Dear W Students:

Over the past two months, the Campus Renewal Task Force has worked toward providing a safe and healthy campus environment for the fall semester. An essential part of their work has involved reducing the number of people in a given location to decrease the risk of spread of disease. The first step was to evaluate class schedules, locations and delivery methods with an emphasis on aligning classes with delivery methods and instructional spaces in which they can be effectively offered. Please review your class schedules in Banner.

With the move of programs and classes to on-line delivery there will be more students who will have all of their classes on-line. Housing and Residence Life is being prioritized by students' instructional delivery method. As such, Housing and Residential Life may not be able to accommodate those who do not have face-to-face classes at this time. There will be no cancellation charges for students who cancel their housing contracts through July 29. Limiting the number of students on campus and in the residence halls is far from what the University would like to do, and this decision was a difficult one to make, but it seems that this is the safest way that we can house students and minimize the spread of disease.

Our goal is to provide as much physical distancing as possible in the residence halls and reserving a residence hall for students needing to self-isolate and/or quarantine. Over the next few days, existing housing assignments will be reevaluated and may result in relocations or loss of space. Any resulting relocations will be made with the intent to reduce density in the halls while encouraging and building strong communities. Students should check eRezlife for updated housing assignments. Once the assignments have been made to accommodate students enrolled in face-to-face classes we will know how much capacity can be made available for other students who have no other housing options or are facing extenuating circumstances. A form is available for students at www.muw.edu/housing make this request.

To further limit the risk of outbreak, we ask that students limit their exposure to others as much as possible over the two weeks prior to coming to campus so that we have a healthy campus population. Please review information on the Campus Renewal Plan website (https://www.muw.edu/renewal) for other policies and procedures that will be in place for campus housing.

Thank you for your continued understanding and patience as we work to finalize details leading up to the start of the fall semester. Remember the fall semester begins on August 17 and concludes on November 24. (https://www.muw.edu/registrar/academiccalendar/2021).

Sincerely,

Nora R. Miller
President