Dear students,
You did it! You’ve reached the last day of classes of the Fall 2020 semester. In a semester like no other at Ole Miss, your resilience and perseverance prevailed. So now is the time to focus on finishing strong through exams before enjoying a well-deserved holiday break. We know you have navigated a semester that is anything but typical and we are extremely proud of you.
Heading home for the holidays
Ahead of the holidays and your return home, I want to emphasize guidance about how you can protect your loved ones. This is especially important as we continue to protect the most vulnerable among us and work to limit spread in our communities. With case counts climbing around the state and across the nation, all of us must remain vigilant.
As you know, we modified the academic calendar in order to conclude classes and final exams ahead of Thanksgiving to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 during the late fall months. Now, as many of you prepare to go home in other cities, states, and countries, we would like to encourage the following guidance:
- Tighten your circle of “close contacts” prior to travel,
- Know the prevalence of COVID-19 at your final destination,
- Wear a mask consistently,
- Use hand sanitizer, and
- Get tested for COVID-19 before leaving to return home.
- Keep in mind that a negative test is not a license to end other preventative measures such as mask wearing and physical distancing.
To help you follow this guidance, the university has taken the following steps:
- Increased the number of COVID testing days for asymptomatic students ahead of the holidays.
- Asymptomatic testing will be offered November 19–20 and 23–25.
- To get tested, use this link or look for your email invitation that is sent to students each week.
- The Department of Student Housing will continue offering isolation and quarantine spaces to on-campus residents after classes end and through the holiday break. Please contact Student Housing for more information.
Looking ahead to Spring 2021
As we look to the Spring 2021 semester, I want to restate our commitment to continue improving and enhancing our academic offerings, student support and campus life activities. While the spring will continue to operate within our COVID-19 parameters and protocols, we are actively seeking creative ways to support more on-campus activity and keep our campus community thriving. Feedback from students has been incredibly important, and it has helped inform the following efforts:
- Offer more in-person (face-to-face and hybrid) courses
- Expand the number of places where we host classes, including potentially off-campus locations, to maximize opportunities for face-to-face instruction while maintaining social distancing in the classroom
- Open more options for registered student organizations to host activities off campus
- Extend hours of operation for the J.D. Williams Library on campus
- Make more on-campus spaces available for student organizations and groups to meet
- Expand student programming
I want to encourage you to continue reaching out with your thoughts and suggestions on how we can make the spring semester more engaging.
