Monday 3/16

I described the coronavirus situation to someone as like riding the Space Shuttle on the outside – it is a crazy ride where you are going a bajillion miles an hour and hanging on for dear life 🙂

We continued to work throughout the weekend. Things continued to change rapidly as new information or guidance came in from the CDC and other places. As such, there are a couple of critical points that are very important for parents and families to know:

There are now 32 coronavirus cases in NC; on March 12th, there were only 11 cases. As such, we are very serious about needing our students to go home (or to a friend’s house, relatives, etc.) and they must depart campus no later than Tuesday (tomorrow) at noon. The guidance we are receiving from public health and infectious disease experts is that we have to very carefully control access to campus because so many students traveled during Spring Break (and increasing US cities are being named hotspots). 

What this means in practical terms is that students’ access to on-campus residences and University-owned houses (such as the ones on Polo Road) will be restricted (suspended) at noon on Tuesday. Several communications have been sent to students reminding them that they may return to campus to retrieve essential items (like textbooks) from the halls prior to then. Know this is not meant to be a draconian, unfair measure. This is for the safety and wellbeing of your students and the rest of the campus community.

We also learned that the governor mandated that all public schools (K-12) be closed for two weeks, starting today. In response to the governor’s announcement, the University has decided to implement a largely remote workforce.  Essential staff will continue to work on-campus to support students who remain in the residence halls.  

From the Student Health Service perspective, an important reminder that Students MUST call ahead to Student Health Service if they have fever or cough. They cannot just show up at SHS. This applies to all students regardless of whether they have recently traveled or not. Students with fever or cough will be triaged and will be given appropriate guidance. SHS has a nurse on duty by phone (24/7) if anyone needs assistance for a health related concern; they should call 336-758-5218 and follow the phone prompts.

One more health type thing – it is in college students’ nature to want to gather together, party or darty (day party), be in close quarters, etc. This is NOT the time to be doing that. All off-campus WFU student events or socials are to be canceled, postponed or virtualized, regardless of the number of expected attendees. This is a necessary precaution due to factors related to the spread of illness at such events, including close personal interaction that facilitates transmission of the virus, and guests attending the event with unknown travel or exposure histories during the academic break.  Guidance can be found on the CDC recommendations about events and gatherings. Mitigating the spread of this illness is a matter of global concern, and the Wake Forest community must do its part in that effort.

We’d continued to run our call center today and had very few incoming questions. We will keep it going tomorrow between 8:45 am-5 pm and then reassess whether we need it after that. The number is 336-758-7500. New visitor guidelines were just released this afternoon.

That’s the news. But I have more to say today.

One of the things I loved about my time as a Wake Forest student is how our faculty would ground us in art, and literature, and science, and philosophy, and history and all the core areas of the liberal arts – and we would take those lessons and think about how they applied to the world around us. I was an English major, so my default is to think about writing.

I have looked at Wait Chapel a lot of times in my life. I got married there. I worked here during 9-11 and I remember what a beautiful day it was that day, and how tall Wait Chapel looked as it rose over us, and how grateful I was that it was standing, and that campus was OK (even as I despaired for the areas across the country directly impacted).

It struck me as I looked at Wait Chapel last week and this weekend: it is always there. Tall, proud, and constant. Reassuring. And I thought about Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise.” Dr. Angelou was a cherished faculty member here for years (aside: how lucky were those students who were able to take her classes?!?). She wrote:

“Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I’ll rise.”

Wait Chapel is standing. Proud. Undaunted. Strong. Our campus community has been dealt a blow by having to leave campus when no one wanted to, and when there is such anxiety about coronavirus. But our students are strong. Our faculty is strong. Our staff is strong. The lessons of Dr. Angelou – and of all the academic subjects near and dear to your students’ hearts – hold true. There may be setbacks, but we will rise again. 

If you need a boost – and my guess is we all do – watch Dr. Angelou read Still I Rise. It was impossible for me to feel downtrodden after listening to her. 

Join me, say it and believe it: still we rise.

— by Betsy Chapman, Ph.D (‘92, MA ‘94)