December 18, 2020 Update: COVID-19
Preview of Spring 2021
Dear Students,
As the fall semester closes and you begin a well-deserved and rejuvenating winter break, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the resilience, care and compassion you showed yourselves and each other this semester. Whether you were on campus or off, thank you for everything you have done to keep our community strong and healthy this semester. This email provides several important updates related to the spring semester.
The number of cases of COVID-19 in Vermont, regionally, and across the country continues to grow at an alarming rate. Across several metrics—including infection rates nationally, regionally, and locally, and estimates of undiagnosed active cases—the current impact of COVID far exceeds all previous points in time. Along with the Vermont Department of Health and other colleges, we continue to monitor the spread of the virus carefully and assess potential impact on the spring semester.
At this time, the plans we announced in October remain in place, however, we will continue to monitor all available data and guidance to determine if additional changes are necessary to protect the health of our students, faculty, staff, and the surrounding community. We are committed to communicating any changes—which could include additional delayed opening of residence halls and in-person instruction, required quarantine for all students, or a decision to close campus and offer remote instruction for the duration of the semester—as soon as possible. We anticipate receiving additional guidance from the state in early January and will follow-up with our community immediately following. We recognize that uncertainty creates stress and appreciate your understanding and patience.
In the event that the College is required to shift our plan as a result of changing conditions on our campus or as mandated by the State of Vermont, families can expect the following regarding room and board charges:
- If the campus is unable to open residence halls for the spring semester, Champlain will fully remove the room and board fees from students’ accounts and refund or transfer forward any credit balances.
- If the College is delayed in opening residence halls beyond February 7, the College will evaluate the impact this would have on the room and board fees, make modifications to those fees, and communicate with families prior to residence halls opening.
- If students initially move into residence halls and the campus closes after January 23, the College will provide partial credit for housing and meal plans.
- If residence halls and dining services remain open, despite any interruption of in-person classes, there will be no return of funds.
Flu & COVID-19 Vaccines
If you have not yet received your flu vaccine this fall, we strongly encourage you to do so before returning to campus for spring semester. Flu vaccine is more important than ever this year. Coinfection with influenza and COVID-19 is known to be especially dangerous, and we also need to do our part to keep illness out of the hospitals and save resources for our most vulnerable. The College is working closely with the Vermont Department of Health around COVID vaccination planning; please know that we are planning to offer COVID vaccination clinics on campus as soon as supplies are available for our population.
Spring Course Schedules
The Registrar’s Office continues to support students in developing their spring course schedule. This fall, the course start/end times were staggered to decrease the density of traffic between classes and in our dining facilities. From what we know now about the spread of COVID-19, we no longer need to take this precautionary step. Therefore, we will be updating course start/end times slightly; classes will start a bit later in the morning and end earlier in the evening. Students can expect to see these changes updated on their schedule by early January.
Virtual Learning Survey
If you haven’t participated in the virtual learning survey yet, please do so. This survey will help us understand how you will participate in your courses next semester, whether as an in-classroom or fully virtual student and what unmet technical needs you may have for the spring virtual instruction period.
Please check your email over the winter break to ensure you have the latest information regarding plans for the spring semester.
Stay well,
Danelle Berube
Vice President of Student Affairs
