Thursday update
Today is the first day that our upperclass students (sophomores, juniors, and seniors) can return to campus for move-in, and we are eager to welcome them back.
A number of P’24s wrote to me yesterday with concerns that students were not wearing masks and/or were standing close to each other in big groups, and asking ‘who is responsible for telling those students not to do that?’ We take non-compliance with public health measures seriously. There are a variety of strategies here:
There is a reporting mechanism that students, faculty, staff, or even parents/families can use. Please consider reporting any such incidents here: wakefo.rest/compliance. This allows us to appropriately respond to violations of University COVID-19 policies. You do not have to give your name.
There is also the Live Safe app, a safety tool that students are encouraged to download. Live Safe allows live chat with police dispatch and has the ability to send pictures and video. I am told they will be adding a COVID icon as well. Your students can use Live Safe as well.
But it is really critical for everyone – students and families alike – to understand that public health compliance is not someone else’s job. It is ALL of our jobs. In the spirit of “see something, say something” that we have been raised on with safety/terrorism, we need students who are seeing something to say something and not expect that someone else will do it for them.
In non-COVID times, if someone in the room next to you was blaring loud music at 2 am and you couldn’t sleep, we would not tell you to call the police or request the RA fix it for you. We’d expect you to knock on the door, talk to the other student respectfully and politely, and work it out. That is one of the outside-of-the-classroom points of learning in college: how to have difficult conversations and advocate for what you need, and negotiate a solution. Like any other skill, if you don’t practice it, you don’t get better at it.
We understand that especially for new students, reminding other members of our community to put on a mask or maintain social distance might feel uncomfortable and feel like they are “mask shaming.” The large majority of the time is simply about reminding one another about the practice of face covering and social distancing with compassion. That’s something we all can do. As a backstop, we do have the wakefo.rest/compliance tool and Live Safe app as options. But, we hope students will also consider simply talking to their hallmates and classmates and say “Hey y’all, we are all supposed to have a mask on” or “we should not be this close together,” etc.
We need every student and family to understand it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that our community members are not acting in a way that could endanger our ability to have a successful semester. Put another way, would you rather say/do nothing (and run the risk that we impact the health of our front-line staff, faculty, and students – or even have to close campus and go home), or do something when you see it?
We also need students to role model the behavior we want to see:
If indoors, wear a mask. The exception would be in your residence hall room (alone) or if you are showering or eating.
If outdoors, wear a mask if you are in a group of people and/or cannot maintain six feet of distance between you and the next person. Pro tip: much of the time when you are just walking around campus, you might not know when you are going to run into other people and want to talk to them, so it is probably safest to plan to wear your mask.
If outdoors and you are in a group activity that involves elevated breathing (e.g., “Spikeball”, soccer, etc.), both masks and 10 feet of distance are required.
Whether indoors or outdoors, always maintain six feet of distance between you and another person.
There are a million permutations of situations your students might be in (what do I do if I am in the bathroom vs the Quad vs the Pit? etc.) and we don’t want to confuse your students with a ton of If…then kinds of statements. The simplest rule to go by is to just wear a mask all the time. Consider it a part of your outfit you wear every day, like shoes or underwear. And maintain six feet of distance all the time, outdoors and indoors. And wash your hands frequently and for 20 seconds or more (or use hand sanitizer).
For our Harry Potter fans out there, Dumbledore once said “There will be a time when we must choose between what is easy and what is right.” This is that moment for our students, and I hope they choose wisely.
Families – just like how I used to urge you to have a phone call with your students on a Friday afternoon (as it reduces high-risk behavior on the weekend), I want to suggest you text or call your students each evening (particularly Thursday through Saturday) to ask three questions:
Are you wearing your mask?
Are you keeping appropriate distance from your friends?
Are you washing your hands frequently?
Research shows that parents and families expressing an interest and communicating their expectations at opportune times has an influence on student decision-making. Thank you for considering that.
Finally today, for those who have not moved in yet, our intrepid video team worked hard this week to give a look at what that process looked like. It’s been a long time since many of you saw campus – so hope you enjoy this video.