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Bentley University campus

Campus Operations after Thanksgiving

Dear Faculty and Staff,

As you know, the on-campus student experience for fall 2020 is set to end when Thanksgiving break begins. Students currently living in residence halls will move out by the end of the day on Tuesday, November 24, and the university will transition to fully remote learning through the end of the year.

In August, as part of our effort to de-densify campus for the health and safety of members of our community, we offered faculty the option to either teach in campus classrooms or remotely and provided workplace flexibility to our staff. At the same time, each division was asked to identify the front-line, student-service personnel whose jobs required them to be on campus this fall. Those teaching and working on campus were required to be part of the screening test protocol. Now that our residential student population is leaving campus, we ask each division to reevaluate needs through the end of the year and appropriately scale back the number of on-campus personnel, as part of a term-end “ease-out” period.

The Cabinet recognizes that some faculty and staff will need to remain on campus to teach or manage important areas of campus operations, and those with approval from their vice president will be allowed to do so. Faculty opting to teach on campus through the end of the fall term should confirm their intention with the deans, who will coordinate with the provost. Vice presidents will coordinate divisional needs and approve of necessary on-campus staff by the end of this week. 

Not all faculty and staff who remain on campus will participate in a continued screening test protocol after Thanksgiving. Testing will be limited to employees in specific, front-line positions that continue to interface with the limited number of students and other employees who will remain on campus. New details about post-Thanksgiving testing will be shared by Geoff Bartlett, director of emergency management, within the next week and eligibility for testing will be confirmed by your vice president. All campus health and safety policies, including wearing face coverings and obeying occupancy limits, will continue to be enforced.

Together, we’ve been able to accomplish a great deal this fall. I know that much has been asked of you and that this is a mentally taxing time.

Thank you, and I look forward to sharing more in the coming weeks.

Sincerely,

Paul Condrin
Interim President and Chair of the Board