Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2020 ~6pm --- sent to incoming students

Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Dear CC Community,

The health and safety of the entire Colorado College community is always our top priority. In our efforts to reduce the risks of COVID-19 to our students, faculty, staff, and greater community, we are monitoring local, state, and national caseloads, consulting our working teams and science advisory group, developing our testing protocols, and adjusting when conditions change.

Timing for early arrivals to campus
Because national and local cases of COVID-19 and hospitalizations associated with it have sharply increased, to reduce risk we are postponing the arrival of students who were originally scheduled to come to campus in very early August. This includes Bridge Scholars, resident advisors, international students, and New Student Orientation and Priddy Trip leaders. These students will now arrive starting Aug. 9 and will be notified regarding their arrival schedule. As we continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and accompanying risks, there may be further adjustments to those arrivals; those in charge of the groups will notify those students.

Bridge Scholars programming will now be offered via remote learning, taught by the same professors, and the courses will continue to carry a .5 block of credit. The classes will have both synchronous and asynchronous instruction during the originally scheduled dates, starting Aug. 3, and will have built-in flexibility so that students can finish the class while they move into campus. Bridge Scholars will have ample opportunities to get to know professors, mentors, and fellow students. Peer mentoring and other programming will also be continued in a distance mode. Students should watch for a follow-up email with more details and FAQs regarding how the change in campus-arrival arrangements affects Bridge Scholars.

We continue to focus on bringing our first-year students, transfer students, and 2020 winter-start students to campus for Block 1 in a way that reduces risks as much as possible. Our working teams are engaged in planning that will reduce density in all of our living, learning, working, and co-curricular areas so our students, faculty, and staff may study, teach, and work as safely and effectively as possible.

CC is working with medical and science professionals on designing testing protocols that are the most effective for our students, staff, and faculty. We will share the final plan and schedule a virtual town hall information session on this as soon as possible.

New Student Orientation update
NSO students now will arrive in phases over four days August 13-17, and must follow all risk-mitigation protocols, as do all students - wear a mask, maintain social distance, wash hands often, and self-isolate as much as possible. (Roommates are considered a "household" and therefore may be together.)

All students coming to campus for NSO and Block 1 will be assigned a date and time to arrive on campus. Students, watch for an email with that information from the Residential Experience Office.

Community responsibility
COVID-19 is not to be taken lightly. People of all ages, backgrounds, and health conditions are susceptible to this virus, which can bring grave illness, long-term or recurring health issues, or death. As part of our core values at Colorado College, we encourage engagement and social responsibility at all times. Each of us has an important role to play in creating a safe, healthy community in which we can all thrive and it is up to each of us to conscientiously do our part and recognize that our individual actions and decisions may greatly impact the health and well-being of fellow community members.

Our students lead cultural change, and that leadership will be essential to our success in reducing risk of spreading the virus, and allowing us to have students on campus this academic year.

To that end, we encourage students to act in ways that minimize risk of harm to themselves and to others - including mental, physical, emotional, or psychological harm - and ask them to promote the safety of individuals and the overall community. We have added the following community standards:

• All Colorado College students must adhere to Colorado state and local public health orders, regardless of place of residence. For Colorado health orders, visit https://covid19.colorado.gov/. For El Paso County health orders, visit https://www.elpasocountyhealth.org/.
• All social gatherings of 10 or more individuals, on or off campus, are prohibited.
• All students are expected to adhere to proper social distancing guidelines (remaining at least 6 feet apart) at all times while on campus or in public. (Roommates are considered a "household" and therefore may be together).
• Students approved to be on campus are not allowed to host guests.
• All students are expected to check their own temperature before going to areas of campus that are not their residence. If the student's temperature is 100.4 (38C) degrees or higher, or more than 1.8 degrees above their normal baseline temperature, or if they display symptoms such as dry cough, difficulty breathing, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, or loss of taste or smell, the student should make arrangements to reschedule their return to campus once their temperature returns to a "normal" range for a minimum of 72 hours.
• All students must wear face coverings or masks (N95, medical, cloth, etc., without ports) at all times except when in the confines of their own residential room or apartment. Masks must fit tightly, be clean/sanitary, and must completely cover the nose and mouth.
• Once at Colorado College, students may not travel out of the state of Colorado at any time - including over block breaks, through the end of the semester. If a student does travel outside of Colorado, they will not be allowed to return to campus and must take classes remotely.
• Any student who tests positive for COVID-19 must participate in contact tracing so others who have been exposed may be notified and reduce the risk of spreading the virus to more people.

Because this public-health crisis poses great risks to many people, students who violate these community standards face suspension or dismissal.

As always, if you have questions, email covid19@coloradocollege.edu. If you prefer a call back, please leave your phone number.

While it is disappointing that we can't welcome our early-arrival students to campus when initially planned, we are working to be sure our distance-learning programming for Bridge Scholars will be engaging and beneficial in the transition to college life.

We want to be sure we are reducing virus risk in the best ways possible, monitoring the health of our students upon arrival, and implementing healthy ongoing practices. We look forward to beginning our academic year with our first years in New Student Orientation, and last year's winter starts on campus, getting a great start to the year at CC, and to welcoming the entire campus community back - with our new measures in place - soon after.

The Colorado College community is tenacious, explorative, innovative, and strong, and remains so. We are grateful for all you are doing to also keep it healthy, engaged, respectful, inclusive, and supported.

Sincerely,

Mike Edmonds
Acting Co-President

Robert G. Moore
Acting Co-President