Update from Dean Lively
Dear Students,
Following the winter term delayed-arrival announcement on Monday and Wednesday's announcements during the Community Conversations broadcast (see https://news.dartmouth.edu/news/2020/12/community-conversations-preparing-winter-term), we want to be sure you have all the details you need to prepare for winter.
This message explains the new developments in our health guidelines and accountability expectations for winter term. We don't want to overwhelm you, but we do want to be sure each of you receives this information directly. This is necessarily long so that you have the details you need to make your own decisions. Please take some time to read it through.
This will also be posted on our 20/21 planning page, at https://student-affairs.dartmouth.edu/resources/2020-2021-planning-information, along with more logistical arrival planning details. Please bookmark this page for easy reference, as it will be the home of these new changes and any subsequent updates for the winter.
When I was in the classroom, I tended to start my lectures - especially those that involved the introduction of a new concept or a new idea - with the why. That is, why the concept mattered. However, as an administrator, I now spend a disproportionate amount of time on the how and the what if - that is, the consequences associated with a particular concept or idea.
Yet I know, from 18 years in the classroom, that the what, the how, and the "what if" are virtually worthless if we don't all understand the why. Whether or not we agree, the what, the how, and the "what if" rarely matter without recognizing the why that leads to them in the first place.
Therefore, I would like to return again to the why, and then review the what and the how in connection with our updated health guidelines so that all of you have the details. The why is this: every decision that we've made to date is to protect you and the health of the community. We want you safe. We want you healthy. And we want you to succeed.
More specifically, the why that informs the specific changes for winter is this: As you all know, we are shifting from weekly testing to twice weekly testing, available free for all undergraduates on campus and living locally - whether learning remotely or on a leave term. We have improved our automated test appointment and reporting system to make it easier for all. With this increase in testing -- a total of three tests upon arrival and during the week of arrival quarantine, and two weekly thereafter - we will be able to have a level of awareness of the presence of the virus in our community that we did not have before. With that, we can make the changes described below.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Because of the significant role that testing, quarantine, and large-gathering violations play in our efforts to avoid an outbreak that could force an evacuation or lockdown of campus, we will continue to revoke the privilege of on-campus enrollment for these violations. Following the descriptions below, first-time violations of other guidelines (e.g. small group gatherings after arrival quarantine, physical distancing, facilities use, etc.) will result in a written warning, with revocation likely for any subsequent violations. If on-campus enrollment privileges are revoked, only two terms (rather than the full remainder of the academic year) will be affected: the student will shift to remote learning for the term in which the revocation occurs and will lose any previous approval for the following term, although they will be eligible to participate in any waitlist process as would any other student who does not have previous approval.
In sum, we have moved from full-year revocation that postponed eligibility for on-campus enrollment to fall of 2021, to no more than six months of impact with alternatives built in. For students who lose privileges in the winter, this alternative also safeguards the '23s' ability to participate fully in their sophomore summer and the '21s' ability to participate in any in-person commencement festivities.
Here's the trade-off: we will need to strictly enforce compliance with testing, quarantine, and large-gathering requirements. Violations of those requirements pose the highest risk of transmission and an outbreak. If you choose to come to campus or the greater Upper Valley, it is critical that you be willing to adhere to quarantine regulations, avoid large gatherings on and off campus, and participate fully in testing, even though that might mean a chilly walk to Leverone twice a week. If that might be a challenge, you have the option of enrolling remotely from another location with more freedom than we can offer in our campus congregate living environment.
Whether you choose to enroll remotely or to be here in the winter, we will applaud you for taking responsibility and for knowing your own needs. We would much rather focus on learning, health promotion, and keeping one another safe than on having to ask students to leave, but we will have to do so when the need arises. Please keep that in mind as you decide what you are willing to do and what you want your winter to be.
In addressing these issues, which are important to all of us, I want to underscore again that the vast majority of students here in the fall followed the health and behavioral guidelines without incident. Thank you to everyone for those extraordinary efforts.
As Provost Helble said on Wednesday, the vast majority of reports of violations we received during fall term (608) were submitted by students (and in a very few cases parents and community members) who were concerned about the risks posed by student behavior they had observed. That said, of the 608 reports, 86 (slightly over 14%) resulted in revocation of on-campus privileges. Notably, more than half of those resulted from large off-campus gatherings over Halloween weekend. And, as Provost Helble reported Wednesday, 124 of the 608 students reported received a warning, and no action was taken in response to 397 (or 65%) of those reports.
We will continue to protect the privacy of those affected. We have also protected the permanent records of those affected, and will continue to do so, by treating revocations for health violations as a temporary change in mode of learning. Unlike the approach that many peer institutions have taken, revocations are not considered disciplinary suspensions and they are not reported internally or externally. We do not tell your faculty members, they are not noted on transcripts, and they are not reported as part of your record for purposes of graduate or professional school applications. They are simply a shift from on-campus enrollment to remote learning.
So, the norm this fall for the vast majority of students was compliance, and the norm for the College was not to revoke on-campus privileges. Given that most of you are returning students, we hope that will be the case for winter as well, and we appeal to you to do your part. It's going to continue to take all of us - administrators, staff, faculty, and students alike -- to come together and put the health of the community first. It's going to take compassion and grace and a willingness to reach out and support one another. It's going to take knowing yourself and doing what you need to do to take care of yourself within the existing guidelines. It's going to mean reaching out for resources (or sharing them with others) before you (or they) actually need them. And it's going to mean taking your burgeoning leadership capacities, upon which Dartmouth students pride themselves, to an entirely new level. We know you can do it.
And now to the specific details of the what and the how, the updated accountability details follow below. Please continue to send questions to the WinterTerm2021@dartmouth.edu account, and we'll continue to post updates at https://student-affairs.dartmouth.edu/resources/2020-2021-planning-information
All my best,
Dean Lively