Dear Students,
I hope you are staying safe, despite the icy conditions in Memphis. More winter weather is expected early next week. We’re watching the forecast closely and will update you with any changes to classes and student services. Updates can also be found on the inclement weather page. Be on the lookout for a message from Director of Campus Safety Ike Sloas for information about what to expect and how you can prepare.
As we complete our third week of classes, we continue to closely monitor our testing results and our positivity rate. The results are posted to the college’s COVID-19 Dashboard.
I want to start my note today by thanking each of you for taking our shared commitment seriously. Your diligence and commitment to the Lynx Promise has been demonstrated, and I am deeply grateful. We must all continue to do our part to keep our community healthy.
The Week Ahead
We have seen the great benefits of our entire community being focused on health and safety. Please stay vigilant about proper masking, social distancing, and symptom monitoring, especially as we head into our third weekend. A few things to keep doing:
- Pods for connecting and meals are working! We are seeing significant drop in cases because of student commitment to pods. Keep up the good work on this front.
- Masking, distance, and assume everyone is contagious. If you find that you are feeling symptomatic the Symptomatic Student Protocol can be found here.
- Refrain from organizing, hosting, or attending large gatherings that are likely to increase the risk of contracting or spreading COVID-19.
- Residential Students and Students athletes must be report for asymptomatic testing twice a week. All other students must report once a week. Students who fail to report to testing as required will be referred to Community Standards for a Lynx Promise violation.
Given the high level of health and safety compliance and the commitment to the Lynx Promise, at this time I feel confident that we can allow a few additional opportunities for connection and safe celebration.
Residence Hall Guest Policy
Permit one student guest per residence hall room or apartment. Guests must be Rhodes students who are in have been fully compliant in the asymptomatic testing protocol. Students who do not comply accordingly will be referred to Community Standards for a Lynx Promise violation.
Please, take extreme care as we implement this new relaxed standard. I encourage you to wear masks when in your room with a guest, and to distance when possible. If cases spike again, then we will need to revert back to our no guest policy and implement additional campus restrictions. If we are successful in this effort and we see continued containment of infections on campus, then we can begin scaling back additional restrictions.
Outdoor Senior Capstones and Events
The college has committed to identifying opportunities to honor and celebrate senior students in safe outdoor ceremonies and events throughout the spring. This may include Senior Day athletic events and other senior capstone academic experiences.
February Health & Safety Forum
I would like to formally invite students, parents and families to our February Health & Safety Forum on Thursday, Feb. 18th. At 5:00 p.m. CST. Please register via the button below.