Dear members of the Kenyon College community,
We look forward to the start of classes next month and encourage all who will be on campus this spring to revisit the policies and practices that have contributed to keeping our community well. The heart of our success is the conscious decision that each of us makes, every day, to put the health of the community first.
As in the fall, every member of the campus community will be expected to abide by the Kenyon College Commitment, a set of guiding principles that recognizes the impact individual decisions have on the health of the community and the success of the 2020-21 academic year. The Kenyon College Commitment is a personal pledge each of us makes to conduct ourselves with the well-being of the collective in mind.
In addition, the College has put in place several COVID-related policies and protocols — including the Return to Campus Protocols for Employees, the Conduct Addendum to the Student Handbook and Guidelines for Events and Gatherings — that detail the more practical aspects of working and living on campus.
To keep the community informed about conditions on campus, the College will publish COVID test and case data on its dashboard each weekday and email a report once a week. Kenyon’s Alert Status and Response chart provides a framework for assessing the public health conditions on campus and for guiding the College’s response. As in the fall, the first two weeks of the semester will be a quiet period, with restricted activity while students undergo screening for the virus.
For a complete set of COVID-related resources and practices, please visit the Returning to Kenyon section of our website.
For some of us, navigating campus in this way will be entirely new; for those here last fall, changes in the course of the pandemic, in our campus population, and even in the winter weather will present new conditions to adjust to. Our choice to be on campus during the spring semester signals our agreement to abide by our agreed upon policies and protocols. We encourage everyone in the Kenyon community to make the best decisions possible for ourselves and for each other.
Sincerely,
Sean Decatur
President