Community Agreement

Public Health Update – 5/7

by

To the Wesleyan community,

Happy May, everyone! In a few short weeks, classes will end, final exams and projects will be completed, and the University will celebrate the Class of 2021 during Commencement. Summer is just around the corner.

I am happy to see COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths decrease in many states, including Connecticut. We are starting to regain a sense of normalcy as more and more people are vaccinated. Remember that you are not considered fully vaccinated until two weeks after your final vaccine dose. Prior to that, you must consider yourself unvaccinated and maintain our approach to COVID safety guidelines. We received many questions about life on campus for the remainder of the semester, even for those vaccinated. To be safe, we are staying the course with face coverings, distancing, and regular COVID testing.

Students, once you are fully vaccinated, you must upload your information to the Davison Health Center. Faculty and staff, once you are fully vaccinated, we encourage you to share your information via WesPortal.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has posted helpful pictorial charts outlining the differences between which activities unvaccinated and fully vaccinated people may safely participate in. Of particular note, both vaccinated and unvaccinated people are advised to continue to wear face coverings in indoor public spaces, such as malls, movie theaters, and museums.

Although our optimism grows, we note that the effect that COVID is having around the world is heartbreaking. We can only hope that medical supplies and personnel, as well as vaccines, can be made available to all in need. Closer to home, we continue to acknowledge the impact that COVID has had on our local communities, family, and friends. Many of us have lost important figures in our lives without the opportunity to properly grieve and say goodbye. In addition, let us keep in our thoughts those who are suffering from long-lasting complications and symptoms—including heart and lung conditions and long-haul syndrome—as well as those whose lives have been upended by the indirect effects of the pandemic.

Our Pandemic Planning Committee has been planning for the fall semester. We will be informed by the guidelines of the CDC and the Connecticut Department of Public Health. Anticipating a fully vaccinated campus, we are looking forward to a safe semester with the full range of Wesleyan offerings. Additional details regarding the fall will be shared later in the summer.

Our students, staff, and faculty can all pat themselves on the back for their fortitude and positivity, and for the sacrifices they made to ensure a safe campus environment. A university can have the best-laid plans, but only genuine cooperation ensures success. Our Wesleyan community has come through with flying colors!

Congratulations to the graduates of the Class of 2021 and their families. I wish you the best with all future endeavors.

Wishing you a safe, healthy, and restful summer break.

Tom McLarney, MD

Campus Update from 5/5

by

To the Wesleyan community,

I want to sincerely thank you all for your tireless efforts toward making Wesleyan a safe place to be this academic year. Because of your care, diligence, and cooperation in following the community guidelines, we have been able to maintain COVID-19 positivity rates well below the level predicted by our modeling. I am pleased to report that we are planning for a return to normal campus operations and residential education in the fall.

Toward that end, I want to share important campus updates from the Pandemic Planning Committee. In the coming months, we will begin to relax some restrictions in preparation for fall. Employees should continue to consult with their Cabinet members on work plans. The following changes will take effect:

Effective immediately: Small gatherings permitted

  • Academic and administrative departments are permitted to host meetings and gatherings of 20 people or less. For the remainder of this semester, these gatherings should be outdoors, limited to members of the Wesleyan community and all attendees must wear masks. Limited catering is available from Bon Appetit. Please contact John Kehoe at jkehoe@wesleyan.edu for more information

June 1: Student vaccinations required; some services reopen to campus community

  • All students on campus will be required to be vaccinated and staff and faculty are encouraged to be vaccinated. Students must upload their information to the Davison Health Center and faculty and staff should share their information via WesPortal.
  • Visitors to campus are permitted in outdoor spaces and will be expected to wear masks. This change allows prospective students and their families to participate in campus tours hosted by the Office of Admission. The size of tour groups may be limited and all activities will be outdoors. Additional details about visitors to campus will be provided as part of the fall operations plan.
  • The Olin and Science Libraries will be open daily to the campus community from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Marketplace will be open daily through August 25 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 5 to 7 p.m. for summer meal plans or walk-up traffic. Marketplace will remain cashless. All other dining services on campus will be closed until September 1.
  • Usdan will be open Mondays through Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., and weekends from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
  • WesStation will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mail delivery to departments is still suspended.

July 1: Travel guidance

  • University-funded travel for fully vaccinated faculty, staff, and students will be permitted. This includes domestic locations as well as international locations that are considered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to be at COVID risk level 1 (low) or 2 (moderate). If a country rises above risk level 2 before the trip takes place, it should be postponed or cancelled.

Despite these upcoming changes, I want to call your attention to an important policy that has not changed: the wearing of face coverings. While we are aware that the CDC recently eased its guidelines on the wearing of masks outdoors among fully vaccinated individuals in small groups, there is no change to Wesleyan’s policy requiring the wearing of masks and face coverings on campus. As many members of our campus community have yet to complete their vaccinations, the Pandemic Planning Committee believes it is important to maintain this guideline. For more details on this and other safety guidelines that our campus community will continue to follow, please visit Keep Wes Safe and review our Community Agreement (for faculty and staff) and Code of Conduct (for students).

