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Brown University
PLAN FOR A HEALTHY AND SAFE 2020-21
July 7, 2020
Brown University bases all decisions regarding public health on the best available science and follows at all times guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH). Our plans, policies and guidance to Brown community members will adapt and be updated as guidance from those agencies evolves with our understanding of COVID-19.
I. INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
Over the past several months, Brown University — under the leadership of President Christina H. Paxson and Provost Richard M. Locke — has been simultaneously responding to and managing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the extended Brown community and planning for the healthy and safe resumption of academic activities and operations. This document focuses primarily on plans for the upcoming 2020-21 academic year, although it also reviews ongoing planning and implementation of essential work and research taking place on campus during Summer 2020.
In planning for the fall term and beyond, President Paxson established the following guiding principles:
• We are committed to protecting the health of our students and employees.
• We are committed to developing plans with the goal of maintaining the financial well-being of students and
employees, especially those who experience the greatest impact.
• We are committed to protecting Brown’s mission of education and research, including focusing resources on Brown’s
highest priorities.
• We are committed to protecting the long-term financial health of the University.
• We are committed to transparency.
In order to ensure that thoughtful and comprehensive planning took place in a manner consistent with these principles, President Paxson formed and charged the following COVID-19 planning groups in April 2020:
Healthy Fall 2020 Task Force
Charged with developing an effective public health plan for Brown University that will, if conditions permit, make it possible for the University to reopen its campus in Fall 2020 with the confidence that the health of its students and employees will be protected.
Academic Continuity Group
Charged with developing plans for reopening research laboratories and libraries, and implementing changes in the academic calendar, curriculum and modes of teaching that will enable Brown to continue to provide a high-quality academic experience for all students.
Personnel Group
Charged with developing plans to safely bring employees back to campus and making decisions about a range of issues affecting support for Brown staff during the pandemic.
Finance and Strategy Group
Charged with assessing the financial impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, and developing strategies to maintain Brown’s short-term and long-term financial stability.
The plans presented in this document represent the work of the faculty, students and staff on these groups and many others, all committed to ensuring that Brown operates in a healthy and safe manner throughout the 2020-21 academic year.
II. ACADEMIC PLANS FOR A HEALTHY AND SAFE 2020-21
Central to the University’s mission are teaching and research, and planning has been underway for months regarding how to continue to conduct these activities in a healthy and safe manner for the 2020-21 academic year. The mode of how we will deliver the educational experience at Brown next year will look different than in past years, and it will be based on the best expert advice for safeguarding the health of our community and maintaining Brown’s high standards of teaching and learning.
Initial planning by the working groups was based around three primary scenarios for the coming academic year:
1. A scenario in which Brown follows its normal academic calendar, welcoming all students back to campus in the fall.
2. A scenario in which the University offers three terms of instruction and arranges for undergraduate students to be on campus for two of these terms, thus providing an environment with fewer students on campus at any one time.
3. A scenario in which health conditions are such that the fall semester has to be conducted remotely, with a decision about the spring to be made in the middle of the fall semester.
The planning groups also recognized that there could be various modifications under any on-campus scenario — reduction in class sizes, hybrid online and in-person learning with live-streamed lectures and smaller group discussion sessions, etc. — depending on containment of the coronavirus. And even for an on-campus scenario, Brown planned from the start to deliver education remotely for students unable to return to campus because of travel restrictions or health conditions.
After significant consideration — of the recommendations from all planning groups, the current status of the COVID-19 public health emergency, and the most recent guidance from the CDC and RIDOH — the University has decided to implement the second scenario for the upcoming year:
For the 2020-21 academic year at Brown, the University will offer three terms of instruction, arranging for undergraduate students to be on campus for two of these three terms, providing an environment with fewer students on campus at any one time.
Three-Term Calendar
Key to the selected scenario is operating the University on a three-term academic year calendar, rather than Brown’s typical two-semester approach. Three terms will allow the University to distribute the undergraduate population in a manner that results in far fewer students, and less density, on campus during each term.
As shown in the following table, juniors and seniors will attend during the fall and spring terms, and first-year students will attend during the spring and summer terms. Sophomores will attend fall-spring but could be shifted in full or in part to fall-summer if public health conditions worsen over the course of the fall:
First-Year Sophomore Junior Senior
Fall X X X
Spring X X* X X
Summer X X*
*Sophomores may be fall/spring or fall/summer.
The University’s total undergraduate enrollment is about 6,800 students, and we are assuming that approximately 10% will be unable to be in residence due to visa restrictions and other factors. The result of distributing the academic calendar across three terms is approximately 4,600 undergraduate students on campus in the fall term, which will enable the University to open safely in a manner consistent with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH), as well as the plans detailed in this document.
In the three-term calendar, each term will be slightly compressed at 14 weeks rather than the usual 15. The start of classes each term will be preceded by a “quiet period,” during which students will be expected mostly to self-quarantine within their residences. Each term will include two or three long weekends. However, longer breaks such as fall and spring recess will be eliminated due to calendar constraints and to avoid out-of-state travel. Reading period — the period following the end of classes and prior to final exams that is devoted to study — and final exams will be offered remotely. And in the fall term, students who leave campus for Thanksgiving will not be permitted to return to campus.
The complete academic calendar for Brown’s 2020-21 academic year is included on the University website, with the major dates summarized as follows:
• Fall term classes will begin Sept. 9, 2020. After Thanksgiving break (which will begin at noon on Nov. 25), there will be a weeklong remote reading period from Nov. 30 to Dec. 4, followed by a remote final exam period from Dec. 7-11.
• Spring term classes will begin Jan. 20, 2021. Remote reading period will begin April 12 and will be followed by remote final exams April 19-23.
• Summer term classes will begin May 12, 2021. Remote reading period will begin Aug. 2 and will be followed by remote final exams Aug. 9-13.
Eligible students may opt to complete one or both of their terms remotely, and during “off” terms, students will not be enrolled at Brown and can pursue internships, research programs or other academic/professional development opportunities. Even during the semesters when they are not enrolled, returning students will continue to be covered by the University’s Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) or their family coverage if they waived SHIP.
Delivery of Instruction
The 2020-21 three-semester model will require transitioning the majority of Brown courses to online/remote/hybrid instruction to ensure health and safety for all members of the community. Faculty will teach their usual course load and will be in residence for two terms (though in rare cases they might choose to spread their teaching across all three). No faculty
members will be required to teach in person unless they voluntarily choose to do so, and students can also voluntarily decide to enroll in classes entirely remotely.
All academic departments are currently planning their curriculum and course offerings to accommodate the three-term calendar. This planning is guided by the following assumptions:
• Courses with more than 20 students will be offered remotely.
• Most gateway/prerequisite courses will be offered in more than one term to ensure that students can meet concentration and graduation requirements. These courses can be offered online asynchronously and augmented with in-person recitation/lab sessions.
• Departments will consider course sequencing to ensure availability of graduation and concentration requirements.
• Departments will prioritize fulfilling concentration requirements, including capstones.
• Departments will ensure the availability of service courses and courses that support interdepartmental concentrations.
• Departments will consider courses that are required for external requirements (e.g., accreditation, pre-med preparation).
• Departments will plan to schedule first-year courses in the spring and summer terms.
• Departments will develop opportunities (i.e., independent study) for other classes on campus during summer term.
• Departments will schedule first-year seminars during all three terms in order to make them available online in the fall, prior to first-year students’ arrival on campus, as well as in the spring and summer, when students will be in residence.
• Departments will offer essential courses for doctoral students in fall and spring to preserve summer for fieldwork/ research.
As noted in the assumptions above, all courses with enrollments of more than 20 students will be offered virtually through delivery mechanisms such as Zoom and Panopto. Doing so for these, as well as for courses with smaller enrollments, will allow students who cannot come to Providence due to visa restrictions or personal choice to enroll online, and will provide faculty who may wish to teach remotely the ability to do so. In addition, it will enable the University to adapt more quickly to changes in public health circumstances, such as short-term stay-at-home orders that might be issued by the state of Rhode Island.
In order to retain interpersonal connections, which are the hallmark of a Brown education, faculty, instructors and teaching assistants will conduct small group sessions in person whenever possible or, in some cases, through a hybrid model of virtual and in-person methods of delivery. A digital teaching and learning subcommittee established by Provost Locke is working with all faculty to determine the best methods for remote instruction.
The provost and deans remain in the process of assessing the class schedule and meeting patterns for the coming academic year to most effectively support these necessary methods of instruction delivery.
Academic Planning — Health and Safety
For academic year 2020-21, all students will be given the option to take courses remotely, whether they are on campus or not. Additionally, all faculty will be given the option of instructing in person or remotely, whether or not they are on campus. The limit on in-person class sizes to 20 or fewer students will enable safe distancing of students and instructors within classrooms, and we have developed plans for every classroom space that allow for 6-foot or greater separation between individuals.
