Important Move In Process Information: Check In Locations and More!

The following is a repost of the email sent from Kieran Duffy of Residential Life on August 21st.

Hello!

The move in process is quickly approaching and we want to make sure you have as much information as possible so that you are prepared for how the process will work this semester.

Please take some time to read through the Move In Overview at this link:

https://sway.office.com/5Z6vKEReuoAUUZtu?ref=Link

It covers the Move In process step-by-step and includes details for where you should check in.

We look forward to welcoming you back to campus!

Best,

Kieran

Kieran J. Duffy ( He, Him pronouns)

Assistant Director of Residential Life

Wesleyan University

237 High Street

Middletown, CT 06459

(860) 685-3429

Pre-Arrival Checklist – Fall 2020

The following is repost of the message sent by VP Whaley on 8/15/20.

Dear students,

We are looking forward to welcoming you back to campus.  As you know, your arrival to campus this year will be quite different than usual. In addition to packing your bags (which we’d advise keeping light), please remember to complete the following steps:

Pre-Arrival 

  • Self-quarantine during the two weeks leading up to your arrival on campus. (You should already be doing this!)
  • Complete your COVID-19 test within 72 hours of returning to campus, if possible, and upload a negative test result to the CoVerified app (more on that in a moment). If your test comes back positive, if you have symptoms, or if you have a known COVID exposure, please stay home until medically cleared.
  • Read and acknowledge the student Code of Conduct in your WesPortal. (This must be done in order to pick up the key to your campus residence). This document clearly states expectations for student conduct, and non-compliance will result in a student being immediately asked to leave campus in order to protect the health and safety of others.
  • Read and consent to participate in COVID-19 testing on campus via your WesPortal as a condition of returning to campus for the fall semester.
  • Download the CoVerified app. (You will receive an email prompting you to do so). Wesleyan will use this app to manage scheduling of COVID testing appointments on campus, deliver test results, facilitate reporting of symptoms, and enable contact tracing when cases arise.
  • Update your personal contact information and emergency contact information in WesPortal. We need to be sure that the mobile number we have on file is correct.
  • Be sure to pack your thermometer and fever-reducing medications to monitor your temperature or in case you become ill.
  • Bring your Wes ID. If you have lost your ID, email wescard@wesleyan.edu to request a reprint. The WesCard Office will have your replacement ID available with your residence keys upon your arrival.


Arrival on Campus

  • Plan to arrive on campus on your assigned day and time. We are staggering arrival days in order to minimize crowds and allow for appropriate physical distancing. Only students may enter residences during move-in.
  • Visit the COVID-19 testing site (in a tent near Fayerweather) before proceeding to your assigned residence. Every student must be tested the day they arrive on campus and again a few days later.
  • Pick up your keys from ResLife at your assigned key distribution site and move into your residence.


Arrival Quarantine Specifics

  • Wesleyan must observe a state-mandated, campus-wide quarantine between August 24 and September 7. During this period, students may only leave their residences for these purposes:
    • To pick up meals from conveniently-located sites near residences.
    • To visit the COVID testing tent.
    • To retrieve mail/packages at WesStation.
    • To go for a walk/jog (solo or with others in your family unit) outside on campus property.
    • To do laundry on campus.
    • To sit outside your residence for class.
  • Once a student receives two negative on-campus test results, students living in residence halls will be able to interact with others living on their residence hall floor or with similar-sized groups of neighbors, as designated by the Office of Residential Life, for the remainder of the quarantine period.
  • If you are coming from an affected state or from outside of the U.S. and arrive on campus after August 24, you must remain in campus quarantine for a full 14 days.
  • The first week of classes will take place virtually due to the campus-wide quarantine. Faculty members are aware that some students may need to quarantine longer, and are prepared to accommodate them.
  • The drop/add period has been extended to run from August 24 to September 11. Details are available here.

For additional information on preparing for arrival, please visit this webpage. With any additional questions, you may call (888) 675-2011 between noon and 4 p.m. EDT, or email Covid-19Info@wesleyan.edu.

 

Wishing you safe travels!

Dean Mike Whaley, Vice President for Student Affairs

Reminder: Reactivating Campus Webinar on the Campus Quarantine – 8/18

Good afternoon,

I hope this email finds you and your loved ones doing well.

The university just sent you a reminder about the town halls scheduled for next week. I also want to draw your attention to the following town halls which may address some of the lingering questions I could not answer about the upcoming campus quarantine and testing protocols.

Please note that some details may still be in flux given that the state of Connecticut could change their guidelines, but these scheduled sessions should also give you access to updated information available to the university.

