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- Aug. 21, 2020 | It is Up to You to...
- Title:
- Aug. 21, 2020 | It is Up to You to Keep our Campus Open
- Date:
- 2020-08-21
- Category:
- Presidential Memos
- Harvested from:
- https://perma.cc/H79Z-9K2U
- Type:
- text
- Digital Format:
- text/html
- Reference Link:
- https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/fridayletter/letters/president_memo_2020-08-21.html
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Aug. 21, 2020 | It is Up to You to Keep our Campus Open
TO: University of Idaho Moscow-Based Students
CC: Faculty and Staff
FROM: Scott Green, President
Torrey Lawrence, Interim Provost and Executive Vice President
Blaine Eckles, Vice Provost for Student Affairs and Dean of Students
DATE: Aug. 21, 2020
SUBJECT: It is Up to You to Keep our Campus Open
Just three days ago, we communicated to you how important your help is to keep our campus safe and open. In that short time frame, however, we have had reports of several troubling events including parties, on-campus and off, where appropriate social distancing was not kept, and face coverings were not worn. To the vast majority of our students who are complying with the Healthy Vandal Pledge, thank you. To the few who have not, your continued behavior will put our entire community at risk. Your behavior diminishes the hard work conducted all summer to prepare for your arrival. Faculty and staff have invested thousands of hours into making opening our campus possible, and your actions endanger the ability of your peers to get the live instruction they are working hard to secure.
Several campuses have already closed after experiencing superspreader infections from large gatherings, including North Carolina State University and Notre Dame. Many others have begun suspending students, including St. Olaf College (17 students), Syracuse University (23 students), Virginia Tech (seven students), Purdue University (36 students) and Radford University (three students). Frankly, if you are not willing to support our university and those who want an in-person instruction environment, you should not be here, and we will take the necessary steps to remove you from our community.
Our Dean of Students Office and the Moscow Police Department are following up on these off-campus parties. We will place students into our disciplinary process who flagrantly violate city ordinances and institutional policy which, if found responsible, could lead to suspension or expulsion. Where we identify a fraternity or sorority chapter engaging in similar conduct, we will hold these organizations accountable through the Fraternity and Sorority Life disciplinary processes that could lead to relocating first-year students out of the house or even closure of the chapter.
We promise those thousands of students who want to be here: we will fight hard to keep our campus open. We need your help by keeping the Healthy Vandal Pledge and helping us identify and separate those who do not.
We have only one chance to get this right. Please keep that in mind this weekend and as you continue through the semester. Students, we have your back... now it’s time to do your part.
Scott Green
President
president@uidaho.edu
uidaho.edu/president
Torrey Lawrence
Interim Provost and Executive Vice President
provost@uidaho.edu
uidaho.edu/provost
Blaine Eckles
Vice Provost for Student Affairs and Dean of Students