In addition, exiting students and instructors will be asked to wipe down physical property (desks, chairs, lecterns, etc.) between class sessions. Incoming students and teachers will be instructed to repeat the wipe-down of physical property before the start of a class. Students and faculty will have 10 minutes between courses to pass through corridors safely and exit/enter buildings. Signage throughout physical spaces will instruct individuals to practice safety while moving through a building and to avoid congregating in large groups and loitering. Effort will be made to stagger classroom use to avoid large congregations of individuals in a building between class periods. All students (as well as faculty and staff) will be given three reusable face masks that they must wear at all times on campus when they cannot continuously maintain social distancing, including in the classroom.
Graduate and Medical Education
Graduate students (doctoral and master’s) will enroll primarily in the fall and spring terms, although we anticipate that significant numbers of new international students may need to defer arrival due to expected delays in visa processing. Most of the essential graduate courses will be delivered in fall or spring. In most programs, summer is traditionally used for fieldwork, full-time lab research or internships. Graduate students who are unable to come to campus in September will be given the option to defer either for one term (with or without an online start in the fall) or for one year, or to begin the program online and join on-campus part way through the fall term. In all other respects, graduate instruction will be similar to the plans described for the undergraduate program above.
Medical education is substantively different from undergraduate and graduate programs in many respects, including the fact that third- and fourth-year instruction takes place almost entirely in Brown’s affiliated hospitals and is subject to the plans and policies of those institutions. The Warren Alpert Medical School (AMS) has adopted the following guiding principles for delivering the medical curriculum in the coming year:
1. Continue to deliver an innovative, evidence-based curriculum that creates an optimal educational experience for all medical students.
2. Use a variety of pedagogical methodologies including, but not limited to, lecture, small groups and clinical experiences.
3. Adhere to best practice guidelines from the CDC and RIDOH in regard to physical distancing and other safety precautions.
In order to do so for first-year medical students (beginning on Aug. 3, 2020), AMS will:
1. Conduct all large group lectures virtually through delivery mechanisms such as Zoom, Panopto and Brainshark. (Note: As the first year, first term typically progresses, up to 50% or more of students watch recorded lectures rather than attend lectures in person.)
2. Conduct small groups in person or, in some cases, through a hybrid model of virtual and in-person methods of delivery.
3. Continue with the clinical skills component of the first year in person, using social distancing guidelines to ensure safety of students, faculty and standardized patients (for example, reducing the number of students in clinical skills suite rooms by 50%).
4. Continue students working with mentors in the clinical setting for a half day per week (with appropriate personal protective equipment provided).
5. Conduct anatomy laboratory sessions using a mix of prosections and mobile applications.
6. Administer examinations either: (1) remotely using Zoom or artificial intelligence applications; or (2) in person, adhering to guidelines from CDC/RIDOH on appropriate physical distancing.
For second-year medical students (beginning on Aug. 5, 2020), AMS will:
1. Conduct all large group lectures virtually through delivery mechanisms such as Zoom, Panopto and Brainshark. (Note: In the second year, many students typically watch recorded lectures rather than attend lectures in person).
2. Conduct small groups in person or, in some cases, through a hybrid model of virtual and in person.
3. Continue with the clinical skills component of the first year in person, using social distancing guidelines to ensure safety of students, faculty and standardized patients (for example, reducing the number of students in clinical skills suite rooms by 50%).
4. Continue students working with mentors in the clinical setting for a half day per week (with appropriate personal protective equipment provided).
5. Administer examinations either: (1) Remotely using Zoom or artificial intelligence applications; or (2) in person, adhering to guidelines from CDC/RIDOH on appropriate physical distancing.
For third- and fourth-year medical students (first term began on May 26, 2020), AMS has done the following:
1. Appropriate personal protective equipment has been provided for all students at the same level as other health care providers in the setting in which students are working for all clinical rotations that began on May 26, 2020.
2. Any didactic sessions for students (typically groups of 12 or less) are conducted either in person (usually at hospital sites) or virtually (if a larger group).
3. Written (multiple-choice) examinations are proctored remotely via Zoom.
4. Objective Structured Clinical Examinations are administered in AMS’s clinical skills suites with appropriate precautions (a 1:1 ratio of students to standardized patients, with each individual wearing masks).
III CAMPUS PLANS FOR A HEALTHY AND SAFE 2020-21
Brown has a highly complex residential campus, where the educational and social experience of students, and related activities, often take place outside the classroom. As noted in the introduction, President Paxson charged the Healthy Fall 2020 Task Force – composed of students, faculty and staff – with responsibility for developing an effective public health plan for Brown that will make it possible for the University to reopen its campus in the fall with the confidence that the health of students and employees will be protected to the best extent practicable. Task force recommendations were made based on the guidance of medical experts and public health protocols for managing infectious diseases of pandemic proportions, and also in collaboration with the Rhode Island School of Design, given our overlapping student populations and close physical proximity. The plans presented in this section reflect the recommendations of the task force.
Education and Prevention
Essential to the healthy and safe daily life of any community, and especially to a campus community with thousands of undergraduate students, is the presence of a robust and effective prevention and public health education campaign. This campaign, largely directed toward students but of relevance to all members of our community, will include basics, such as the need for handwashing and wearing masks, and also broader issues such as the importance of undergoing testing as requested, social distancing and assisting with facility cleaning. The public health campaign will be critical to all of our efforts and activities, and especially with regard to student social functions and other activities that take place with less supervision than classroom or laboratory activities, such as off-campus parties and other gatherings where we will need to rely on students’ understanding and acceptance of public health guidance. Specifically, the University plans to:
• Prior to the beginning of the fall term, develop and launch a major public health campaign involving everyone in the community, especially students.
• Provide targeted, ongoing education and training on expectations for different groups, individual and collective responsibilities, rationale, best thinking and practices, connection to resources, etc.
• Undertake a sustained and long-term social marketing and education campaign that evolves in tandem with the course of the pandemic. This campaign will have central messages that are tailored to different audiences, including students, staff, faculty, alumni and parents. There will be a specific focus on messaging to at-risk populations. This will
include in-person messaging and print materials, digital and social media, emails, etc. This effort will be coordinated by Brown’s internal marketing and communications team, and social media buys and print materials will be purchased with external vendors.
• Create a broad-based community mobilization effort that is coordinated with the communications campaign. This effort will be designed to encourage individual responsibility and actions in an effort to promote health, both on campus and in the surrounding community.
• Mandate required training for everyone prior to their return to campus, and continue the campaign once campus is reopened. This training will be succinct (less than 5 minutes in video format) and cover the general expectations and new rules, with more specifics to come as constituencies return to campus. These guidelines will be continuously reinforced throughout the term in a variety of ways (emails, faculty announcements in class, posters, etc.).
• A steering group will be tasked with staying up to date on new regulations, recommendations, restrictions and guidance. All information pertaining to different populations is expected to be centralized in one place so that everyone can refer to it.
Associate Professor Amy Nunn of the School of Public Health and Tanya Purdy, director of BWell Health Promotion, will lead the implementation effort in coordination with the Office of University Communications. Students will be involved as interns (through the President’s Office), peer health educators (more than 100 in Health Promotion), collaborators with Residential Peer Leaders (RPLs) and Orientation student leaders, as well as through outreach to the various student government bodies.
Testing, Contact Tracing and Modeling
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has stated that “the COVID-19 pandemic meets the direct threat standard” of a substantial risk of harm if present in the workplace. Accordingly, critical to maintaining a healthy and safe community during a pandemic is identifying and stopping the community spread of virus at the earliest possible stages.
The University has already implemented a COVID-19 Workplace Safety Policy (described later in this document), which establishes a variety of policies to mitigate the risks, including mandating the wearing of face masks unless an exception applies, and prescribing protocols for Brown community members to follow when they feel sick, have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, or been exposed to someone with COVID-19. In support of this policy, Brown will implement a coordinated testing and contact tracing program this summer and fall with the goal to prevent community spread. The program includes the following elements:
• Brown has contracted with a third-party vendor to perform routine testing, starting with a pilot this summer for all essential on-site faculty, staff and graduate students. The summer pilot is mandatory and includes baseline testing of all of these individuals and then follow-up random sample testing. We anticipate learning a great deal from this summer pilot, which will in turn inform specific testing plans for the fall. We intend in the fall to test all students on re-entry to Brown, as well as continue periodic routine testing. This will allow a better understanding of the initial incidence of COVID-19 in the population and how it changes over the year, as well as identify the proportion of asymptomatic positives and the proportion with potential immunity to the disease over time. This testing will use the least invasive and reliable means possible to reduce the burden on the student population.
• Brown will perform testing of symptomatic students at University Health Services (UHS) using nasopharyngeal swabs, as it has been doing, and samples will continue to be sent to Lifespan labs for processing. UHS staff will require standard clinical personal protective equipment to perform the tests. An alternate testing site will be identified on campus for UHS to perform tests during the day in order to avoid congestion of symptomatic students at UHS facilities where students are coming for other unrelated issues.
