Canvas at Illinois has been restored
May 9, 2026 11:51 AM
Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students,
Canvas at Illinois is now online and available to our university community. Technology Services has performed integrity and assurance testing to the extent possible.
As previewed in yesterday’s message, all exams originally scheduled for Friday, May 8, will take place on Sunday, May 10. All exam times and locations will remain unchanged from their originally scheduled time on Friday, with only the date shifting to Sunday. Any students who were scheduled to complete one or more final exam on Friday will receive confirmation of the new Sunday exam time(s) in a forthcoming email from the Office of the Registrar. The Computer-Based Testing Facility has added time slots for this week to accommodate canceled exams, and you can make new reservations now.
Similarly, course instructors will be able to assign a new due date for any final assignments, projects, or other final evaluations that were originally due on Friday or Saturday. Any final exams or projects originally planned for Monday through Friday will remain as scheduled, unless otherwise noted by your instructor.
As always, instructors continue to have the discretion to make changes they deem appropriate to meet course objectives. Deans have asked all instructors to be mindful of the needs of students with an approved accommodation through DRES.
Students should look for communication and guidance coming from their instructors. Students who cannot take exams on Sunday will be offered alternatives as determined by their department and instructor. Instructors who cannot facilitate exams on Sunday will be offered options by their department.
As you start to use the Canvas platform again:
- Please be aware of increased risk associated with phishing and social engineering. Never share your personal or account information. Remain vigilant and exercise caution when clicking links or opening/downloading attachments via email.
- The Canvas application may be slower than normal.
Integrations and applications that interact with Canvas may not function initially. Technology Services staff will continue to work to enable them.
Campus support desks will experience higher volume over the next few days, and response times may be delayed.
For additional technical information, visit the Canvas Incident page at go.illinois.edu/2026-Canvas-Incident. There are also additional FAQs on the University Statements webpage.
We all understand this solution is not ideal. Some students, faculty, and staff have religious observances on Sunday. And Sunday, May 10, is Mother’s Day. However, this course of action has emerged as the best option among a list of potential solutions, each of which had complications and downsides. We’ve heard significant concerns from our students about extending finals past Thursday of this coming week. Many students have travel plans, are starting jobs or internships, or have other obligations. Extending exams beyond finals week would introduce additional issues including housing and the conclusion of some instructor contracts on May 16. Holding exams on Sunday keeps the schedule as close as possible to the original timeline.
Thank you again for your understanding during this difficult situation for our university community.
Sincerely,
John Coleman
Provost
Office of the Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor
sent to:
Academic Professionals, Civil Service, Faculty, Extra Help, Graduate Students, Undergraduate Students, Incoming Graduate Students & Incoming Undergraduate Students