Dear Colgate Community,
So far, we have received 268 results from the 270 tests in this week’s surveillance regimen and all are negative. There are currently only 2 students in isolation, and they will be out long before I write to you on Monday. Nine students are in quarantine. These are strong numbers. Your determination to keep the Commitment to Community Health is highlighted by all of the green blocks on HAT dashboard. Thank you.
With flu season setting in, I wanted to remind you about another online resource. It would be great if the symptoms for COVID-19 were obvious — like your third toe on the right foot suddenly has the coloring of a rocket pop. Unfortunately, indications mirror symptoms of allergies, common cold, stress, and flu. So what should you do if you feel sick?
We have posted a full page of guidance on the website. Take a look and bookmark it for future reference. An important takeaway: if you’re having symptoms and need to see a doctor, please call before you visit Student Health Services or your own health care provider. They will want to plan ahead for your arrival.
Thank you again for doing the hard work of keeping COVID-19 in check.
Have a great weekend,
Laura H. Jack
Vice President for Communications
Take Note
Did you know there are on-campus study spaces available? You can find additional information on drop-in and reservable classroom spaces on the website. These spaces are available for small group study seven days a week.
Career Services is hosting Career Exploration Week, Oct. 19–23. Attend alumni panels to learn about career paths across different industries. Learn how to connect your academic and co-curricular experiences to your career interest. Engage with alumni hosts in one-on-one or small group conversations — Career Services is taking the hard work out of setting up a networking contact. More than 550 alumni have volunteered to host conversations, so let us know about your career interests by Oct. 11 to be matched.
The New York State State Office of Fire Prevention and Control will be conducting annual fire/life safety inspections at all university-owned student residences, Oct. 5–30. In preparation, emergency management asks all students to review their spaces for code compliance. Common violations include covered smoke detectors, use of candles, obstructed sprinkler heads or pipes, use of extension cords without a protection device or circuit breaker, propped fire doors, blocked exits, and improper storage of flammables (e.g. propane tanks). Contact Fire Safety Manager Gary Bridge at x6531 with questions. Thank you.
Only 12 days remain for you to complete the your employee commuter survey. Your responses to this short, anonymous survey before Oct. 14 help the sustainability office gauge our campus carbon footprint. Past insights have helped Colgate emerge as a nationally ranked, highly respected sustainability program. (To stay up-to-date on Colgate sustainability news, subscribe to their newsletter.)
New York State guidance states that students must periodically complete a health screening while on campus. Beginning Monday, Oct. 5, students selected for the random weekly testing program should complete the daily health screening Monday–Friday during the week of their test. They will receive a helpful reminder via email at 9 a.m. each morning with a link to the screening questionnaire. If a student answers “yes” to any of the health screening questions, a notification will be sent to Student Health Services.
Yesterday, New York State announced a new contact tracing app — COVID Alert NY — the official exposure notification app created by the New York State Department of Health in partnership with Google and Apple. With COVID Alert NY, you can use your phone to receive alert notifications if you have been exposed without compromising your privacy or personal information. This is a state initiative and is not required by the Commitment to Community Health — we offer this suggestion to help make the state's efforts as robust as possible.
The month of October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Do your part to keep your Colgate network account secure by enrolling in multi-factor authentication with Duo today!
Facilities staff will begin removing window air conditioning units on Tuesday, Oct. 6. Please have the space cleared of any items that could obstruct their removal. If this presents a problem, please contact the Facilities Department office at x7130.
ITS will apply mandatory security patches to the data warehouse server on Saturday, Oct. 3, 6–10 a.m. During this time, some Tableau dashboards (e.g. COVID-19, supervisor, and budget) will not have updated information. If you experience any issues with Tableau after these updates, please contact the service desk at 315-228-7111 or email itshelp@colgate.edu.
Correction: Inside Colgate incorrectly reported Nicole Carvell’s steps in the recent story about the Colgate Together volunteer effort. She logged 119,087 in nine days, not 55,353.
A Closing Thought
A big thank you to Colgate staff from our student-athletes.
Roller Derby Watch Party
Oct. 2
8:30 p.m.
Join Hancock Commons in watching highlights from the 2019 Women‘s Flat Track Roller Derby International Championship game 9: Gotham Girls Roller Derby vs. Victorian Roller Derby League with special guest Bonita Apple Bomb, Gotham Girls Roller Derby all-star co-captain and 2019 WFTDA International Championship Tournament MVP.
Living Writers: David Sedaris
Oct. 8
4:45 p.m
Join Living Writers for an evening with David Sedaris, author of Calypso. A short reading will be followed by an interview, conducted by creative writing faculty and students, and audience Q&A. Free and open to all; registration limited.
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