• Brown has identified staff in UHS and University Human Resources who are responsible for assisting with contact tracing of students, faculty and staff who test positive for SARS-CoV-2. All of these individuals are completing the “COVID-19 Contact Tracing” training program provided by Johns Hopkins University through Coursera. They will use an established protocol (see Appendix A) to follow up on all positive SARS-CoV-2 tests in students, faculty and staff, identifying potential Brown community contacts using available digital applications and through virtual interviews of those with positive SARS-CoV-2 swabs. It is intended that these contact tracers will work in coordination with RIDOH’s own contact tracing efforts. Numbers of trained contact tracers will be adjusted throughout the year based on demand, but we anticipate about six full-time contact tracers will be sufficient for our student population and two for our employee population.
Informing these plans are initial epidemiological models developed for our expected campus residence hall population in the fall term, which predict a maximum of five newly infected students detected on any given day, though we anticipate that would translate into a maximum of 50 (symptomatic) tests being run on any given day. We also are planning for a maximum of 30 infected students requiring isolation at any given time. Assuming three to five contacts per infected student requiring quarantine, we are preparing for approximately 180 quarantine/isolation rooms for students. (Note that the numbers needed are likely to be far less for most of the term.) Students who live in private off-campus apartments will also be treated, tested and contact traced through UHS but will be able to isolate in their apartments.
Given that testing methods and evidence regarding their efficacy is rapidly developing, the University will closely monitor these developments and will take advantage of whatever is the latest and most reliable testing strategy available.
Dining
Planning with regard to Brown Dining Services has included attention to both how to feed students in a safe and sustainable manner, including students in isolation or quarantine, and how to protect the health and safety of dining workers in the workplace. Dining Services priority operations now and in the fall will be oriented toward providing food to students, and overall dining facilities will be limited and operating on a takeout and pickup basis only. Dining options for faculty and staff on campus will be limited to self-serve vending machines in fixed locations, which will be sanitized multiple times daily, and pickup/delivery via the Brown Faculty Club or Blue Room campus dining facilities. We have advised faculty and staff
to anticipate limited food options on campus and to plan to bring their own lunch or other meals/snacks from home (nonrefrigerated or in a personal cooler).
With regard to student dining services and support, our plans include the following:
• We will continue to be grab-and-go only in the fall.
• We will open the four largest dining hall units for food pickup — Sharpe Refectory, Josiah’s, Andrews Commons and Verney-Woolley — and assign students to specific units and times to manage lines and reduce density among customers.
• We are exploring transitioning existing food cart operations to a vending program.
• We will offer a more limited number of meal plans for fall term with double the standard amount of flex points in each plan (to be used at eateries and vending).
• We will continue a robust and aggressive health and safety plan based on our Spring 2020 experience, including social distancing among staff, mandatory face coverings and intense cleaning.
• We plan to expand socially distanced in-person dining options as health and safety circumstances and state guidance permit.
Housing
The three-term academic calendar provides many benefits to reduced density on campus, including with regard to residence halls. The University has developed plans for a variety of housing models, including both generally and specifically for isolation and quarantine needs. Overall, our approach to housing is guided by the general principle of reducing density, allowing for largely single-occupancy of rooms in the fall term, and limiting and assigning the number of students using common restroom facilities. We anticipate utilizing approximately half of our available residential capacity — as it pertains to the number of beds on campus — in the fall term. In addition to the benefits of reduced density to limit the transmission of virus, these plans limit the number of students who are living in proximity to each other by establishing smaller, identifiable “pods” to reduce the number of students who need to be quarantined when an infection is positively identified. While the final plans for housing
will be determined and communicated over the course of the summer, we anticipate the following:
• De-densified housing based on single-room occupancy in the fall term and types of bathrooms for appropriate ratios of students to bathroom facilities to reduce density of use.
• Allocation of an adequate number of beds for isolation and quarantine based on modeling described above under the Testing, Contact Tracing and Modeling section.
• Potentially identifying additional beds in either apartment buildings or hotels as needed.
• Enhanced cleaning by University custodial staff of all bathrooms (from our standard once a day to twice a day).
• Allowing limited use of common spaces with clear signage on occupancy, social distancing requirements and enhanced cleaning.
Cleaning
Critical to all campus facilities, and in particular dining and residence halls, will be intensified levels of cleaning by University custodial staff. The Department of Facilities Management has developed, with the assistance of external consultants, a detailed plan for extra custodial support that underlies both our academic operations and overall campus plans. An overview of the Healthy Fall Reopening 2020 Plan for Brown University Buildings is included with this report as Appendix B. The plan will:
• Follow current CDC and Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidance and align cleaning frequency.
• Adjust cleaning and disinfecting needs based on type of occupancy, intensity of use and hours of operation, resulting in increased routine cleaning and disinfection.
• Deploy touchless devices: soap and sanitizer dispensers, paper towels, faucets, door access, etc.
• Continuously monitor and determine additional staffing needs (internal and external) based on enhancements, and realign existing staff to the shift that will provide the most effective service.
• Use products that meet Environmental Protection Agency disinfection criteria.
• Encourage students, faculty and staff to keep their personal items (e.g., cell phones, laptops and other electronics) and personal work and living spaces clean.
• Encourage students, faculty and staff to use disinfectant wipes to wipe down shared desks, lab equipment and other objects and surfaces before use.
• Ensure there is adequate ventilation when using cleaning products.
• Clean and disinfect all high-touch surfaces listed below on a regular and documented schedule, performed Monday through Friday twice a day and daily on weekends:
Chair handles and backs, Podiums, Toilet and urinal flushometers, Trash receptacle tops and handles, Paper towel and toilet tissue dispensers, Sink faucets and handles, Table tops, Mailboxes, Tablet arms and bracelets, Kiosk bottoms, Light Switches, Stair rails, Elevator buttons outside and insind elevator cabs, Toaster oven fronts and handles, Water fountains and hydration stations, Vending machine buttons, Microwave front button and handles, Refrigerator handles and dors
A daily cleaning and disinfecting supervisor checklist has been developed to enable Facilities managers and supervisors to check off assignments as they are completed, and this will also serve as a record of the date and time of inspection. All data will be compiled and reviewable by senior management via dashboards and reports, and the resulting documentation will comply with RIDOH standards and guidance.
When an occupant of a Brown University building is suspected or has been confirmed as a positive case of COVID-19, the Facilities Management team will follow a predefined plan and procedure in response. A building-specific online questionnaire has been developed to gather all needed information and determine what areas must be cleaned or disinfected. Brown’s
Environmental Health and Safety office will assist in making a determination on what portions of the building should be evacuated and/or occupants temporarily relocated, as well as perform specialty cleaning in coordination with a third-party services provider that may be required for laboratory spaces. This work will follow CDC guidelines and recommendations for wait times, cleaning and disinfecting procedures.
The University has also taken steps to increase air exchanges and fresh air ventilation in buildings, and will be flushing domestic water lines on a regular basis:
• The majority of Brown’s research and laboratory spaces operate with 100% outside air supply, with air exchange rates that meet or exceed American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers standards relative to COVID-19 guidance. For these buildings, Facilities Management will continue to perform regular preventive maintenance and evaluate filtration requirements to reduce airborne transmission and inspect filters to ensure they are within service life and appropriately installed. Where applicable, demand-controlled ventilation (DCV) has been disabled and outdoor air ventilation minimum settings have been increased, resulting in greater levels of fresh
outdoor air introduced. The University has also improved central air filtration.
• The University’s academic, administrative and classroom spaces operate with a variety of mixed air ventilation systems. Most of these systems are intended to provide comfort control only. In these areas Facilities Management will perform regular preventive maintenance and evaluate filtration requirements to reduce airborne transmission and inspect filters to ensure they are within service life and appropriately installed. In addition, run times for air handling systems (where available) have been increased to enhance air filtration and DCV has also been disabled, where applicable, in these buildings.
• The University is taking the following steps to reduce the risk of illness being transmitted through the water system: (1) regular flushing of domestic water lines to sinks, toilets, showers, traps and seals; (2) flushing or, where required by RIDOH, closing drinking water fountains and hydration stations; and (3) continuing with Brown’s water treatment program for mechanical systems.
Move-in Planning
As a residential campus, the move-in period at the beginning of the fall term is a logistical and organizational priority in any year. In the context of COVID-19, the necessity of precise organization and maintaining social distancing is paramount. Our plans include the following to adjust a crowded process into one that allows for social distancing:
• Minimize interactions and allow for social distancing — modeled on the consolidation of students who remained on campus in early April.
• Stagger the move-in schedule by geography and residence hall, staged over several days.
• Provide detailed signage for drop-off and check-in instructions and explore the possibility of using professional movers to assist students and families.
• Allow students to ship some belongings pre and post move-in to make move-in day more efficient.
