Spring Semester Plan (October 5, 2020)

This message was updated on January 13, 2021 to reflect the change to February 5, 2021 for when students returning to campus will be permitted to be in their rooms. 

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To the Bowdoin community,

I am writing with more information on the spring semester, including a plan that should allow our seniors, juniors, and sophomores to be on campus for the second half of this unprecedented academic year.

Please take the time to read this message carefully.

The news from Washington these last several days is a stark reminder that the novel coronavirus knows no bounds. It can infect anyone, and the chances of infection are closely tied to whether someone takes the key safety measures seriously and observes them with discipline—face coverings, social distancing, avoiding large gatherings, good hygiene, and symptom monitoring. If these practices are not followed, the virus can spread rapidly and have serious consequences.

As the number of people who have been infected continues to grow worldwide, and with deaths now exceeding one million, we know we are in this until a widely distributed vaccine is available. This is almost certainly not going to happen for many months, at the earliest. In Maine, conditions continue to be better than most places around the country, although there is currently a surge of COVID-19 cases in York County, and there were nine new cases in Brunswick over the last two weeks. It is clear that we cannot let down our guard, and that life at the College must continue to focus on health and safety while we also deliver an excellent Bowdoin education. The good news is that, with some limited exceptions, our students, faculty, and staff on campus and in the area have been diligent about following the protocols and testing regime and we have done well on campus so far.

When our plans for the fall semester were announced in June, we said our primary goal was to bring our seniors back for their final semester, and we hoped to also have our juniors and sophomores on campus, all of which was subject to the state of COVID-19 and what we learned about our systems and protocols in the fall.

So far this semester, we have had three students test positive for COVID-19, one of whom received the result as they were traveling to campus in August, and the other two were almost certainly infected while in transit to the College. To date, there have been no additional student infections. We have had one staff member test positive, but they subsequently had two tests that were both negative. By the end of last week, we had performed about 17,000 tests, and the Broad Institute COVID-19 testing program has worked very well.

Of course, all of this has taken place during a time when we can be outside. As the weather in Maine and elsewhere around the country turns colder, we will have to remain vigilant and will have to continue to observe strict protocols, including decreased density on campus, frequent testing and isolation of those who test positive before they can spread the virus, quarantining those identified as at risk in contract tracing, and strict adherence to the use of face coverings, physical distancing, proper hygiene, and limits to the size of gatherings.

The Spring Plan

Key Dates