We are very much looking forward to seeing our campus return to its full vibrancy and in the coming months we will share more details about fall operations. Thank you again for your cooperation and patience over the past year, as well as in the coming months. We truly appreciate your efforts.

Sincerely,

Rick Culliton

Dean of Students

Chair, Pandemic Planning Committee

UPDATE: Wesleyan/CHC Vaccine Clinic for Students

by

Dear students,

I write with an update regarding the University’s partnership with the Community Health Center (CHC) to host vaccine clinics on April 24 and 25. Due to the Federal Drug Administration’s current review of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, CHC will now administer the two-dose Pfizer vaccine.

Students who choose to be vaccinated at this clinic will receive the first dose on their originally scheduled date and the second on May 15 or 16, three weeks after the initial dose. Parking Lot V at 75 Vine Street will serve as our walk-through vaccination site. All Wesleyan students—both undergraduate and graduate—enrolled in the spring 2021 semester and studying on campus may receive the vaccine.

If you have already registered, you do not need to register again. However, if you registered and have been vaccinated at another location, please cancel your appointment. For students who need to cancel or modify their appointment, you may do so by using your confirmation email (CHCvaccineclinic). Please make any changes to your vaccine appointment by Friday, April 16.

Please note that students who are studying remotely are not eligible to receive the vaccine at this clinic. In addition, students who have already been vaccinated or who are in isolation or quarantine at the time of the clinic will not be vaccinated at this clinic.

You will need to bring your Wesleyan ID card and the completed prevaccination questionnaire with you to your appointment. Because the clinic needs to prepare and plan for a specific number of vaccine doses, it is critical that you arrive promptly at your scheduled appointment time. To avoid congestion, please do not accompany your friends to their appointments if you do not have an appointment at that time. 

Wesleyan will require all students to receive the vaccine prior to returning to campus for the fall semester. Every student (with the exception of those who have approved medical or religious exemptions) will need to verify with the University that they are fully vaccinated prior to their arrival. Students can upload their vaccination record to the Davison Health Center.

Rick Culliton

Dean of Students

Chair, Pandemic Planning Committee

Campus COVID Updates and Reminders

by

To the campus community,

We are writing to share a number of important COVID-19 updates, in light of recent changes to the State of Connecticut’s plans.

Effective tomorrow, Connecticut’s governor has relaxed a number of restrictions across the state, including no longer requiring offices to maintain a 50 percent occupancy limit. The University will generally follow the 50 percent occupancy of offices for the time being while cabinet members will continue to guide and direct staffing for their divisions.

In addition, the governor has accelerated the state’s age-based vaccine distribution plan. As of tomorrow, all individuals aged 45 and older may schedule their appointments for COVID-19 vaccinations. Scheduling will open to all individuals aged 16 and older tentatively beginning on April 5. (Please note that this new phase starting April 5 combines the 35 to 44 age range and the 16 to 34 age range, which had previously each been scheduled during separate weeks later in the spring.) The University encourages everyone to get vaccinated when you have the chance to do so.

Even with these positive developments, we must continue to stay focused and vigilant on keeping ourselves and our campus safe. We will continue to follow our COVID-19 testing and contact tracing protocols, including twice-weekly testing for students; wearing face coverings at all times when in public; and adhering to social distancing guidelines. Please make sure you are familiar with the COVID Code of Conduct (for students) and the Community Agreement (for employees). You will find more important information on the Keep Wes Safe website, including the COVID-19 Dashboard and public health updates.

Finally, a sincere thanks to our faculty and staff for their tireless efforts toward making Wesleyan a safe place to be this academic year. Your hard work has been critical, and is very much appreciated.

Sincerely,

Lisa Brommer
Associate Vice President for Human Resources

Rick Culliton

Dean of Students
Chair, Pandemic Planning Committee

Preparing for Student Move-In

by

Dear students,

With the start of spring semester nearly upon us, I write with an update from Middletown, where the campus is freshly blanketed in snow.

We have been preparing for student move-in, which will take place February 5–8. After consulting with public health officials and carefully reviewing and refining our health and safety protocols, we believe we have a clear plan for students to safely return to campus. As always, we will rely on all students, faculty, and staff to do their part in following safety guidelines at all times to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Because the COVID positivity rate in Connecticut and across the United States is higher than when we began the fall, we will need everyone’s renewed attention as we begin the semester. Students should read the updated COVID Code of Conduct for spring, and acknowledge it in WesPortal, where it is posted as an alert. Students will also need to upload a negative result from their pre-arrival COVID test in WesPortal.

I strongly encourage everyone to review this checklist to Prepare for Arrival. Additional information on move-in and the beginning of the semester can be found on the Residential Life website.

All students must quarantine for two weeks after arriving on campus. We will observe an initial state-mandated, campus-wide quarantine period that will last through the end of the day on February 21. Because the period after arrival poses the highest risk for students to be asymptomatic carriers of the virus, the success of our semester will depend on all students taking the quarantine measures seriously. Beginning February 9 and through the end of the quarantine, students will take all classes online.

More information on campus health and safety during COVID-19 can be found on the Keep Wes Safe website. I look forward to seeing you soon!