• Limit the amount of belongings students can bring with them and/or limit the number of people who may accompany the student to campus.
Orientation
Closely related to move-in is the orientation of new students. Because first-year students will come to campus for the spring and summer terms, the on-campus orientation of entering students will take place in January 2021. The University will also:
• Provide more programming before students arrive than in a typical year, using student orientation leaders and Residential Peer Leaders to deliver remote, virtual programming and unit-based community building prior to arrival.
• Take advantage of the quiet period after students arrive to conduct remote, virtual programming.
• Hire 100 student orientation leaders to facilitate remote, virtual orientation in small groups.
• Extend programming into the term.
• Explore opportunities for some small group in-person opportunities post-arrival.
Extracurricular Events
Students live full lives at Brown, engaging in a robust offering of events, organizations, clubs and activities outside of the classroom. For the most part, guidance and policy in this area will mirror that for academic classes, such as reduced capacity of spaces, social distancing, hand washing, mask-wearing and other public health best practices. Given the range of extracurricular activities at Brown and the leadership role students play in planning and carrying out events, the following principles and recommendations will be implemented:
• Student leaders, with oversight and guidance from the Student Activities Office, will plan and manage extracurricular activities and programs in a manner consistent with University and state public health guidance and restrictions, such as maximum crowd size, face coverings and other social distancing requirements.
• We will communicate regularly to student leaders who will need to monitor those communications as they plan events, given that public health guidance and social distancing requirements may change frequently.
• The University will prepare for the likelihood that at least for the fall term, in-person events will be limited and small, and travel to and from the campus will not be possible. Non-essential visitors will be discouraged from coming to campus. Student leaders and the offices that advise them should plan for the fall with that assumption.
• We will conduct a summer survey of student leaders and organizations with basic information about the anticipated guidelines and social distancing requirements and ask for their feedback and input about how they will plan events and programs; challenges and opportunities they foresee; and support they will need to be successful.
• We will identify spaces available for extracurricular activities and programs (following the reservation of spaces needed for academics, given the need to locate classes in larger rooms than normal) with information about their capacity and other characteristics readily available to student leaders and organizations. This may include outdoor spaces if possible, including potentially unused athletic spaces.
• If intercollegiate athletics are cancelled, the importance of those teams and games to both individual students and the community as a whole will be acknowledged, and efforts will be made to realize the community-building benefits of intercollegiate athletics, even if their activities are limited by the NCAA and/or the Ivy League.
High-risk Populations
Our planning has especially taken into account (1) student populations that are most susceptible to challenges associated with engaging with the University in person; and (2) guiding principles for policy development and planning for the fall to center support for these student populations. Based on CDC guidance regarding persons who need to take extra precautions based on their risk for severe illness as a result of COVID-19, we recognized the dynamic nature of the student populations at Brown and the University’s commitment to providing members of our community with the opportunities and resources needed for
success. Our planning in this regard includes the following considerations:
• Medical (e.g., students with pre-existing health conditions, students with varying abilities, etc.)
• Geographic (e.g., students from areas with higher rates of infection and international students)
• Financial (e.g., students from low-income families, those facing food insecurity, etc.)
• Identity-based (e.g., undocumented students, LGBTQ students, those with especially challenging home situations, etc.)
We have defined three time periods where support for students will be critical: preparing students to return to campus (in person or through remote learning); supporting students once the term has begun; and supporting students’ transition to leave campus at the conclusion of the term.
Preparing Students to Return to Campus (In Person or Through Remote Learning)
• We will develop a process for students to identify resources and support as a member of one or more of thepopulations listed above.
• We will create resources for Campus Life staff (student support deans, student centers, etc.) in partnership with academic deans (College, Graduate School, Medical School) to guide their discussions with students.
• We will tailor communications for each population listed above, ensure that information is consistent across all University offices and centers, and share information broadly to ensure it is easily accessible.
Supporting Students Throughout the Academic Year
• We will maintain consistent communication as circumstances shift and available resources change for each of these populations.
Supporting Students’ Transition from Campus
• We will develop plans to support students who may be returning to challenging home environments.
• We will maintain consistent communication as circumstances shift and available resources change for each of these populations.
Equity and Diversity/Student Support
Brown’s planning efforts have included an examination of (1) issues of equity and inclusion associated with re-engaging in person; (2) guiding principles that should center equity and inclusion in all critical recommendations made by the Healthy Fall 2020 Task Force; and (3) initiatives to expand knowledge of the disparate impact of COVID-19 and tools to support
individuals who are experiencing the secondary and tertiary effects of the pandemic. Recommendations we plan to implement in this area include the following considerations and principles:
• It is imperative to consider diversity, equity and inclusion in all policies, plans and communications. We acknowledge and will plan to address the effects of the disparate impact of COVID-19 on different communities.
• Populations most greatly impacted may have unique situations that will require additional support structures. Some examples include the following: Students will need mechanisms to request and receive support if family members are impacted by COVID-19 (e.g., experiencing stress due to family deaths or widespread illness at home) and related impacts of the pandemic (e.g., increase in domestic violence, unemployment). Faculty will need to understand the potential for increased trauma as a result of the pandemic on particular communities and know how to provide support when this trauma impacts academic performance and teaching assistant responsibilities for graduate and medical students. Even with the resumption of in-person classes, continued remote teaching should take into consideration the varying home-life situations that students face and ensure accommodating those realities (e.g., some students may be in situations where keeping a camera turned off during a Zoom lecture is an important element of managing their home life).
• Bias reporting mechanisms will need to be even more broadly advertised to support communities who may experience an increase in bias incidents (e.g., people of Asian descent who have been experiencing an increase in bias, people who are from communities that are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, etc.).
• There is a need to develop resources for educating the greater community about historical and systemic racism that created the context for the disparate impact of COVID-19. Some examples of focus areas include: history of racism in medicine, ethics, income/wealth, work, and psychology/mental health; social determinants of health; data on the impact of COVID-19 in the U.S. by race; and how these factors may contribute/manifest in our students’ feelings around their own personal treatment on campus, i.e., value/worth.
• It will be important to create continued opportunities for African American, Latinx, Native American and Asian communities to develop a sense of solidarity and allyship.
• We should leverage the Campus Life student centers to maintain community for returning students and build a sense of community for new students (graduate and undergraduate).
• There is a need to recognize concerns raised regarding underrepresented staff populations, acknowledging that underrepresented staff bring an expanded dimension of community on campus and offer unique support to underrepresented students.
• We should create alternatives if holiday recesses are not viable (especially for collective communities that thrive from connecting with their home communities).
• It must be a priority to continue to provide remote student support services (e.g., Counseling and Psychological Services, academic counseling, programming) for students who do not return to campus.
• We should create a cohesive communication strategy to clarify plans for students and provide more constant communication that addresses all facets of the community (students, faculty and staff).
• It will be imperative to maintain a fund for students who have unanticipated short- and long-term financial challenges as a result of COVID-19.
Personal Protective Equipment and Supplies
The University maintains an active inventory of personal protective equipment (PPE) and supplies for a wide range of activities and functions. In light of COVID-19, in advance of the fall term Brown will purchase the following additional universal supplies for distribution to all its students, faculty and staff (with the exception of hospital-based faculty and students who have different infection prevention needs):
• cloth face masks: three face masks per individual, with a maximum estimated population of 16,000 individuals;
• hand sanitizer: two (4 oz) tubes per individual, per term while on campus; and
• sanitizing wipes: one container per individual, per term.
Additional PPE is being procured for specialized needs, such as daily use by University Health Services personnel for clinical care, daily COVID-19 testing on campus, and use by Brown Emergency Medical Services for transport of potentially infectious patients. These supplies include:
• surgical and N95 face masks;
• face shields;
• gowns (either disposable or reusable); and
• non-sterile gloves.
We will ensure an adequate supply of the following PPE for the following groups of staff with specific infection prevention needs:
• Dining Services: face masks, gloves (when needed) and disinfectant wipes;
• Facilities Management: face masks, gloves (when needed) and disinfectant wipes; and
• Environmental Health and Safety: face masks and gloves (when needed).
The specific PPE needs will vary based on the specific assignments of each staff member, and in general are not expected to be significantly different from current operations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We have in place guidelines for outside contractors on the types of PPE that are required for them to work on campus. This will vary by job description and scope of work, but will generally be similar to the types of PPE that Brown is purchasing for its own staff for similar types of activities.
IV. WORKPLACE SAFETY POLICY AND RESEARCH OPERATIONS
Although nearly all students left campus in mid-March and the University has been operating in large part remotely since that time, essential functions have continued to be performed on campus on a daily basis. These operations include Public Safety, Dining Services, Residential Life, University Health Services, Facilities Management, Environmental Health and Safety,
and others. To ensure the work of these essential staff is conducted in a safe manner in accordance with RIDOH and CDC guidelines, the University established the COVID-19 Workplace Safety Policy. The policy will be updated as guidance and our knowledge of the virus change, and it applies to all faculty, students, staff, visitors and guests. The policy is an important component of the University’s overall plan as it demonstrates the principles, practices and detailed policies we are putting in place to ensure the health and safety of our community members.
