Update on College Campus Status

March 19, 2020
John Williams
Interim College President

I want to update you on the status of the College campus as of Thursday, March 19. We are open and working. However, we continue in a “Restricted Open” status.

The purpose of the “open” aspect of our current status is to ensure that we continue the important business of delivering a quality education for our students, whether on campus or remote. We have about 60 (mostly international) students who are remaining on campus. Faculty and IT staff are working to strengthen our remote teaching/learning technologies and skills.

Campus access is “restricted” to best support the health, safety, and efficiency of our community. This also helps promote best practices for “social distancing” by reducing the number of people gathering in meetings and in the dining hall. We are also looking to reduce the workload on service staff, including Dining Services, Facilities, and Community Safety.

At all levels, we are engaged in broad planning in case we need to close the campus, including identifying all the tasks essential to operating the College, distinguishing between tasks that can only be accomplished in person on campus versus those that can be performed remotely.

We are further refining campus access in order to both protect all residents and help our staff work more effectively. To be clear, access to the campus is restricted to the following categories: current employees (faculty, staff, service personnel), campus residents (employees and families of those living “inside the front gate” and in College rental housing immediately off campus), approved students (as approved by Student Life), vendors, and contractors. We will be implementing a weekly pass system to facilitate campus access.

The campus is not open to the general public, visitors, or personal guests. We request that you do not invite non-resident friends or relatives onto campus. Since off-campus travel is not restricted, you may visit friends and relatives elsewhere in the St. Louis region.

If you decide to travel outside of the St. Louis region you should be aware that mandatory quarantines or self-quarantines may be imposed by government health authorities. These will be beyond our control; we will be obliged to support and enforce those regulations.