August 8, 2020 (8:14 am) Central Time
Dear Simpson College Community,
Please be aware that we will be strictly enforcing the policies, rules, and regulations we have put into place regarding COVID-19 health and safety best practices. Our goal is to keep you and the rest of the campus community – as well as your families – as safe and healthy as possible.
To do that, we must ALL follow best practices. These include wearing masks anytime you are out of your private space. They also include practicing safe social distancing of at least 6 feet outside of private space and especially while eating outside with others. That means you are at least one bicycle-length apart. One car-length apart. Two grocery-cart lengths apart. Until we are out of the Orange Phase, absolutely no visitors to residence hall rooms or apartments, no social gatherings of more than 10 and no parties. These rules apply to both on- and off-campus spaces. We also strongly suggest our Simpson employees be very mindful about spending time in bars, crowded restaurants and attending social gatherings (large and small). We request that you follow best practices discussed above if you do visit these venues because these activities can put you at high risk for transmitting COVID-19. We are not trying to infringe upon your social lives; we are trying to keep everyone safe and healthy and keep our campus open.
Later in the semester, we will hopefully be able to lift some of these restrictions and go back to some semblance of college life as it was. But right now, I expect that you will all join me in stopping any community member you see who is not in compliance. If someone is found to be blatantly in violation of the rules, he or she may be asked to leave campus for 14 days to quarantine and /or may be subject to conduct measures, as the circumstances warrant. Violations are that serious.
None of us want members of our community to leave campus and face sanctions. Please encourage everyone to wear a mask. Encourage them to practice social distancing, and model the behavior we want to see by wearing your mask and practicing social distancing, as well. It is only for a short time, and the guidelines are necessary to reach the common goal of safely delivering a quality face-to-face education for our students.
As you speak with community members, remind them they are not just doing this for themselves. They are actually doing it for everyone else including roommates, teammates, significant others, professors, staff, parents, siblings and grandparents. We all want our community to be safe and healthy and together on campus, so wear your mask, social distance and be a hero!
We are #ONESimpson.
Be well. Stay safe,
Marsha Kelliher, President
Simpson College