Among other topics, the policy addresses the following important areas:
• Social distancing — critical to disrupting spread of infection.
• Face masks and coverings — required unless an individual is in a room alone such as a laboratory or private office, or for a documented personal health exception. Reusable face coverings will be provided to all approved on-campus personnel.
• Frequent hand washing and increased cleaning of facilities.
• Maintaining logs of daily contacts and self-monitoring for symptoms.
• Staying home and notifying University Human Resources directly when an individual experiences symptoms, tests positive or has been exposed to someone with COVID-19.
• Training that must be completed and an acknowledgement form signed to ensure all employees and students are aware of their role in implementing relevant procedures and protocols.
• Procedures for community members who test positive or have been exposed or have symptoms of COVID-19.
• Informational signage and posters to educate employees, students and visitors about how to protect themselves, posted in places where they are most likely to be seen, including in restrooms and building entrances.
• Expectation that all community members will engage in daily symptom monitoring and stay away from campus if they experience symptoms associated with COVID-19.
In June 2020, the University also began the process of gradually resuming research operations in laboratories and other campus facilities. With health and safety as our continued priority, we developed the Resuming Work in Research Facilities Principles and Procedures: Stage 1 protocol, to provide guidelines for resuming research in laboratories safely.
As additional on-campus operations resume in preparation for the fall semester, Brown expects that some employees who have been working remotely will return to campus locations. All departments that have been working remotely and demonstrate a compelling need to return to campus will be asked to submit for approval specific plans appropriate to their area and function, consistent with the University’s COVID-19 Workplace Safety Policy. And no member of the community will be able to return until they have completed and signed an employee acknowledgment that affirms their understanding and acceptance of the
policy.
Currently, the work arrangements limiting on-campus operations to essential personnel and those employees authorized to return through the approval process outlined in the COVID-19 Workplace Safety Policy extend through Aug. 14, 2020. Even so, to reduce the density of faculty and staff on campus, Brown anticipates that it will sustain into the fall semester
telecommuting arrangements for many employees who are able to work remotely. The University will notify all employees of specific changes or timeline extensions regarding telecommuting as decisions are made — until then, managers should continue to establish telecommuting work assignments with their employees on an ongoing basis, based on each department's operational needs.
V. OTHER PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS
This section addresses a few items of importance that are not detailed elsewhere in the document:
• Changes in State Guidance Regarding Crowd Sizes: Our planning generally is structured to follow CDC and RIDOH guidance, and we are accustomed to changing policies and practices as needed when that guidance changes. Our overall approach to gathering sizes in classrooms and events will align with what is allowed by the state, and we can readily adjust in either direction given that all of our classes will be available online. We do not anticipate
difficulties in managing our operations at the various levels of possible group sizes, including 10, 25, 50 and 100+.
• Travel Restrictions: University travel policy follows federal and state laws and guidance at all times and will continue to do so in the coming academic year. Brown’s detailed international travel policy guided our decisions in Spring 2020 regarding closing of certain study abroad programs when conditions in those countries warranted. All current travel
restrictions — international and domestic — are available on the University’s website and will be updated as guidance and circumstances require. We have planned for a “quiet period” at the beginning of each term, which will serve as a quarantine time for students and others traveling to Providence from domestic and international locations, and Brown will be conducting mandatory COVID-19 testing during this period.
• Limiting the Number of Contacts per Individual: In the fall term in particular, the reduced density of the student population on campus will necessarily reduce the number of potential individual contacts. Identified pods in the residence halls; limitations and public health restrictions governing social functions and events; moving large classes online; the public health education campaign; and other measures described in this plan will further contribute to limiting the number of contacts per individual.
• Plan for an Outbreak on Campus: If a cluster of individuals who are COVID-19 positive is identified on the Brown campus, we are prepared to take immediate, appropriate action in coordination with RIDOH. There are a number of measures incorporated in our overall strategy that will aid in this effort. The public health education campaign will raise awareness among our community regarding the importance of social distancing, face coverings, hand washing and self-monitoring for symptoms. Testing of symptomatic students in University Health Services and timely results of those tests will aid in the identification of virus on campus, isolation of students who are sick and quarantine of their contacts. Given that all of our courses will be available online, students in isolation or quarantine will be able to
continue with their academic work, making it easier for students to be out of contact with others. The routine testing program on campus will be critical to identifying incidences of COVID-19 across our community — including faculty and staff — and taking immediate action to reduce the chances of community spread. We feel confident that these measures, taken together, will enable the University to operate in a safe and healthy manner and avoid an
outbreak. If one were to occur, we would immediately isolate and quarantine affected individuals, close and clean involved facilities, and take any other corrective measures guided by RIDOH and the CDC.
• Flu Vaccine Clinics: The University operates highly effective flu vaccine clinics for faculty and staff each fall as well as making the vaccine readily available to students through University Health Services. The participation in both of these programs is high — last fall more than 1,100 employees (faculty and staff) received their flu shot through Brown. However, given the likelihood that regular flu season will compound the challenges of dealing with
COVID-19 this coming year, we will increase our education and outreach efforts to ensure that everyone who is able obtains a flu shot.
• COVID-19 Facilities Planning: Specific planning is currently underway for a variety of facilities on campus, including the on-campus testing site. Signage is being utilized in research buildings and will be posted in other buildings as they reopen, including classrooms, libraries, dining facilities, administrative office buildings and outdoor spaces.
APPENDIX A / TESTING AND CONTACT TRACING PROTOCOL
1. Identify students infected with confirmed COVID-19
a) Broad education regarding symptoms of disease, prevention, testing locations and hours, etc.
b) Availability of testing at no out-of-pocket cost to the student at a convenient location on campus for students with symptoms of COVID-19
c) Student isolated temporarily pending results of COVID-19 test. If negative, student should be given clear follow-up and return instructions as well as social distancing education.
d) If positive, student immediately isolated in temporary housing
i. Single room/bathroom housing required for students
ii. Education provided on precautions to take during self-isolation
2. Contact tracers will identify contacts of students with confirmed COVID-19, determine whether they are symptomatic or asymptomatic, and provide them with guidance
a) World Health Organization (WHO)/CDC/RIDOH guidance will be used to define contacts: anyone who interacted with the confirmed case during the 2 days before and 10 days after the onset of symptoms in one of the following ways:
i. Face-to-face contact within 3-6 feet for more than 15 minutes
ii. Direct physical contact
iii. Provided care without using proper personal protective equipment
b) Positive cases forwarded to contact tracers daily (or twice daily) who reach out virtually to confirmed case (phone, text, video chat, email, etc.)
c) Contact tracers ask confirmed case to develop list of everyone they can remember who fit the above criteria and enter into secure database.
d) Contact tracers prompt confirmed case with likely contacts such as roommate, significant other, close friends, study partners, etc.
e) If mobile contact tracing app available, data from app can be used to identify other potential contacts.
f) On-campus wireless node contact social maps may also be helpful to identify additional contacts (after screening data to ensure it meets the definition of contact above)
g) Contact tracers reach out electronically to all individuals listed as contacts in database within 24 hours of confirmed case.
i. Contacts are informed that they have been in contact with someone with COVID-19 and asked if they have had any symptoms of the disease since the date of their contact (name of individual is not provided, but date(s) of contact will be).
ii. If contact has had symptoms, they are asked to go immediately to a testing location to be tested themselves and then self-isolate as in Step 1 above. Contact tracer may inform testing location that individual is coming for testing. (Alternatively, if resources are available, contact could be asked to self-isolate and someone sent to their home to perform the testing.)
iii. If the contact has had no symptoms and
1. is a student, they are asked to quarantine if possible in their own housing or provided with a single/room bathroom until 14 days has passed since their last contact with the confirmed individual
2. is a staff member, they are asked to quarantine at home for 14 days since their last contact with the confirmed individual
3. Is a community member, their information should be provided to RIDOH who will initiate follow-up procedures
h) If contact tracers are unable to reach all contacts virtually within 24 hours, they should continue to follow up daily until contact is established. Alternative means should be considered if contact tracers are unable to reach all contacts virtually.
4. Isolation and Quarantine Procedures
a) Students living off campus with their own room/bathroom should isolate or quarantine in their own home.
i. They should be provided with an excuse from attending in-person classes and other activities on campus.
ii. They should be provided with education on how to stay healthy and reduce transmission within their home, and when to seek medical attention based on WHO/CDC/RIDOH guidance.
b) Students in dorms requiring temporary isolation while tests are pending or in quarantine will need all of the above and also to be provided with alternative housing:
i. Alternative housing should at a minimum include a single room with its own adjoining bathroom.
ii. Daily delivery of meals must be arranged.
iii. Access to virtual psychological counseling also recommended given the stress of isolation.
c) Students in dorms with confirmed COVID-19 could potentially be housed in a double room or two-room apartment with another student with confirmed COVID-19 and a single bathroom if space was limited.