Tuesday, August 18

Pre-Arrival: What to Expect in Quarantine
10 a.m., EDT
Passcode: 891092
Webinar ID: 990 7326 7417

Thursday, August 20

Testing (Students Only)
1 p.m., EDT
Passcode: 061159
Webinar ID: 987 2129 2720

 

Wishing you good health,

Dean Leathers

Courses for the African Studies for the Minor

I would be grateful if you would advertise the African Studies course listings to any students interested in the minor or just want to explore a class focusing on the continent.
This fall’s courses that count toward the minor are:

ANTH311: Migration and Movement in/between Muslim Worlds

DANC260: West African Dance I

DANC360: West African Dance II

ECON366: The Economics of Developing Countries

*ENGL221: The African Novel I: Nervous Conditions* (Has more than 5 open seats as of 8/13/20)

MUSC445: West African Music and Culture–Beginners

MUSC446: West African Music and Culture–Intermediate

*Please note the ANTH class counts for the minor, but the registrar has not yet updated it on WesMaps*

For students who are interested in the minor, we will be offering the core course HIST212: Modern Africa in the spring.

Very best wishes,
Laura Ann
Laura Ann Twagira

Associate Professor
Department of History
Wesleyan University
238 Church Street
Middletown, CT 06459-0002

Insurance Deadline Extended to 9/15

The following is a repost of the email sent to students on August 11th.

 

Dear Wes Student,

This notice is being sent to all students.  If you have already complied with the annual insurance requirements at www.gallagherstudent.com/wesleyan,  you can disregard this message.

The deadline for annual insurance compliance has been extended to September 15.  If you have not yet completed a waiver or enrollment form, please go to www.gallagherstudent.com/wesleyan.  You will need to use your Wesleyan email user and password to log in or create an account.    After this date you will no longer be able to reverse the charges and you will remain on the school insurance.

If you are remote learning, you have the option to terminate the school insurance and receive a reversal of charges and comply when you return to campus in the spring (or next fall).  If you have not yet done so, please alert me by email if you decide to NOT come to campus so adjustments can be made accordingly.

Be Well,

Joyce

Joyce L. Walter

Director, Davison Health Center

Wesleyan University

327 High St.

Middletown, CT  06459

860-685-2656

860-685-2471f

www.wesleyan.edu/healthservices

Important Information for Fall 2020 Semester – Update from Dean Whaley & President Roth

The following is a letter Dean Whaley and President Roth emailed to students on August 10th.

Dear students,

As our staff makes final preparations for students’ arrival to campus only two weeks from now, we look forward to the start of the semester with a mix of excitement and anxiety. Most of us have longed for the day when we can be together again on campus since we were abruptly forced apart by the pandemic last spring, yet the worsening public health conditions in much of the country are deeply troubling. Thankfully, Connecticut continues to fare well with decreasing COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths—largely thanks to the continued diligence of our state’s residents in following the rules meant to keep the public safe.

Like the state, Wesleyan has its own set of rules and expectations that all students, faculty, and staff will be required to follow. We write today to remind you of these policies and practices, as well as to drive home how serious we will be about enforcing them. As stated in the student Code of Conduct—which all students will be required to read and acknowledge prior to arriving on campus and picking up keys to their residence—students are expected to follow the policies at all times. Non-compliance will result in a student being immediately required to leave campus on an expedited basis in order to protect the health and safety of others.

New public health guidance from the state of Connecticut has also required Wesleyan to change and tighten some of its rules and protocols, especially around the logistics of students’ arrival to campus. These changes were shared in an August 3 message to students. As a reminder:

  • Wesleyan is requiring that all students who are able to get tested for COVID prior to leaving home do so. The state recommends that this test be performed within 72 hours of arriving on campus. Students will be asked to upload a record of a negative test result to an app, which we will introduce soon. Any student whose test comes back positive for COVID should not travel to campus, but should seek medical advice from their healthcare provider, recover at home and, if possible, begin the semester remotely. Wesleyan will require documentation from students’ hometown healthcare provider clearing them to return to campus, which must be consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines.
  • All students are asked to self-quarantine for two weeks prior to arriving on campus, and especially to avoid large gatherings.
  • In accordance with the state’s guidance, only students—not family members—will be permitted to enter student residences during move-in. Therefore, students should pack lightly, and only bring what they can carry to their rooms by themselves. More information on move-in is available on the Residential section of the Reactivating Campus website.
  • In order to have an effective quarantine on campus as required by the state, Wesleyan will require all students on campus to quarantine between August 24 and September 7. Students who arrive on campus after August 24 from affected states with high COVID activity or from other countries will still need to meet the state’s 14-day quarantine; thus their quarantine may extend beyond September 7. Students coming from Connecticut and other states not on the list of affected states will only need to quarantine from the day they move in to campus until September 7.
  • For this period of quarantine, students will be expected to remain in their residence except to pick up to-go meals and to get a COVID-19 test at the testing site. Students will not be allowed to leave campus at all during these two weeks.
  • Students will be tested two times per week, with the first test taking place upon arrival to campus. Once a student receives two negative test results, students living in residence halls will be permitted to expand the remaining time of their quarantine to interactions with others living on their residence hall floor or to similar sized groups of “neighbors,” as designated by the Office of Residential Life.

Following arrival, students will be tested twice weekly for COVID through a self-administered anterior nasal swab, allowing us to detect COVID in the pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic stage and to isolate any infected students and quarantine and test their close contacts (roommates, housemates, intimate partners, and anyone they have been in contact with for 15 minutes or longer at a distance of less than six feet). We will aim to quarantine for 14 days any close contact who may have been exposed before they are contagious (which typically happens two days prior to symptom onset), thereby greatly reduce the spread of the disease.

