
All campus events, meetings and athletic practices canceled effective immediately.
MONMOUTH, ILL. (03/15/2020) The following email was sent 3:54 pm CT today to Monmouth College students by Monmouth President Clarence Wyatt. Monmouth students are currently on Spring Break.
Friends,
First, I am deeply grateful to our students and their families, faculty, staff, trustees, alumni, and friends for their patience, flexibility, and good spirit in this situation.
This continues to be an extraordinary time for all of us. As responses to the spread of COVID-19 accelerate, our Senior Staff has been meeting around the clock to continue to discuss and assess our plans. We remain guided by our twin commitments: the quality education of our students and the well-being of our campus community. As the situation evolves, so do our plans.
On Wednesday, we felt that the Flexible Plan described earlier was the appropriate response. However, the progression of the disease is accelerating-there are now several cases in Illinois outside of the Chicago area, including at least one case in Peoria. Also, federal and state policies are shifting rapidly, and will dictate actions on our part.
After consultation with Faculty Senate and Board leadership, Monmouth College will move exclusively to remote learning, effective Monday, March 23. Classes will remain canceled this week, March 16-20. All campus events, meetings, and athletic practices are canceled effective immediately and until further notice.
Residence halls and dining services will remain open in the short term, so we can continue to serve the students who are on our campus now. All students, excepting those in extremely extenuating circumstances with whom we will work directly, should make plans to collect their belongings between now and Sunday, April 6, at 5:00 p.m. There will be an additional email to students providing much more guidance, direction and details regarding move-out. We are actively working through the financial aid guidance to either refund a pro-rated amount of room and board or provide a credit to returning students for the fall. We will share that information with you once it is finalized.
While there are still no known cases of COVID-19 on campus, the situation is changing rapidly. Federal and state policies responding to the virus are also changing rapidly, and we are worried about the possibility of domestic travel restrictions, which may make it difficult for students on campus to get home. We believe remote learning to be the most effective decision at this point to protect the health and wellness of all community members while continuing to deliver a quality education.
This situation has created stress and anxiety for everyone, and we understand that this change will create a significant inconvenience for many, especially for those students already on their way back to campus. We do not make this decision lightly, and we are committed to working with students and families individually. We also understand that some students have limited access to technology and internet at home; we will work with those students to help them finish the semester successfully.
A reminder that workshops for faculty and staff will begin tomorrow, March 16, to assist with the transition to remote academic instruction and remote work. We will video record the workshops for those interested in participating virtually.
The College’s Senior Staff will continue to meet daily to assess the situation and how it affects remaining College events, such as Commencement exercises. We will provide more detail regarding specific issues in subsequent communications, and we will continue to provide regular updates to all of you.
Even as the Civil War swept across the country, Founding President David Wallace was determined to keep the College open, declaring in the fall of 1862: “We must educate, whether there be peace or war.” That moment defined the early history of the College, and set a standard for all who have followed. This is the crisis that has come to our time. Like our predecessors, I know that we will rally, support one another, act with seriousness but retain our good hearts and good humor. Let us be the example that we set for our students, for other institutions, and for the state and nation. Let those who look back on us in the years to come say, “They did their best, and they did well.”
With gratitude,
— Clarence
Message from Monmouth College President Wyatt Regarding COVID-19
Spring classes will begin Monday, March 23, under a Flexible Plan.
MONMOUTH, ILL. (03/13/2020) The following email was sent 11:04 am CT today to Monmouth College students by Monmouth President Clarence Wyatt. Monmouth students are currently on Spring Break.
Dear Monmouth College Community —
We are living in an extraordinary time. No college or university has as a one-size-fits-all universal playbook which will help us get through it. For us, we remain true to our two commitments: the quality education of our students and the well-being of our campus community.
Monmouth College’s greatest gifts have always been its dedication and its creativity. At this time, its greatest strength also needs to be its flexibility.
As we continue to receive information, evaluate other models, and assess what is right for our students and our community, our plans continue to evolve. And those plans now show us that flexibility is our greatest need and our greatest opportunity, even at this tough moment.
Our original plan was to begin classes on campus next Wednesday to give our faculty and staff some time to think about moving elements of the curriculum online, should we need to move that direction. We realize now that that doesn’t provide for the needs of all our community best. What serves our community best is the ability for faculty, staff, and students to make choices about how they work, whether that work is teaching, or learning, or carrying out the other roles the College needs.
Thus, on Monday, March 23, classes will begin again under a Flexible Plan. Classes will be canceled Monday, March 16, through Friday, March 20. The Flexible Plan will be in place for the rest of the semester.
This Plan allows for individual choice about how to work:
* After consulting with their families, students can make the choice to return to campus or stay at home to study online. Our residence halls and food services will be open and working from this weekend, as planned. If you’re studying online, professors will contact you about how that will work for their particular courses. If you choose to stay at home and continue your studies, please notify Student Life that you are not returning to campus.
* Teachers can choose to move their classes fully online. Those who prefer to continue classroom instruction can choose that, while addressing the needs of students who will be studying off-campus.
* Staff will also have options regarding flexibility in their work. A separate note from the Personnel Office will provide additional details.
From now until March 23, we will be running workshops of various sorts to help faculty move materials and classes online, including those workshops already scheduled for Monday and Tuesday of next week. Students are welcome back to campus this weekend, as planned, but classes will not begin until the next Monday, the 23rd. For further updates, please continue to check your email regularly and to look on the Monmouth College Covid-19 Update page (monmouthcollege.edu/covid).
There is no perfect answer to the crisis that has happened upon us. Instead, we work together to continue focusing on our twin commitments to quality education and campus community well-being — even as we acknowledge that a pandemic has a way of throwing a wrench into that mission. Given the information that we have, and that we continue to gather and reassess, this is the plan which we believe serves all the members of our community best for the present, and the immediate future.
With gratitude,
Clarence
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