5. Active Follow-Up
a) Confirmed cases in isolation should be contacted virtually on a daily basis by contact tracers to track their symptoms.
i. If concerning signs develop, a virtual visit should be scheduled with a health provider
ii. If danger signs are present, EMS should be called.
iii. Once confirmed cases' symptoms have resolved and they have been asymptomatic for at least 3 days with a normal temperature, they leave isolation, provided that at least 10 days have passed since the onset of their symptoms.
b) Contacts in quarantine should be contacted virtually on a daily basis by contact tracers to track their symptoms
i. If they develop symptoms, they should immediately be tested (either at a predefined testing site, or in their residence if resources allow).
ii. If resources allow, asymptomatic contacts in quarantine could be tested at some set point, such as 3-5 days after their last contact with the confirmed case.
iii. If a contact in quarantine tests positive for COVID-19, contact tracers should immediately inform them and identify a list of everyone they have been in contact with since 2 days before they developed symptoms or had a positive test, using the criteria for contact provided above.
iv. If a contact in quarantine who develops symptoms tests negative for COVID-19, they should likely be retested in 48 hours to confirm the negative test. If still negative, they should wait out the remainder of their quarantine period before leaving quarantine.
APPENDIX B / HEALTHY FALL RE-OPENING 2020 PLAN FOR BROWN UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS
Healthy Fall Re-Opening 2020 Plan for Brown University Buildings
Like all individuals and organizations, Brown University has experienced a significant shift in operations over the past weeks and months related to the COVID-19 pandemic. As we work together to reopen University buildings, Facilities Management remains dedicated to its mission of maintaining Brown’s core values in reopening buildings and facilities, as safety will continue to be paramount.
Outlined below is an overview of our University building reopening plan. The operations outlined here will be carried out by Brown Facilities Management in partnership with Environmental Health and Safety (EHS), Strategic Sourcing, Office of University Communications, University Health Services and key department stakeholders, faculty, students and staff. We appreciate your patience and collaboration.
CLEANING & DISINFECTING
Cleaning, disinfecting of spaces and
ongoing enhanced cleaning
• Maintain cleaning and disinfecting
practices in accordance with CDC and
EHS approvals.
• Perform cleaning of indoor spaces that
have been unoccupied.
• Perform routine cleaning and
disinfecting of spaces that have been
occupied.
• Perform enhanced cleaning and
disinfecting of frequently touched indoor
surfaces.
• Disinfect areas if possible cases arise, per
direction of EHS and University Health
Services.
• Maintain routine cleaning practices of
outdoor areas.
• Assist laboratories with cleaning products
as supplies allow.
• Provide break rooms with cleaning
products as supplies allow.
• Maintain hand sanitizer stations at major
building entrances, elevator stops and
high traffic areas.
PREPARE THE BUILDINGS
Operational pre-return
inspections, HVAC and domestic
water system checks
• Ready building mechanical, electrical,
plumbing and monitoring systems
• Flush domestic water lines
• Reset building occupancy schedules
and demand control ventilation.
• Improve central air filtration and seal
edges of filters to limit bypass.
• Install hand sanitizer stations in
designated locations.
• Perform necessary building
inspections and repairs.
PREPARE THE GROUNDS
Maintain safe, clean and healthy
landscapes and grounds
• Inspect areas around buildings for trash
and debris and remove accordingly.
• Ensure all building entrances and loading
docks are clear of litter and debris.
• Continue to mow lawns and fields.
• Inspect parking lots and clear of litter and
debris.
• Continue tree management and care.
• Maintain off-campus properties
SUPPORT DISTANCE SPACE
LAYOUTS
Assist Customer/occupant social
distancing practices for decreasing
density, adjusting traffic patterns
• Support facility space usage
changes for social distancing.
• Assist customers in evaluating
reduction in capacity of spaces –
e.g., decreasing chairs in a
conference room.
• Provide necessary signage
regarding the importance of social
distancing as needed.
OVERSIGHT OF
CONTRACTORS &
VENDORS
Campus building and
maintenance contractors
• Engage contractors and
vendors in back-to work plan
• Ensure continued compliance
by contractors of the oncampus
work protocols for
construction.
• Ensure indoor and outdoor
construction projects are
being inspected by Facilities
staff for compliance.
CUSTOMER/OCCUPANT
RESPONSIBILITIES
Recommended customer/
occupant actions
• Review, share and monitor
compliance.
• Reconfigure indoor and
outdoor spaces to allow for
social distancing.
• Assist in identifying high-use
entrances and traffic areas.
• Remove and/or clean hightouch
shared tools such as
computer keyboards,
whiteboard markers, remote
controls, etc.
• Assist in controlling the
building entry points,
including deliveries.
• Comply with signage
guidelines. Brown Facilities Management
The most efficient way to request service is by calling
the FM Service Response Center at 401-863-7800.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
PDF Attachment
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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Plan for a Healthy and Safe 2020-21
Subject
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Document outlining Brown University's plan for the upcoming 2020-21 academic year, created by COVID-19 planning groups formed by Christina Paxson in April 2020.
Creator
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Brown University
Date
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July 7, 2020
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A related resource
Attached to Item #753 "Email: July 7, President Paxson to Undergraduate Students"
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2020-21 academic year plan
fall 2020
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healthy fall 2020 task force
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providence
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Dublin Core
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Today@Brown
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This collection captures the different events announced on Today@Brown, a daily email received by all members of Brown, as screenshots.
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A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
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For over two and a half centuries, the health and vitality of Brown and that of Providence and Rhode Island have been deeply intertwined. With the spread of COVID-19 across the country and the world, Brown and the city and state we call home are confronting an unprecedented set of challenges. We all feel the severe effects of this pandemic – in our jobs, our schools, and our neighborhoods.
This priority message re-states the contents of an email sent yesterday, as Brown is committed to using all available channels to communicate regarding this public health crisis.
The Brown community has come together in a wonderful way to support our local community on a multitude of fronts. An effort by Brown faculty and staff has gathered more than 4,000 N95 masks and other essential medical supplies for donation to Rhode Island health care agencies and providers. Over 150 Brown medical students have volunteered to provide direct assistance to health care providers and agencies. And researchers from the Department of Economics and the School of Public Health have partnered with the Rhode Island Department of Health to develop methods to better track the spread of COVID-19. These are only a few of the many examples in recent weeks.
In recognition of the rapidly evolving impact of COVID-19 on our local community, Brown will invest in three new initiatives that build on Brown’s longstanding commitment to Providence and Rhode Island. These initial efforts will focus on addressing the immediate needs of local residents, businesses, and nonprofit organizations and providing urgent medical support.
COMMUNITY MEAL SERVICE
To provide immediate local relief, Brown has partnered with the City of Providence and the Healthy Communities Office to purchase and distribute meals for residents of the city with food security needs. Brown Dining Services will purchase and prepare five-day food packs in on-campus dining facilities while following strict public health and safety protocols regarding social distancing and sanitation. This initiative will launch on Tuesday, April 7, and continue through the month of May. We anticipate this partnership will produce 24,000 meals for over 1,600 people during the course of a two-month period. With this support, we hope to help some of our most vulnerable neighbors in this challenging time.
BROWN COVID-19 RESEARCH SEED FUND
The Brown COVID-19 Research Seed Fund is a one-time funding mechanism intended to fast track innovative research proposals that directly address the urgent needs of the COVID-19 pandemic. These awards will support research with the potential for significant and rapid impact on human health with respect to the disease (COVID-19) or the causal virus (SARS-CoV-2), and research that involves the use of Brown’s facilities to produce products of immediate need for the health care system in Rhode Island and the nation. For example, Brown researchers have already manufactured and donated enough viral transport medium, a solution used for COVID-19 testing, for 2,100 tests, and we anticipate that these efforts will continue. Faculty members can direct inquiries and submit proposals to research_opps@brown.edu.
SUPPORT FOR LOCAL BUSINESSES AND NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
In addition, Brown is undertaking an array of initiatives to support local businesses and nonprofit organizations during this time of need. The Real Estate & Auxiliary Housing Office granted rent deferrals for the month of April and May to retail tenants who have ceased normal operations due to state-mandated closures of non-essential businesses to stem the spread of the pandemic. The Brown Arts Initiative launched a Community Development Grant that will award $2,000 grants to 10 local artists in recognition of the severe impact of the pandemic on the arts community. And over 300 Brown faculty and staff contributed $28,000 to 401Gives, an online fundraising campaign for local nonprofits. This is in addition to Brown’s $100,000 contribution to the Rhode Island COVID-19 Response Fund, a joint effort by United Way of Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Foundation to support local nonprofit organizations affected by the pandemic.
