Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020
Yesterday's update mentioned that the COVID situation is dynamic and rapidly changing. The fact that we are providing another update so soon reinforces the dynamism of the situation we are facing as a community. Since yesterday's update, there have been additional steps taken to ensure the safety of the entire community.
Off-Campus Students Restricted from Residence Halls
Beginning immediately, all off-campus students are restricted from entering the residence halls. Failure to comply with this directive will result in conduct procedures being brought against the off-campus student and their host. Note: This is in addition to the guest policy already in place - no non-college guests at all in the residence halls.
Additional Quarantine Housing
In order to generate more quarantine housing, all floors of Lakeside Hall are being converted to quarantine housing. Movers, bins, and vans will be used to assist the residents who are being severely inconvenienced by this action. We understand the challenge and are only doing this because the need for quarantine space has become critical.
Cheney and Union Station
While in-person dining will continue, we will be working with Harvest Table to further dedensify the dining center. Additionally, we encourage students to utilize the Grab & Go option as much as possible.
Gulick Hall is Under Quarantine until Wednesday, November 11th
Due to the high number of positive cases and students who are direct contacts of those positive cases living in Gulick Hall, we are quarantining the building for two weeks. The quarantine commenced Wednesday evening when students were informed via a building-wide zoom call. Students can choose to spend the quarantine period at home. Students who remain on campus are restricted from entering other campus buildings, will have meals delivered to them, and will have additional staff provided to them for support.
Halloween
We urgently ask students to be extra careful this weekend. We know that Halloween is normally a big party weekend. Please recognize that such gatherings put the entire community at risk. Let's please help each other do the right thing!
Thanks and Appreciation
Again, we want to thank all the students and other members of the community who are following the protocols and taking the necessary actions that will keep us safe.
We also want to thank and recognize the group of people working for the Testing Center, Health Center, Dean of Students Office, Contact Tracing Team, Residence Life, Harvest Table, and many others who are the ones working so hard to get us to November 20th. So many of these people are working all day, every night, and every weekend to do the tremendous amount of work involved in such an effort. They are the heroes. There are too many to list individually, but when you have the opportunity, please thank them for their work. We wouldn't be here if not for their efforts.
Thank you,
Patrick
Patrick G. Love
Vice President for Student Affairs
