Dear Students,
I write today to advise you that rapidly changing national, state, and local developments are beginning to have an even more significant impact on travel than already exists. Yesterday, the White House issued a national state of emergency, New York State announced a state of emergency on March 7, and locally Chenango Nursery School and Hamilton Central Schools suspended operations until mid-April. We also have information that suggests air travel may soon be curtailed.
I am further encouraging students with plans to leave Hamilton later in the week to consider advancing their plans to depart as soon as possible. Students who are living in private off-campus housing are also strongly encouraged to return to their primary residence outside of Hamilton.
Primary schools, daycares, and businesses around the country are responding to a growing number of emergency declarations, often by suspending operations and asking their employees to work from home. These changes will have a cascading impact into other industries, including restaurants and travel, in the days ahead. Therefore:
- Students with cars who were planning on leaving later in the week are strongly encouraged to leave now.
- Students with flights scheduled for the end of the week are strongly encouraged to rebook travel to an earlier date.
Students who are currently living on campus and are choosing to move into the Village of Hamilton do so against the explicit instructions and advice of the University. These individuals will no longer be permitted access to non-vital University facilities after March 22 as the University begins operating with many staff working remotely.
While we want our community to be safe when departing campus by the University’s March 22 deadline, we also want to encourage everyone who can do so to depart earlier.
With regards,
Dan Gough
Vice President for Campus Safety and Environmental Health and Safety