Union student family,
As we get closer to the start of the school year, I’m sure everyone has questions about the changes taking place on campus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. You already know we have shifted the fall semester to start August 10 and end November 24. Last last week our COVID-19 planning team released comprehensive plans for how Union College will hold in-person classes this fall and have safeguards in place to keep our campus and our community safe.
The full document and information can be found at ucollege.edu/covid-19, but here are some of the highlights that you will find important as you prepare to return to Union in the next month.
Working together to keep Union safe
Keeping everyone safe and healthy requires that we all do our part. We all have a role to play in staying well and making sure Union has a successful semester on campus.
What Union is doing
- Each campus department has a detailed cleaning plan and has been given the supplies to make sure that all areas managed by the department are regularly cleaned throughout the day. This cleaning plan includes classrooms and instructions for cleaning surfaces between classes.
- Hand sanitizer stations have been added to every building.
- Appropriate physical distancing (six feet) will be required in all areas. Any group meetings must be held in spaces that allow for appropriate physical distancing and conform to local government guidelines.
- Where possible, hallways, classroom entrances, and stairways will be designated for one-way traffic flow with appropriate signage to decrease the likelihood of bottlenecked clusters of people.
- Custodial Services is providing extra cleaning and sanitization of common areas and entrances in the Dick Administration Building, Krueger Center, Student Center, Atrium and Woods Auditorium.
- Classroom capacities have been adjusted to ensure seating arrangements allow for six-foot physical distancing. Some classes will be moved to a different room in order to supply adequate space.
- Union has a detailed plan to provide services for students who must quarantine (because they may have been exposed to COVID-19) or be in isolation (confirmed case of COVID-19) in the residence halls or Union campus housing. We have designated areas for isolation and will provide meals, laundry service and daily health checks for students in both quarantine and isolation.
Your part in keeping yourself and others on campus safe
- If you have any symptoms of illness or think you may have had close contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19, you must stay in your room (or your off-campus home). Contact the Campus Health office. Try calling the office first at 402.486.2554 or email campushealthnurse@ucollege.edu), then follow their directions. Residence hall students should also contact the dean. In order to limit the spread of illness, it is extremely important that you self-quarantine until given further instructions by the Campus Health office.
- As everyone comes back to campus from all over the world, we need to take extra precautions to keep everyone safe. Starting July 30, anyone on the Union College campus will be required to wear a facemask or faceshield covering the mouth and nose while in any indoor public area, in offices when more than one person is present, and outdoors when six feet of physical distancing isn't possible.
- Please bring several masks with you so that you can wear them as often as needed and still keep them clean.
- There are a few exceptions, such as when eating in the dining hall, exercising at Larson, and for kids under two years old. If you need an exemption for health reasons, please contact the Campus Health office (campushealthnurse@ucollege.edu).
- Maintain six feet of physical distance and regularly wash your hands with soap and water or use hand sanitizer.
- Assist with cleaning and sanitizing in classrooms or other areas you use with the provided cleaning supplies.
- Encourage each other as we work together to keep Union healthy!
Residence hall life
As you might imagine, life in the residence halls will be a little different this fall. Here’s what you can expect:
- The residence halls will open for returning students on August 2.
- You may still choose to live with a roommate or have a room to yourself (for an extra charge).
- You will need to schedule a move-in time with your dean so that we can stagger them out and make sure the common areas and hallways are not congested. Move-in times won’t be available from sunset on Friday night to sunset on Saturday night.
- You’ll only be allowed two helpers to assist you with moving in.
- Facemasks will be required in all common areas and hallways. Mask usage in individual student rooms will be at the discretion of the resident(s).
- While we still want you to enjoy time together, we’ll be limiting the number of people allowed in common areas to accommodate proper physical distancing.
- Only residents will be allowed in the residence halls. There will be other spaces open on campus for you to spend time with other students who don’t live in your hall.
- We will be cleaning and sanitizing shared restrooms at least two to three times per day and common areas and high touch surfaces regularly.
Retrieving belongings from a dorm room
If you left your belongings in the residential halls this spring and are moving into non-residence- hall campus housing or off-campus housing, please make arrangements with the residential deans to return to campus and move your items from the residence halls on August 2-4, 2020.
If you have questions about the residence halls, please feel free to contact Dean Stocks at 402. 802.4404 or stacy.stocks@ucollege.edu
Union Market dining
Our dining services team will continue to provide great food options for you while following local health department and state guidelines for restaurants. Currently these include:
- All food service employees will wear a mask.
- There will be more prepackaged, take-out food options available (such as sandwiches, wraps and salads).
- Diners will not be allowed to serve themselves from the hot food bars. Servers with appropriate gloves and masks will serve all food that is not prepackaged.
- You won’t have to wear a mask while seated in the dining room, but you will still need to maintain six feet of physical distance from other diners.
- No one group larger than eight individuals will be allowed to sit together.
Online learning
We plan to offer our classes in person on campus this fall, but we understand there may be some extenuating circumstances. For instance, you might not be able to return to campus on August 10 due to work obligations, or you might have to quarantine at some point during the semester if you’re exposed to someone with COVID-19. Our faculty will offer many classes in a hybrid format that will allow students to participate even if they can’t be there physically. This won’t be possible for every class—especially those that require certain types of clinicals. We’ll have more information about this at ucollege.edu/covid-19 when it becomes available.
Additionally, Union will be offering a bonus term featuring several three-week, intensive online classes during the extended holiday break. These will work much like our summer online courses and will allow you to pick up some extra credit if you choose.
We’ll be together
It may seem a little daunting to read through this message and try to imagine how different Union will be this fall. But we’re putting all this in place so that we can be together. We know you prefer to be on campus, and we would much prefer you to be here, too.
Even though everything may feel a little different, we’re still working on ways to make sure we keep our community strong. We’ll still hold social and worship events (with appropriate precautions), and the Student Center and many other shared spaces will be open so you can spend time together (while physically distanced, of course).
I’m excited to start the school year and confident we will have a great year together. If you additional questions, please join us for Facebook Live Q&A event on Monday, July 13, at 7:00 p.m. (Central) on Union’s Facebook page.
Blessings to you,
Vinita Sauder
President, Union College
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