Campus Alert Archive
NYU Florence

11 PM Email Ends NYU Florence Semester: 'Classes Are Put on Hold, Campus Is Closed, Leave the Country'

NYcovid 19advisorymedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

On the night of February 24, 2020, NYU sent an 11:00 PM Italy time email to all students at its Florence study-abroad site, informing them without prior warning that classes were suspended, the campus was closing, and they should leave Italy by Thursday morning. The decision was driven by a sharp spike in COVID-19 cases in northern Italy and fear that students could be quarantined behind Italian containment measures before they could leave. NYU Florence was one of the first major US study-abroad programs to close over COVID-19, two weeks before the WHO declared a pandemic.

Alerts
2
Response
min
Killed
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Injured
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Institution
New York University Florence
Private R1 · NY
~300 studentsNYU Office of Global Services
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTEmail
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from Washington Square News reporting on the 11 PM Italy-time February 24 email; key facts confirmed: campus closed, students leave by Thursday, off-campus students strongly urged to leave country918 chars
Dear NYU Florence Community, Due to concerns about the spread of coronavirus in Italy, NYU has made the decision to temporarily suspend in-person operations at the NYU Florence campus. Classes will be put on hold beginning immediately, and the campus is closed. Students who are living in NYU Florence housing must vacate by Thursday morning, February 27. Students living off-campus or with host families are strongly encouraged to leave the country immediately. With the campus closed, NYU Florence will have significant difficulty providing support services to those who remain in off-campus apartments or homestays. Classes will resume remotely via Zoom and other technologies, and will continue (except for spring break) until at least March 29. We know this is a difficult and unexpected development. Please contact your program director with questions. Further guidance will follow. — NYU Florence Administration

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The 11:00 PM Italy time (CET, UTC+1) timestamp is confirmed from The Gazette student newspaper's account that 'students were emailed at 11 PM on Monday, February 24, immediately informing them' of the closure
Students had received no prior indication of the closure -- the Washington Square News reported that 'NYU Florence had not addressed the issue of the virus in any way previously except telling them to be wary and avoid travel to Lombardy'
Italy had 229 confirmed COVID-19 cases at the time of this email, concentrated in Lombardy; Florence is in Tuscany, roughly 300 km south of the epicenter
UPDATEEmail
Verified verbatimNYU spokesman John Beckman's verbatim quote published in NYU's official coronavirus news statement, explaining the rationale for the Florence closure186 chars
We believed it was far better to temporarily suspend and have our students leave Florence than potentially be caught behind a quarantine, where our efforts to help them would be limited.
This is a verbatim statement from NYU spokesman John Beckman published on NYU's official news page -- it functions as the institution's public-facing explanation for a decision communicated internally via the 11 PM email
The 'caught behind a quarantine' framing proved prescient: Italy quarantined its first red zone towns on February 21, 2020, and issued national lockdown orders on March 10 -- three weeks after NYU evacuated its students
Context

Background

NYU Florence is one of NYU's 14 global academic centers, hosting approximately 300 students per semester in an academic program near the Arno River. When Italy reported a sharp surge in COVID-19 cases in late February 2020 -- concentrated in Lombardy but spreading south -- NYU moved faster than almost any other major US study-abroad program. The 11 PM February 24 email, sent without prior warning, told students to leave by Thursday and told off-campus students to leave the country immediately. The Washington Square News reported that students were given about three days to arrange international flights, pack, and leave a city where many had settled into semester routines. NYU's decision preceded Italy's national lockdown by 15 days and the WHO pandemic declaration by 17 days. Twelve universities announced Italy study-abroad closures within 48 hours of NYU's announcement, making NYU Florence the leading edge of what became a wave of COVID-driven study-abroad program cancellations. The rationale -- avoid being 'caught behind a quarantine' -- proved strategically correct: Italy entered national lockdown on March 10.
Analysis

Key Findings

NYU Florence's 11 PM February 24 closure email is among the earliest documented COVID-19 emergency closures by a US institution -- issued 15 days before Italy's national lockdown and 17 days before the WHO pandemic declaration
The no-prior-warning format of the email -- students learned of the closure, the campus closure, and the departure deadline simultaneously -- reflects the speed of the university's decision-making under quarantine risk
NYU's 'caught behind a quarantine' rationale became the standard justification for the wave of Italy study-abroad closures that followed within 48 hours
Outcome
Approximately 300 NYU Florence students were required to vacate campus housing by Thursday, February 27, 2020. Off-campus students were strongly urged to leave Italy. Classes moved online until at least March 29. No NYU Florence students were reported to have contracted COVID-19 during the program.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Student Paper
    NYU Florence Closes Campus Following Coronavirus Surge in Italy
    nyunews.com
  2. Official
    Update on Coronavirus-Related Developments, including NYU Florence
    nyu.edu
  3. News
    12 universities bringing students home from Italy study abroad due to coronavirus
    abcnews.go.com
  4. Student Paper
    NYU Florence Closed Due To COVID 19 Concerns (The Gazette)
    thegazelle.org
  5. Source
    COVID-19 pandemic in Italy (Wikipedia)
    en.wikipedia.org
Tags
study-abroadcovid-19italyflorencepandemicevacuationinternationalprivate-r1new-york-universityadvisorypublic-healthoverseas-campus
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion