Dear Students,
I am pleased to share the Rhodes COVID-19 health and safety plan with you. The plan was developed in consultation with our partners at Baptist Health Center under the direction of the co-director of their infection prevention program (and Rhodes alum), Dr. Stephen Threlkeld ’86. It is grounded in current best practices for public health and risk mitigation.
Some of the key features of the plan are its reliance on the “big five” (testing, masking, tracing, tracking, and distancing) and its applications of these practices to the specific needs of academic, co-curricular, residential, and social interaction at Rhodes. The plan is designed to evolve as health conditions change and as information and new treatments emerge.
Developing this plan was a key step in preparing to re-open campus.
Re-opening also depends on your willingness to embrace the plan’s letter and spirt. The campus experience will be different, and we will have to work together to find ways to learn, live, and socialize while keeping ourselves and each other safe. Our entire faculty and staff are ready to support you in this.
As I think about the upcoming academic year, I am focusing on the need for both rigidity and flexibility. We will need to be rigid in following the health requirements of the plan. Each of us has to commit to this personally.
But we will also need a great deal of flexibility as we adapt to evolving external health conditions, potential cases of COVID-19 on the Rhodes campus, and differing needs of individuals.
We have created a flexible learning plan for the fall semester. You can return to campus as usual when we re-open. But, if you have health or other concerns, you can choose to learn remotely for the semester. We will also allow you to sit the semester out completely by taking a leave of absence or deferring your enrollment until January. Next week, we will send you information about these options and about how to seek advice as you make a decision for the fall.
You should expect that faculty and staff will also need flexibility as they adjust to new expectations, meet individual student learning needs, protect their own health, and juggle care for children and other family members (especially if the public schools in Memphis do not re-open). Some courses will only be taught remotely, for example. Meetings, office hours, and other co-curricular activities may be remote as well.
At this point, I have confidence in our plan and confidence that our community will rise to this occasion. I would be remiss, however, not to share my concerns about the current public health conditions in Memphis. We are monitoring these conditions closely. Our ultimate decision to re-open will be based on advice from our Baptist partners.
In an effort to reverse the alarming regional trends, Shelby County and the City of Memphis have both recently instituted mask regulations and scaled back the re-opening of bars and other public places. I am hopeful that these new regulations will return our city to a place of greater safety, reducing the risk at Rhodes and allowing us to re-open as planned.
If we should to be in remote learning mode for some part of the semester, our goal will be to return to campus as soon as health conditions allow. We remain committed to providing you with access to your education.
I am sure you and your family have many questions. We have set up a page with frequently asked questions. We will be updating this page as we have new information. You can also use our COVID-19 question and comment form. I invite you and your family to join me for a zoom webinar on Tuesday, July 14 at 5:00 p.m. CST. We will be discussing plans for the fall and answering your questions live. The link to the webinar will be sent to you next week.
Many of you have written to express support for your international classmates. Rhodes has joined with other colleges and with national higher education policy organizations to challenge the new regulations and to ensure that our international students continue to have access to a Rhodes education. We have been in contact with these students and will work with them individually to meet their needs.
At Rhodes, we are eager to have you back on campus. We are wearing our masks as we go about preparing for the semester and focusing our energy on ensuring educational excellence amidst this wildly unexpected set of conditions. You remain in my thoughts and my daily prayers.
Best,
Marjorie