Info-filled day
An important message came out yesterday after the Daily Deac had already posted for the day. It is from Dr. Hatch and it was about how local law enforcement released video footage related to the death of John Neville; John Neville was a Black man who died of injuries suffered while in law enforcement custody. In addition to expressing condolences to the Neville family and our local community, Dr. Hatch also stressed that he expects our police and security professionals to apply a community-policing approach to all of their interactions on our campus, and that there are upcoming refresher trainings on implicit bias and fair and impartial policing for these groups.
Additionally, I was sent a copy of an editorial in The Washington Post from one of our incoming first-year students, Madeline Rothfield (’24), about graffitied hate speech that had been painted on her high school. Both are important reads and I commend them to you.
In COVID news, an important email went out to parents and families this evening from Vice President for Campus Life, Penny Rue. In it, she details the action items that students must take as they prepare to come back to campus, and once they are here. She also has a call to action for families:
We seek your partnership in two critical ways: 1) understanding what is being asked of your students by thoroughly reading the message and all associated links within, and 2) having a family conversation about whether your student can and will commit to these expectations.
Read the full message here. It’s critical that we have everyone’s total commitment to our public health practices, because as Dr. Rue says, there is a razor-thin margin for error in public health compliance. We want to get our students (and faculty and staff) safely through the semester until November.
Final notes: we have heard from a number of you with questions, comments, or concerns about the COVID test process via Azova. Here are some updates:
For students who ordered their kits Friday 8/1-Sunday 8/3, those kits were sent out on Monday. While the USPS says that 90% of the mailings should be delivered in two days, some were not. Those should arrive to students very shortly. (Late today, I have heard of some students receiving theirs!) Students can contact Azova (1-844-MY-AZOVA) or support@azovahealth.com for tracking assistance.
Once the kit arrives, it is very fast to administer. You can send it back as soon as you complete it.
I am told there are still a good deal of students who have not logged into Azova to order their tests. Please check with your student and if they have not ordered their test kit, please do so right away. The link to the order information is here.
Your students also must share their test results with WFU. Be sure they have that option checked in the system.
We regret any frustration you may have with the testing process. It is new to all of us and we appreciate your patience and understanding of these uncharted waters we are navigating together.
We’re one day closer to our students being back and making progress every minute. Go Deacs!