Commitment to Community Health

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Dear Students,

Today, we write to share important information for our community about the upcoming fall semester at Colgate. We ask that you read this message very carefully. Most importantly, we ask that you read and carefully consider the Commitment to Community Health link in this email. Our plans to be together this fall rely profoundly on this commitment and all that it will require of each of us.

The University developed the plans described below in the belief that Colgate’s form of education — which has as its foundation serious engagement in the liberal arts in a residential community — is the strongest form of education possible. We are an academic community that learns best when we are together — when we engage in ideas, when we disagree and debate, when we learn throughout the day with each other on a campus. Ours is a form of education that requires community and requires participation.

To achieve this in Hamilton, N.Y., will necessitate commitment from everyone: students, faculty and staff. This will not be a typical semester at Colgate. We will have to give up some things we have grown to expect on campus. But, should we commit to each other and to the steps outlined below, we believe we can form such a community again and reap the true benefits of this form of learning and engagement.  

We will need good will, mutual support, flexibility, and patience. We need to assume the best in one another. And through this, and by this, your education together on this campus will not only be possible, but enriched.

A Commitment to Each Other

As was mentioned in our initial communication about the return to in-person education at Colgate this fall, all students who have decided to return to campus must agree to and sign a Commitment to Community Health. This commitment was designed with equity, health, and safety for everyone in our community in mind. Adherence to these expectations is absolutely critical to our efforts to maintain in-person instruction for the duration of the fall semester. 

If, after close examination and careful consideration, you do not believe that the commitment is something you can fully follow, we understand. Its requirements are serious and substantial. We fully support a decision to remain home for the fall semester to take Colgate courses remotely. 

For those who do wish to return to campus, please read and sign the commitment by August 15. Understand that its requirements are non-negotiable. The health of every member of this community is at stake if these expectations are unmet. Disciplinary action for violation of this commitment will be, by necessity, swift in order to protect the campus and Village community. Violations of the commitment will result in a student being sent home and forfeiting the right to be on campus or to take in-person courses.

Advance At-Home and On-Campus Testing

The University has developed a robust, multi-level testing plan for all members of the community. We are partnering with Aegis Sciences Corporation and PrivaPath Diagnostics first to provide home tests that will be sent to students prior to arrival and, second, to analyze SARS-CoV-2 tests administered on campus. Home test kits will be sent to students with a prepaid overnight return package on or around August 10. Students must follow the instructions in the test kit and return it, postmarked no later than August 13. These results will be sent directly to the student and the University. To receive your at-home test kit, please submit your current address no later than Aug. 4.

Alternatively, students may also submit their own negative test results between 7–10 days prior to their arrival, if they do not wish to use the University’s pre-arrival test kit. These results must be sent to the University, through the student’s health care portal or by faxing their results to Student Health Services, no later than 24 hours prior to arrival on campus. 

All students who choose to return to campus this fall, whether they live on or off campus, will be screened and tested for SARS-CoV-2 within 24 hours of arrival on campus and the village. Further, the University will provide for a third, follow-up test that will be conducted approximately 7–10 days following arrival on campus. 

Students will self-monitor and report the presence or absence of symptoms of COVID-19, beginning on the first day of return to campus.

Mandatory Universal Arrival Quarantine

To undergird the University's plan to minimize the spread of SARS-CoV2 and to identify any positive cases early in the semester, the University will require a universal mandatory quarantine of at least 14 days for all students. All students arriving at Colgate for the Fall 2020 semester will immediately enter quarantine in their residences.

The initial, universal mandatory quarantine will end for all students at the same time: Tuesday, September 8 — no matter which day one arrives on campus. Classes will begin as scheduled on August 27, 2020, with all courses online until the quarantine ends.

The University’s decision to enact a universal quarantine was made in large part because the best science to date shows that, in conjunction with a comprehensive testing strategy, a full quarantine provides the greatest likelihood of preventing any early outbreak on campus. Further, New York State’s COVID-19 Travel Advisory requires, by law, registration and a 14-day quarantine for well over half of our student population, given the number of states currently on the state advisory list. Given our decision to bring all students back to campus and live in our residence hall makes this quarantine necessary for all.

Fully following the parameters and requirements of this quarantine is a core aspect of the Commitment to Community Health. We encourage students and their families to regard this universal initial quarantine as a collective community effort to enable Colgate to continue to offer on-campus residential education this semester/year.   

We recognize that this is a very substantial undertaking, and we understand how challenging it will be to meet this requirement. But, we see this initial quarantine as a short-term sacrifice that will give all of us the very best chance at continuing in-person instruction for the duration of the semester. 

Students who do not follow the requirements of the quarantine risk compromising the effectiveness of the quarantine for not only themselves but for members of the community. Further, failure to meet the quarantine requirements might result in the need to quarantine for an additional 14 days if a student who fails the quarantine is identified as having been a “close contact” of someone who tests positive during the second test.

Further details about the quarantine will be forthcoming, including what will be possible as a “family unit” as well as information about time outside and about dining. A small group of faculty and staff in the University’s Emergency Operations Center is pulling communication about this, and these details will be communicated to students prior to arrival.

Arrival Day and Residential Living Logistics

First-year students will arrive on campus August 23; sophomores, juniors, and seniors will arrive August 24–25. Please note that residence halls will only be open to students during the move-in period and for the remainder of the semester. Logistics about move-in can now be found on the Colgate website. Students who will be living on campus need to fill out a form to select an arrival time. Here are the forms for first-year students, and for upper-level students.  

Colgate is developing a detailed plan for campus housing safety precautions, from bathroom and laundry facility usage, cleaning and sanitation, to delivery of food, textbooks, mail/packages, and supplies — as well as activities, programs, and resources to support students’ physical and emotional wellbeing. We will continue populating the University’s web page between now and the next two weeks, as these details are finalized. We appreciate your patience as we respond to near daily changes in guidance and public health information.

Online Public Health Education

Each student returning to campus must complete a brief online tutorial about the collective measures that will need to be followed this semester. Please complete this requirement prior to arrival. The video includes information about proper mask wearing, physical distancing, restrictions on gatherings, and other important details. There is also information about how Student Health Services will be operating this semester, which is important to know before your arrival to campus.

It is important to note that, after the initial quarantine ends, students must continue to adhere to all COVID-19 precautions outlined in the tutorial, including facial coverings, physical distancing, hand washing, routine cleanliness, restrictions on in-person gatherings, etc.

Additional Information

The University has compiled a new guide for students that is now available online as a supplement to this communication. While the answer to every question may not be within that document, we ask that you continue to revisit the site in the weeks ahead, as will continue to make updates as new information becomes available. Please continue to email covid19@colgate.edu if you have additional questions that are not addressed.

Continued Monitoring of the National Situation

It must be said that, as we have planned this return to campus, we have been carefully monitoring rapidly changing national circumstances. This plan remains contingent on NY state guidance, our continued confidence in our testing regime, and national trends. Should any change occur in this plan, we will notify all students and families of such changes as soon as possible.

Thank you

Until a vaccine or other treatments for COVID-19 become readily available, there is no single strategy that will allow us to return to campus life as usual, but if we work together to help reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2 we believe that this experience will be meaningful, memorable, and a significant moment in your lives. 

Your commitment to the health of your classmates, faculty, staff, and the Village and Town of Hamilton is critical to our success on campus this semester. Thank you to each and every one of you for your patience as we work through these challenging circumstances. 

We can do this.

With regards,

Brian W. Casey
President

Paul J. McLoughlin II
Vice President and Dean of the College