There is a great deal of uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic, and the long-term financial consequences for Rhode Island, the country and the world are unclear. Brown administrators are in regular communication with city and state leaders and are exploring a multitude of ways in which the University can continue to support the fight against COVID-19. Brown also remains in discussions with the state and health system partners about using unoccupied dormitory spaces to meet needs identified by the state and others on the front lines of the pandemic. Over the coming weeks and months, it is imperative that we all work together to maintain our community.
I am inspired and moved by the many students and employees of Brown who continue to show tremendous commitment to supporting the Providence and Rhode Island community. I am deeply grateful for everyone’s ongoing engagement and partnership with our local community during this public health crisis.
Sincerely,
Christina H. Paxson
Dublin Core
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Brown’s commitment to Providence and Rhode Island
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Christina H Paxson
Publisher
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Today@Brown
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April 4, 2020
Christina Paxson
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university communications
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University Communication
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Mass communication sent out by Brown
Email
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Dear Brown Community Members,
I hope you and your families are healthy and well. I am writing to update you on our plans for the fall semester at Brown. As the weeks have gone by since the July announcement of our three-semester model for bringing students back to campus for the 2020-21 year, I know that many of us have been closely watching the evolving public health situation around COVID-19. Unfortunately, the situation in the country and in Rhode Island has deteriorated over the past
several weeks.
Given the current landscape, in consultation with public health experts, we have determined it best to take a phased approach to the start of in-person instruction for the fall semester. In the first phase, we will permit only a limited number of students to return to campus before Labor Day. The majority of returning undergraduate students will start the Fall 2020 semester studying remotely, preferably outside of the Providence area. All undergraduate classes will be taught remotely from September 9 until the week of October 5.
In the second phase, the remainder of students will be invited to return in late September, provided the public health situation has improved, and in-person instruction of small classes will begin. This staggered arrival of students over a longer time period will better position Brown to address challenges, including quarantine and isolation for any students who test positive for COVID-19. This plan also is in keeping with the data-based and public health-based decision making that has driven our planning since the beginning of the pandemic.
These changes do not affect our graduate and medical students who will return to campus before Labor Day (if they are not already in Providence) and, in most cases, will have the opportunity for in-person learning. Additional details about instruction for graduate and medical students, including their participation in the COVID-19 testing program and Rhode Island quarantine regulations, will be shared with those students by the deans of the Graduate School and Medical School.
While safety, always, is our top priority, let me say how sorry I am to be writing this letter. I know how eager many of our undergraduates are to return to campus, see their friends and take classes in person, and I understand that a delay of even a few weeks is difficult. Please be assured that Brown faculty and staff have worked tirelessly over the last several months to do all that is needed to safely bring students back to campus, but we must confront the reality that bringing students back in smaller numbers is the safer course.
When I announced in July our plans for a three-semester model, I stressed the great uncertainty about how the COVID-19 pandemic would evolve. I also discussed the need for flexibility within our plans, recognizing that it might be necessary to make mid-course corrections and changes if the situation deteriorated across the country or, more importantly, in Rhode Island. Although Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo has taken a number of measures to reverse recent increases in COVID-19 cases, it is unclear whether cases will decline or continue to rise in the coming weeks. Also of concern are high infection rates across the country. Brown’s quarantine and isolation capacity could be unduly stressed if a large number of returning students simultaneously test positive for COVID-19.
The modified phased approach to bringing students back to campus does not impact the plans announced in July for a three-term academic calendar. The expectation is that first-year students will still arrive for the spring term and continue to the summer term.
Colleagues across campus have been preparing extensively to support the health and safety of students, including setting up an on-campus testing site, training contact tracers, investing in improved air filtration systems, and purchasing additional cleaning supplies. We have also developed a public health education campaign that will encourage all members of our community to do their part to reduce the spread of infection. While we have no control over the current course of the pandemic, we will be ready to bring all of our students back when the situation improves.
Criteria for the Resumption of In-person Teaching and Learning
All undergraduate classes will be remote until at least October 5.
If by September 11, COVID-19 cases in Rhode Island have declined from their current level over a 14-day period and the number of students who test positive for COVID-19 is sufficiently low, then we will follow our current plan to offer many smaller undergraduate courses (with no more than 20 students) in person beginning on October 5.
If these conditions are not met by September 11, the remainder of the semester will be remote. Bringing undergraduate students to campus for less than seven weeks of in-person instruction would create significant logistical and practical challenges, both for students and the University.
Move-in and Fees for Delayed In-Person Classes
If it is decided on September 11 that in-person classes will begin on October 5, undergraduate students will be invited to move in to their residence halls during the week of September 21. This will allow them to complete any quarantine requirements before attending in-person classes. (See below for the criteria for students to receive permission to return earlier.)
For undergraduate students who choose to return to campus during the week of September 21, any room and board fees will be pro-rated to account for the shorter time on campus. Students will receive communications in the coming days about how fees will be appropriately adjusted.
Receiving Permission to Return to Campus to Live in Residence Halls before Labor Day
Undergraduate students in the following situations can apply for permission to return to campus to live in residence halls before Labor Day:
o Students who live in unsafe environments; students whose living circumstances are such that remote study is difficult; international students who cannot travel home; and students with other exceptional circumstances (to be assessed on an individual basis).
o Students with previous plans for archival or laboratory research that can only be done on campus.
Students who receive permission to return to campus to live in residence halls before Labor Day will be invited to move in on their currently-scheduled dates.
Students who receive permission to return to live in residence halls will be required to fulfill Rhode Island quarantine regulations and enroll in Brown’s COVID-19 testing program to get tested twice per week, free of charge.
All students will be subject to Brown’s updated COVID-19 Campus Safety Policy, which has been expanded from the COVID-19 Workplace Safety Policy to encompass all teaching, research, learning, work and other activities that are authorized to take place on campus.
Guidance for Undergraduate Students with Off-campus Housing
Undergraduate students with off-campus housing are discouraged from returning to campus until late September, in time to complete quarantine before in-person instruction begins. Those who choose to return or who are already living in the City of Providence will be required to:
o Enroll in Brown’s COVID-19 testing program and get tested twice per week, free of charge.
o Abide by Rhode Island’s quarantine regulations to protect the health of the Brown and Providence communities.
All students, faculty and staff will receive follow-up communications from members of my senior leadership team explaining further what to expect for the fall term, given these modified plans for the start of the academic year. We know that participation in a COVID-19 testing and tracing program combined with consistent mask wearing, social distancing and increased hand washing is essential for slowing the spread of this virus. Whenever members of the community return to campus, it will be vitally important that we all embrace our shared responsibility in following these new standards.
I know this news is not what our undergraduates were hoping to hear. The uncertainty of what will happen this fall is exceptionally difficult, both logistically and emotionally. I want nothing more than to see all of our students back on campus. However, we must make decisions that prioritize the health and safety of the Brown community as well as the greater Providence community. I recognize that this year will be unlike any other, but we remain committed to delivering Brown’s world-class education.
Sincerely,
Christina H. Paxson
President
Subject Line
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Important modifications to Brown’s plan for the Fall 2020 semester
From
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Christina Paxson
To
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Brown Community
Dublin Core
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Email: Aug 11, President Paxson to Brown Community
Subject
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Important modifications to Brown’s plan for the Fall 2020 semester
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Christina Paxson
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August 11, 2020
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PDF
2020-21 academic year plan
Christina Paxson
fall 2020
Online Classes
providence
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Brown Daily Herald
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This collection consists of articles published by the Brown Daily Herald, the undergraduate daily student newspaper, in regards to COVID-19 at Brown.
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As protests against anti-Black police brutality have swelled across the country after George Floyd was killed by a white police officer on May 25, many University students from St. Paul, Minnesota to Atlanta, Georgia are among the tens of thousands taking action.
The demonstrations, beyond calling for justice in Floyd’s death, also follow a string of recent killings of unarmed Black victims, including Ahmaud Arbery on Feb. 23 and Breonna Taylor on March 13.
Over the past eight days, protests have been held in every major U.S. city and dozens of smaller communities, including Providence. Protesters have expressed devastation, grief and outrage over the disproportionate and repeated murders of Black individuals by police, and have condemned this fatal manifestation of the continued systemic racism endemic to the United States.
The Herald reached out to several students who expressed support for the protests on social media, and interviewed six. These students described how and why they have participated in the movement.
Why students have taken action, and how
For Trinity Foley ’22, who is Black, the death of Ahmaud Arbery was “really just kind of the one in these recent events that shook me the most.” While jogging in a Georgia neighborhood, Arbery was pursued and shot by white residents.
Foley, who attended Black Lives Matter protests in 2016 in her hometown of Atlanta, Georgia following the three back-to-back police shootings that took place that summer, saw the Arbery case as “kind of it for me. I’ve never been so distraught.”