Sincerely,

Rick Culliton

Dean of Students

Chair, Pandemic Planning Committee

Preparing to Return to Campus for Spring 2021

by

This is a repost of the message sent to the study body on January 14, 2021 by Dean Culliton.

Dear students,

Happy New Year! I hope this note finds you well, and that you have been enjoying a restful break. I write today with important information regarding our plans for the spring semester.

Members of the University community are very much looking forward to having students back in Middletown. Our experience in the fall allowed us to test and fine-tune our safety processes and protocols, and we feel confident that we have strong systems in place to limit the spread of COVID on campus. It will require all of us to be diligent in order to keep Wesleyan safe.

However, we are also mindful of the high levels of COVID spread in many parts of the country, and worrying news about new variants of the virus. Our plan remains to begin the spring semester in early February, with students permitted to return to campus beginning February 5, and spring semester classes starting February 9. We will alert you immediately if we determine that health conditions necessitate adjusting this schedule.

As a reminder, spring semester will once again begin with an initial two-week period of campus-wide quarantine and online instruction to comply with the State of Connecticut’s requirements.

Below is a checklist of important steps all students must take before returning to campus. Please read these steps carefully to ensure you are prepared.

  1. Beginning on January 22 until you return to campus, we ask students to limit exposure to others (quarantine at home), and especially to avoid large groups of people.
  2. All students will need to receive a negative COVID test result from a PCR test taken within five days prior to leaving home. Students will be directed to upload test results to WesPortal and have a copy upon return to campus. If you receive a positive result, do not come to campus. Recover at home and alert the Davison Health Center.
  3. If you have been in close contact with anyone with COVID or COVID-like symptoms please contact the Davison Health Center and delay your arrival on campus until at least 14 days after your close contact.
  4. Any student who did not get a flu shot on campus this fall is required to send proof that they have received a flu shot off-campus to healthforms@wesleyan.edu by January 20.
  5. Prior to leaving home, you must schedule your arrival COVID test appointment online. This appointment must be your first stop upon arriving to campus. Unlike the fall semester, you must use the app to schedule your COVID test and the number of available tests each hour is limited to reduce density as students move in. You will receive your residential keys after being tested on campus. For students travelling by plane with late arrival times, please contact reslife@wesleyan.edu with information about your travel day and time to secure a later time slot.
  6. Students who were not on campus in the fall semester must electronically sign a testing waiver for the Broad Institute and Wesleyan. These students can find waivers in their WesPortal beginning the last week of January.

I will continue to communicate with you in the weeks to come, including regarding updates to the COVID Code of Conduct for spring term. Information about campus health and safety during COVID can always be found on the Keep Wes Safe website.

Enjoy the remainder of your break, and I look forward to seeing you back on campus next month!

Sincerely,

Rick Culliton

Dean of Students

Chair, Pandemic Planning Committee

Covid Update – 10/9

by

This is a repost of the message sent by Dean Culliton on October 9th.

Dear students,

While we are all relieved by the success we have seen keeping our campus safe this semester, it is important that we not let our guard down.  Other campuses that had low Covid rates have experienced sudden spikes of infection.  While the tendency may be to feel more comfortable on campus as we have tested so frequently and seen so few cases, I want to remind you that our safe environment has been created by your careful adherence to widespread physical distancing and wearing of face coverings as well our testing protocol.

Daily we are monitoring whether students are keeping pace with our expected twice-a-week testing regimen and a small number of you have received warnings for not testing two times each week.  We have not required any students who have missed a test to leave campus yet but we have notified a group of students that another missed test will send them home. While our level of testing is a significant investment in the safety of everyone on campus, it requires a relatively small but important commitment on your part.

We have also had some incidents, mostly at night and on the weekends, where students have been observed violating the Covid agreement by not maintaining physical distance or not wearing masks.  The Community Standards Board has adjudicated these incidents and in a couple of cases sent students home to finish the semester remotely, while others have typically been issued sanctions including probation or deferred suspension with 5-8 points.  The stakes are high when people don’t adhere to the agreement which is why the resulting sanctions are so significant.  As the weather gets colder and people move inside please help us keep each other safe.  Whenever you are not in your residence hall room or private residence, wear your face covering and always maintain six feet of separation.  If you are outside gathering with others, maintain six feet of separation and when not eating or drinking, wear your face covering.  We know this is hard and may seem unnatural at times but it is critical.

I have heard from a number of students who are immunocompromised or have family members who are at risk and they are very concerned about the prospect of Wesleyan experiencing a spike in cases that could endanger them and/or require us to cut short the in-person learning for this semester.  The staff and faculty who are on campus are also relying on everyone to do our part. While our campus has been and is safe, we are not a bubble.  You are permitted to leave campus (to Middletown and the immediate surrounding area) and return. As we keep our eye on state and local positivity rates, we are comfortable continuing to allow that movement IF we can adhere to the important steps of wearing face coverings and maintaining safe distance.

Thank you for your continued cooperation and please reach out to your ResLife student staff member or contact me if you have any questions.

Best,

Dean Rick

Rick Culliton

Dean of Students