Dear campus family,
Our goal for this school year has been to maintain as normal a college life as possible so we can all enjoy the Union community—including holding our regular academic, worship, athletic and social events. And for the most part, we have been able to do that.At the start of the semester our COVID cases and quarantines on campus grew at an alarming rate, but now have dropped significantly to about a third of the case load from just two weeks ago.
Thank you for doing your part to wear masks and quarantine if you’re feeling sick to help slow down the spread of COVID and keep our campus operating.
Upcoming Events
February is always a busy month at Union with two events that play a significant role in recruiting new students from academies and high schools—Music Festival and the Spring Basketball Tournament. The COVID team and President’s Council has been debating for several weeks whether or not to hold these events in light of Omicron spread here on campus and around the country.After much deliberation and consideration of all the potential benefits and challenges, we have decided to proceed with both events – but only with stringent testing requirements and careful protocol planning which we detail below. This means that next week, February 2-5, about 100 academy instrumentalists will be on campus practicing for the main event — the festival concert on Saturday night, Feb. 5, at 6:00 p.m at College View Church (and on UTV). And then February 16-19, approximately 10 academies will come to Union for our annual basketball tournament.
We will impose the following specific protocols for these events:
Testing—All visiting participants will be required to take a COVID test within 24 hours before departing for Union and register a negative test result.
Masking—All visitors will be required to wear a facemask while indoors on our campus for both events, regardless of the status of the county mask mandate. The musicians will be required to wear modified masks and use instrument covers while playing.
The only exceptions will be:
- When sleeping in designated sleeping quarters (some participating highschoolers will be staying in empty portions of the residence halls; others will be in hotels)
- When seated and eating at Union Market
- (Tournament) For rostered players when participating in warmup or games.
- Floor referees actively officiating a game.
All others, including table officials, coaches, managers and spectators, will be required to wear a mask at all times indoors on our campus and while at our events.
Additionally, we will not allow food sales at the venues or allow spectators to bring in food or drink in order to minimize the excuses for not wearing a facemask.
Sick visitors
If any visiting participant (student, staff or chaperone) develops symptoms associated with COVID 19, the participant will immediately withdraw from the event and take a rapid COVID test provided by Union College. If the test is negative, they will be able to continue to participate in the event. If the test is positive, they will isolate immediately.Union has reserved the Ortner Center guest rooms for isolation during both events for Union students or visitors who test positive for COVID. The visiting schools will be responsible for taking care of their students in isolation—including bringing them meals.
Thanks!
Thank you for all you do to make Union a great place and represent our community to guests. Please help us welcome our visitors—who may be classmates in the future—over the next few weeks and encourage them to follow our protocols so we can keep everyone safe and operating efficiently.If you have questions, please check ucollege.edu/covid or email covid@ucollege.edu
Blessing to you,
Vinita Sauder
President