Friday Wrap Up

In this Issue: upcoming deadlines; students should not return if actively ill and COVID test encouraged; Spring 2023 hours of service; weather-related student travel delays; reminder of how we communicate closings or delays; wishing your students safe travels!

Happy Friday, Deac families! As we close out this first week of the new year and your Deacs prepare to return to campus, here are a few logistical things to consider.

Upcoming dates and deadlines

• January 7 – Residence halls open at 9 a.m. for all students
• January 8 Tuition Insurance – if you want to enroll in the Dewar Tuition Refund Plan for spring 2023, you will need to do that quickly: you can sign up for this plan until January 8. This low-cost plan helps to minimize the financial loss when a student withdraws due to accident or illness. 

If your Deac is actively ill, they should not return to campus; COVID test encouraged 

Knowing we have had post-break surges in various illnesses over the past two years, we want to make sure students don’t come to campus if they are sick, and instead remain home until they are not contagious:

• For flu, COVID, RSV, etc., they should remain away until their symptoms are improved and they have not had a fever (without using fever-reducing medications) for 24 hours. Read more.
• For gastrointestinal illnesses such as noroviruses, people can be contagious for up to two days after their symptoms have resolved, so students should remain away until then.
• Students are encouraged to take a COVID test within 72 hours of arriving on campus; positive results should be sent to wfucovid@wfu.edu.

In the event your student is actively ill and will miss the first day of classes (Monday, Jan. 9), they will need to email each of their faculty members to communicate about their illness/absence.

Spring 2023 Hours of Service

Hospitality & Auxiliary Services has shared the Spring 2023 Hours of Service for dining, transportation and parking, mail services, and university stores.

Weather-related student travel delays

The national weather forecast is not showing the kind of crazy blizzard/freezing temps we had right before Christmas, and the Winston-Salem forecast for the next few days is pretty decent: highs of between 47-55 degrees, though it looks like we could get some rain on Sunday. That said, I know the West Coast is having a lot of issues with rain and there are places expected to get snow. In the event that emergency weather conditions prevent your Deac from returning to campus for the first day of classes, your student should contact their spring semester professors directly to let them know of their delay.

Reminder of how we communicate closings or delays

You never know whether we will get a proper winter with some snow, or if we will be on that line between snow and freezing rain, or get nothing at all. NC is unpredictable that way. But if we do have weather that would impact school operations, I want to remind the Daily Deacdom that students will be informed of any weather-related campus closings and delays by numerous means, including email, text message, voicemail, and banners at the top of the main Wake Forest website (wfu.edu). If you want to be able to check on the local weather, forecasts are available on local TV stations WXII, WGHP, WFMY and Spectrum’s News 14 and The Weather Channel.

Per our Family Communications Guidelines and Philosophy, we always notify students of weather situations like snow or ice that would impact campus. Typically we do not inform families of snow or ice closings; we have done that in the past only in unusual circumstances, such when weather was impacting students leaving after finals. While we do not routinely send you snow closings as a standalone email, I would of course mention those types of closings here in the Daily Deac.

Wishing your students safe travels!

Though your kids are not my own children, I worry about them as if they were 🙂 So I wish them all safe travels as they return to campus. I know you will all miss your kiddos when they leave – but we are excited to have them back with us! Campus doesn’t have the same energy without them.