An Update from President Doran

Dear Bay Path Colleagues:

I am so proud to be a member of this community...the commitment of our faculty and staff to ensure that we are providing a safe working and learning environment for all of us is inspiring. Our COVID-19 Working Group is finalizing details related to our fall opening plans and I would like to again thank the many members of this group for their time and energy.

We are taking a very measured, multi-layered approach to safely re-opening campus. As we have been formulating these plans, the four guiding principles we established remain at the forefront, most especially the first: The health and well-being of our students and community is paramount. Each decision made is vetted against this principle. Our plans have also been established in accordance with the principle that our thinking is based on data, science, and guidelines established by external experts. This plan works best if we all commit to doing our part. 

Several important aspects of our reopening plan will be launched this week as follows:

• Testing:  will be mandatory for all students, faculty and staff who plan to be on campus for any reason.  Following the initial test, each individual will be tested at least every two weeks thereafter. We have contracted with the Caring Health Center to manage our testing process which will be located in Carr Hall. The Broad Institute (https://www.broadinstitute.org/) will provide 24 – 48 hour turnaround on test results.  More specific information about testing and how to schedule a test will be made available in the next several days. We anticipate that our testing operation will be fully functional by Monday, August 17.
• Daily symptom tracking:  will also be mandatory. Community members will utilize an app (we will provide the link) prior to arriving to work each day for tracking symptoms.  Aggregate data (no personal information) for  tracking will be stored and made available on our portal so we can all stay current on health trends on our campus.
• Training: Information regarding testing and symptom tracking will be part of the mandatory training modules that all community members must complete prior to arriving on campus for testing next week. Later today you will receive an email from Kathy Robbins with an accompanying slide deck. Please read and complete the required components as requested.
• De-densification: We look forward to welcoming PA students back to the Ryan Center, starting August 24  and   OT students on September 14, with labs conducted in-person/hybrid  while all other classes will be online. The traditional fall schedule begins Tuesday, September 8. Approximately 150 students will live on campus in exclusively single rooms. Those living on campus, and a small number of commuter students, will participate in very limited on-ground/hybrid classes, while the vast majority are being conducted online. This significant reduction in the number of students on campus is part of our de-densification plan, which also factors into our reevaluation of the number of employees returning to campus.  More of us will continue to work remotely through mid-October.
• Communications: Over the coming weeks, you will receive weekly updates regarding implementation of our plans. While we are confident in the process we have laid out, we are prepared to respond quickly and effectively as demanded by evolving health concerns.

I thank you all for your support. This is, indeed, a community-wide undertaking, one in which we all share responsibility. As our fourth guiding principle states, our ability to teach and learn together in a safe environment requires that all members of our community lean on one another and follow established guidelines consistently and compassionately. “We all share and accept the responsibility for keeping ourselves and each other healthy.”