Stetson COVID-19 Updates – 7/24

Jenny Fang, Writer - The Reporter|July 27, 2020

Bella Steiert

COVID-19 Testing

The university recommends residential students get a diagnostic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) COVID-19 test prior to arriving on campus. Your local health department website should provide a list of locations for COVID-19 testing. If necessary, call your local primary care provider (PCP) for advice.

 

Significant Changes from Residential Living and Learning (RLL) Regarding Residential Capacity

Going into the Fall 2020 semester, with recent increases in COVID-19 cases in the state of Florida, RLL has significantly reduced the occupancy of residential halls in order to limit the risk of transmission of COVID-19. To accomplish this, RLL decided the best approach was to limit all bedrooms on campus to single-occupancy spaces. 

 

Another reason for significant changes is residential students will be spending more time in their rooms because of the limitations of on-campus activities and on-campus restrictions. Individual bedrooms also allow students more privacy for hybrid and online courses.

 

Things to keep in mind regarding housing: 

  • Students, if you resubmitted the Housing Application and have changed your decision regarding applying for on-campus housing, either email RLL from or submit the housing application cancellation form in Housing Central. For canceling the housing application, documentation is not required and there are no cancellation fees.
  • Regarding checking in, to move-in, all residential students must select a time for checking in for their curb-side check-in.

 

On July 24, RLL notified interested residential applicants if they will be assigned on-campus housing.

  • Residential applicants should check their Stetson email for an email from RLL, to understand the status of their housing application. Following prioritization, applicants were notified either that they would be offered a room or placed on a waitlist for either on-campus housing or an individual hotel room. 
    •  If an applicant’s housing application is waitlisted, the email the applicant received also included information on hotel options, information for off-campus apartments, and FAQs. 
    • Waitlisted applicants should submit this form to provide RLL with an indication of whether you want to stay on the waitlist for on-campus housing, stay on the waitlist for an individual room in a local hotel and on-campus housing, or cancel their housing application.

 

By July 31, RLL will notify residential students with reassignments.

  • RLL is currently reassigning residential students by priority. Priority for housing assignments is determined by the format of classes, credit hours, distance from campus, and necessary accommodations.
    • Applicants with face-to-face courses have more priority than applicants with online courses and hybrid courses.
    • Applicants with the most credit hours have more priority for on-campus housing assignments. For clarification, applicants with senior standing by credit hours have the highest priority for housing assignments.
    • Applicants who reside more than 45 miles away from campus have higher priority than applicants who reside less than 45 miles away from campus.

 

Academic Course Schedules

  • The format of all courses has been adjusted. Students may log in to MyStetson and check their schedules for the format of their courses.
    • FF: face-to-face
    • HY: hybrid
    • OL: online
  • The Course Engagement Form gives an implication of whether students are following the format of courses from their schedule or completing all of their courses virtually. This form is found on MyStetson within the Forms section and should be completed by July 27.
  • If it is necessary to switch the format of courses, contact either the chair of your department or your advisor.
    • There are different sections of courses that are completely virtual. If the students wish to complete all courses virtually (indicated by OL), the student may adjust their schedules as well.
  • If it becomes necessary to adjust course times, all courses will be rescheduled, regardless of the format of the course.

 

Employees Returning to On-Campus Work 

On June 23, The SCTF officially released The Guide to Returning to On-Campus Work. The SCTF also has made a video for employees.

The video covers items such as:

  • Requirements for employees to complete prior to returning as an employee.
  •  Information from Human Resources (HR) and resources for dealing with COVID-19 on-campus.
  • How to notice if someone is displaying the symptoms of COVID-19 and how to report health concerns.
  • Instructions for keeping workspaces clean and disinfected, instructions for cleaning an area with possible exposure to COVID-19.
  • Protocols for preventing exposure from visitors.

 

Webinars with President Christopher Roellke, Ph.D.

President Roellke has organized webinars for the Stetson Community to engage and provide updates.

To register for upcoming webinars, click on the corresponding date and time of the webinar.

To view the webinars that have already occurred, click on the corresponding date and time of the webinar.

 

All messages, information, and live recordings of webinars from President Roellke can be found here.

 

Update on Zoombombing Incident 

On July 24, Lua Hancock, Ph.D., Vice President of Campus Life and Student Success (CLaSS) provided an update on the hate-crime Zoombombing incident that occurred during the “Let’s Talk About Racism” webinar on June 23.

  • On July 23, The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), as part of their external investigation, interviewed several individuals of the Stetson community.
  • Currently, The FBI can not provide any additional information and are continuing the investigation.

 

Additional University COVID-19 Protocol Updates

 

Check Stetson’s Safer Stetson website, the website’s FAQ webpage, and your Stetson email for updated information.