Any student who tests positive will be isolated for a CDC-recommended period of 10 days from the onset of symptoms, as long as they are improving and have had no fever for 72 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication.

Students are expected to comply with the University’s testing, contact tracing, and quarantine/isolation orders in order to break the chain of contagion, as well to abide by the following measures for the health and safety of the community:

  • Wear a mask or face covering at all times, except when sleeping, in one’s room (alone or with a roommate), eating, showering, or brushing teeth. This means masks/face coverings must be worn when a student leaves their room to go into the hallway or restroom, or when a guest is present in their room.
  • Maintain a six-foot physical distance from others at all times.
  • Avoid groups and gatherings. All meetings and informal gatherings are limited to 25 or fewer people and should take place in venues where physical distancing requirements can be maintained. All such gatherings should take place virtually whenever possible. Most in-person social events and parties are prohibited.
  • Comply with reduced capacity limits in classrooms, dining areas, and other campus spaces.
  • No visitors are allowed on campus during the semester, including students’ parents and other family members, speakers, performers, admission tours, etc.
  • Students are discouraged from traveling outside of the Middletown area (beyond a 25-mile radius from campus), and will be required to self-quarantine upon return to campus as per CDC and state Department of Public Health (DPH) guidelines. Any student who travels beyond the 25-mile radius should notify staff at Davison Health Services who will discuss with them necessary precautions upon their return.  Students are expected to comply with COVID precautions (including physical distancing, face coverings, etc.) as directed by local businesses/agencies when interacting with the local community.
  • The University will also increase the frequency of cleaning in all campus buildings, including residences. However, students are encouraged to carefully and frequently wash hands and to sanitize living spaces. Wesleyan will provide instructions on cleaning protocols intended to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and expects compliance with these protocols.
  • Students will be required to obtain an influenza vaccination prior to January 20, 2021 (unless they have an exemption as permitted by state law).

As we’ve said before, campus life this semester will undoubtedly look very different, but we are confident that with the cooperation of our campus community, we can all enjoy opportunities to learn, grow, and support one another. That said, if understanding these rules as a condition of living and studying on campus causes you to reconsider your plans for the semester, please contact your class dean as soon as possible to make a request to study remotely.

As always, we will be closely monitoring public health conditions and state guidance. If any change in our plans is warranted, we will alert you immediately.

Stay safe, and we look forward to seeing you soon.

 

Sincerely,

Dean Mike Whaley, Vice President for Student Affairs

Michael S. Roth, President

Virtual Wesleyan Students and Families Forum: Thursday, 8/13 at noon ET

Dear students and families,

Whether you will be joining us through in-person, online, or hybrid classes this fall, we cannot wait to see you again and reunite our Wesleyan community. As you know, faculty and staff have been working tirelessly to assure the success of this semester, and we would like to share more details about our plans. I invite you to participate in a virtual Students and Families Forum, on Thursday, August 13 at noon ET. Dean Mike Whaley will join me in leading the conversation.

This will be a Zoom video webinar. You can use the following information to participate in the Zoom:

Click here to access Zoom Webinar

Passcode: 646292

Webinar ID: 997 8720 6796

Find your local number

I look forward to reconnecting with you on August 13. In the meantime, be safe and stay well!

Sincerely,

Michael S. Roth, President

 

Latest Vlog Post from Dr. Visalli: Returning to College During a Pandemic/ Taking Care of Your Mental Health

As we get closer to the end of summer, many folks are making the difficult decision whether or not they will return to their University, engage in online courses remotely, or take some time off. I hope to share some tools for navigating your mental health during this difficult time, as well as NORMALIZE ALL THE FEELINGS that are coming up for you. It can feel like a whirlwind- maybe one day you feel confident, the next you feel scared and confused. As we navigate this difficult period, I hope that we can continue to find people to lean on and offer support. Check this video out for some ideas. 🙂

kvisalli@wesleyan.edu
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Postdoctoral Fellow, Counseling and Psychological Services

Wesleyan University
Middletown, CT 06459
P: 860-685-2910; F: 860-685-3961
Wesleyan.edu/caps

CSPL/CGST 480 Engaged Projects Info Sessions for Students – 8/3 – 8/12

CSPL/CGST480 ENGAGED PROJECTS is a new 1-credit course in which students study a topic of their choice and produce a final project for a public audience. EPs respond to this critical moment in history by empowering students to connect their academic pursuits to what is happening in the world around them. They deepen student learning and self-reflection, ease the undeniable challenges of online learning, and introduce students to their own agency and positionality in society. Full details are at https://www.wesleyan.edu/patricelli/engaged-projects.html.

There are three information sessions for students coming up:

August 3, 12-1PM Eastern Time, https://wesleyan.zoom.us/j/93776440979

August 6, 9-10AM Eastern Time, https://wesleyan.zoom.us/j/93776440979

August 12, 6-7PM Eastern Time, https://wesleyan.zoom.us/j/93776440979

Questions? Contact Makaela Kingsley at mjkingsley@wesleyan.edu or by appointment at http://calendly.com/mjkingsley.