant proximity with each other on a daily basis,” the chancellor, Timothy White, said in a statement. “That approach, sadly, just isn’t in the cards now.” Los Angeles County Health Director Barbara Ferrer added her own grim forecast, saying stay-at-home curbs for 10 million residents, including the city of Los Angeles, would probably remain in place, in some form, through the summer. (Whitcomb and Bernstein, 5/12)

Potential exceptions at CSU may include nursing students who need clinical training to be on track to get licensed to work in health care, White said, or students who need access to equipment for their training. Students who need to continue research in labs will also continue forward under rigorous safety standards. White said students may need to work in shifts, wearing personal protective gear. Rigorous health and safety requirements will be in place, such as sanitizing and spreading students out. Instead of 15 students per class, it may be five students, he suggested. (Waldrop, Passantino and Moon, 5/12)

Most schools that have made announcements say they intend to bring students back in the fall, according to a tally kept by the Chronicle of Higher Education. Colleges and universities are under financial pressure to resume in-person classes. The decision made by Cal State University Chancellor Timothy White is noteworthy because of the system’s scale: 5% of Americans holding a college degree graduated from a Cal State school. (Belkin, 5/12)

University of California officials are examining the parameters of what it would take to open their campuses and are expected to announce plans in June or July. UC spokeswoman Claire Doan reiterated Tuesday that campuses were exploring a “mixed approach with some instruction delivered in classroom and lab settings, while other classes will be primarily online.” (Agrawal, 5/12)

It appears the dispute between Tesla and San Francisco Bay Area authorities over the reopening of a factory in the face of shutdown orders is coming to an end. The Alameda County Public Health Department announced on Twitter early Wednesday that the Fremont, California, plant will be able to go beyond basic operations this week and start making vehicles this coming Monday — as long as it delivers on the worker safety precautions that it agreed to. (Krisher, 5/13)

The Chronicle previously reported that some Tesla production lines had begun running over the weekend. Workers began returning to the plant as early as last week. Alameda County’s shelter-in-place orders, in place since mid-March, do not allow for manufacturing, though Tesla initially defied them before shutting down its lines and furloughing employees in late March. In a letter early Tuesday, Alameda County Health Care Services Agency Director Colleen Chawla reiterated that the company can perform only basic functions at the plant until the county and Tesla agreed on a plan to reopen the factory in line with state and local rules. The county and Tesla officials met Tuesday, and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office said in a tweet that county officials agreed that if certain criteria are met, the company can possibly open next week. (DiFeliciantonio, 5/12)