Changes due to Governor’s orders and positive cases on campus

Dear Students,

Governor Kate Brown JD ’85 yesterday ordered a “pause” of certain activities in Multnomah County, beginning tomorrow and continuing for the two-week period leading up to Thanksgiving. These measures do not impact our ability to continue to provide in-person instruction until Thanksgiving break. In-person classes are expected to continue, as planned.

However, these measures do include limiting social gatherings to your household (or, in our case, pod), or no more than six people if the gathering includes those from outside your pod, reducing the frequency of those social gatherings (significantly in this two-week period), and keeping the same six people in your social gathering circle.

This new “pause” order from the Governor’s office coincides with new developments on the undergraduate campus: three new positive COVID-19 cases within the residential student community. Those students are in isolation, and contact tracing is underway. These facts point to only one responsible course of action: we must pull back on the modest relaxation of on-campus visitation rules we just announced. Therefore, we will no longer allow students to enter any residence hall other than their own.

I regret having to make this change, because I know how hard most of our student body has worked to keep themselves and their peers healthy. But I will take this opportunity to reiterate to each of you that vigilance is essential: Follow all health protocols. Monitor your own symptoms. And please stay on campus if you live on campus.

In addition to pressing “pause” on our own relaxed rules, we are modifying a few other rules to get us safely to Thanksgiving break:

• The social spaces at Howard Hall will remain available on weekends, but occupancy limits are being reduced to no more than six people in a room.
• The number of students allowed in Fields at any given time will be limited. Please observe the markings on the floor and follow Bon Appetit staff guidance.
• There will be no seating available in Fields. Limited seating for dining will be available in both Stamm East and West. Each room has a separate entrance and no guest passage between the two rooms is allowed.

Please contact my office if you have any questions. We are so close to Thanksgiving break, and we need to work together to get there with as few negative impacts as possible. Please take care of yourselves and be kind to one another.

As always, WeB4Me@LC.

Sincerely,

Robin H. Holmes-Sullivan
Vice President of Student Life and Dean of Students