As “someone who was really big on pushing people to call the police stations,” Foley called multiple numbers, including the office of Georgia’s Governor Brian Kemp, asking for the arrest of William Bryan. Bryan recorded the video of Arbery’s death that was widely circulated on social media after being leaked May 5. He was arrested May 21.
“Being a citizen of Georgia, I don’t feel safe knowing that he is able to walk these streets free,” she told the clerk who answered her calls, adding, she found it “just blatantly (unjust) to the point where I don’t know how (you can) go to sleep at night knowing that you did not arrest this man.” She said she received “a very blanket response.”
Elise Ryan / Herald
Near the site of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, Ahmaud Arbery is listed among other unarmed black victims.
In a May 31 interview, Foley told The Herald she was planning on attending a protest in Atlanta later in the day, but expressed despondency about how much change last week’s wave of protests will bring.
“I’m feeling just kind of hopeless.”
Although “we will keep raising hell until something is done, I really just don’t know what it’s going to take,” Foley said. “I’m feeling just kind of hopeless. I feel like all the riots and protests are going to fall on deaf ears, especially with the person we have in the presidential office right now.”
“This country is leaving me pretty lost for words,” she added.
The moment has had a profound impact on the people around her, Foley said. She has seen her father, who has lived through various protest movements in America, “excited that things are finally getting to a point that’s like, ‘Okay, we’re going to force you to hear us.’”
Foley’s mother, who is an Atlanta native, “feels the same way as far as it’s time for progress,” but also has a “double layer” because of her connection to the city — a connection that made her “sad to see parts of the city really getting destroyed,” Foley added.
The “desire for people and companies and institutions in power to open their ears and recognize that this is a problem” is one aspect of the situation driving Foley to protest.
Foley hopes this moment can help “turn all of these racial issues from little flare-ups of people protesting, and then government officials saying whatever is necessary to quiet them, into long-standing conversations.” This requires “having everybody feel that same sense of urgency for solving this as Black Americans feel because we’re faced with it every day.”
For Undergraduate Council of Students Chair of Equity and Inclusion Jai’el Toussaint ’22, who is Black, what he hopes this moment can help achieve is “hard to wrap it all up in one word, but … peace. Liberation, freedom, autonomy.”
“To live,” added Kathleen Riche P ’22, Toussaint’s mother, who was in the room at the time of the interview and also shared her reflections with The Herald. “To not have to weigh in ‘am I going to die’ if I get pulled over for a traffic ticket.”
“When it comes to us, it’s like they have to kill us for the littlest things ever,” she added. “But when it comes to them,” she said, referring to white people, “they could shoot up a school and then they’d still get the better treatment. I think that doesn’t make sense. And we’re tired.”
“This is a state of living for me.”
Toussaint, who regularly comes into close contact with immunocompromised relatives, has not attended any protests due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. He’s been “juggling concerns” about wanting to join the protests and keeping his relatives safe from COVID-19. “There are multiple battles that you’re facing,” he said.
“This is a state of living for me. This is a reality for me and so many millions of people around the world, across the nation,” he said. It’s “a fight for your life that you have to engage with every day.”
Toussaint has been supporting protesters by donating and sharing resources on social media, including donation links, protesting tips and generally raising awareness. “I’m not trying to say I have all the answers but just (share) things that I see across my feed that would be beneficial for people to know,” he said. “I’m waiting for payday to donate in greater amount(s).”
Adrianna Maxwell ’22, who is Black, has not attended protests taking place near her home outside Chicago, Illinois. She has also been donating to show support.
“Even though I’m interested, I don’t really know much about protesting … or how to protect yourself,” she said. “So, I would have felt like if I did protest I would have gone into the situation unprepared.”
Maxwell chose to donate to grassroots organizations working actively in the streets because she “felt that their voices should be amplified.” In addition, she donated to a looted, minority-owned restaurant and to bail funds to help arrested protestors. Though she made a small donation, she hopes to donate more in the future, she added.
Making these efforts was important to her because police brutality against Black people is a “problem (that) has been going on for a really long time,” she said. Grassroots organizations, like the ones she has donated to, “have the knowledge and the tools to work actively to try to address these issues.”
Toussaint added that he appreciates the vast numbers of people going out and protesting. While it’s “tragic that we’re in a situation where we have to do that,” he said, “it is inspiring to see so many people across racial lines, class lines, pursuing that fight.”
Michael Pérez ’22, who is Latino, went alone to a May 29 protest in San Antonio, Texas. “It felt good knowing that my city showed up, and that the communities there and the people feel the same way and feel that same pain,” he said.
Pérez sees his own role and the role of non-Black people in these protests as showing support and solidarity, not just empathizing with the Black community, but understanding “our own place within how we feed and benefit from the system.”
Three years ago, when he was 17, Pérez was sitting in his car on the side of a street at night, waiting for his girlfriend at the time. Then a police officer, whom he thinks was called by a white neighbor, showed up. He “started to harass me,” Pérez said.
When the officer first started addressing Pérez, he didn’t roll down the window all the way: “I was like, what’s going on, why are you bothering me, I don’t get it.”
The officer asked to see Pérez’s license. “He took forever to roll my license,” said Pérez. While he waited, two more police cars rolled up. “It was really scary, and really eye-opening, too,” he said.
“There shouldn’t be a benefit to being a lighter skin color. That’s ridiculous.”
Eventually, the officer returned his driver’s license, and asked why he hadn’t rolled down his car window all the way at first. When Pérez told the officer he hadn’t felt safe, the officer retorted that he didn’t feel safe with Pérez there.
“I was like okay whatever, just let me go please,” Pérez said. He was let off, but “it fucks you up.”
And Pérez was haunted by how much worse it could have been. “That one night, I’m pretty sure I benefited from … not being Black,” he said. “There shouldn’t be a benefit to being a lighter skin color. That’s ridiculous.”
Pérez described “shaking” and feeling physically sick now, knowing that “there are people out there actually getting harmed and killed.”
“It means a lot to me because within my own community I know there’s been a lot of instances of police brutality and a lot of racial discrimination and profiling,” he added. But in considering his own experience of being harassed, “it’s worse knowing that maybe if I was a darker skin color, I don’t know what would have happened.”
“That pains me. I feel it in my heart,” Pérez said.
Elise Ryan / Herald
People gather around a memorial for George Floyd, consisting of flowers, candles, signs and messages spray-painted on the street, in Minneapolis.
Seamus Hubbard Flynn ’21, who is white, joined a May 30 protest which marched toward the site of Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Flynn, who is from St. Paul, was motivated by “a sense of not wanting to just sign petitions or donate, but also, since this is going on in my very own city and it was, I thought, for a very urgent cause that I believed in, I couldn’t just stand by.”
With the National Guard deployed to the streets and a curfew in place, “you hear a lot of military-grade helicopters hovering low over our houses and waking us up in the middle of the night,” Flynn said.
While “there’s an atmosphere of tension,” Flynn has had some “heartening” experiences while attending daytime protests in St. Paul. People wore masks during the march in an effort to halt the spread of COVID-19. Flynn’s friend, who brought extra water bottles to hand out in case people wanted some, found that everyone else had had the same thought.
“There was just this huge overabundance of water,” Flynn said, adding that, often, “that’s the sort of thing that you don’t hear about in the news coverage of this.”
‘Stop, listen, donate’: taking action as allies
While social media sites like Instagram are flooded with information on how to constructively aid protesters and the movement, the protests have amplified a deeper discussion about what anti-racism and non-Black allyship really mean. The students interviewed by The Herald shared their own perspectives and the ways they believe others can and should help.
“This would not have happened if he was white. Period.”
From non-Black people who want to consider themselves allies, Foley would like to see “unambiguous solidarity” and recognition of the unjust horrors Black people, like George Floyd, face.
One way to do this can be by posting on social media to help raise awareness, she said, but without using “fluffy language.”
“This would not have happened if he was white. Period. Point blank. Be direct, be blunt.” Foley also encouraged students to donate.
Toussaint agreed. “If people, especially at Brown, want to be helpful, want to consider themselves allies, they need to stop, listen and donate,” he said, adding that “anybody who has any critique for how Black people exercise their voice … really should look inwards and think: Why is that my first thought?”
While non-Black people who want to be allies can take an active role in reading and learning about racism, Foley added that they should “not put … that burden of you trying to become more educated” on the Black community.
“This is a call to reexamine yourself and the communities you’re a part of.”
Maxwell also mentioned the importance of “not putting the labor of explaining … different systems of racism on Black people … but trying to understand those systems and taking it upon themselves to explain to other people, like people in their families.”
“Behind the scenes, there’s a lot of responsibility to talk with loved ones,” Flynn said.
Olivia McClain ’22, who is white, attended a peaceful protest in her hometown of West Bend, Wisconsin. She has also donated and shared resources and information on social media, while focusing on “taking leadership from the people that are affected,” she said. “Right now, I’m going to listen to Black people — people who are actually feeling the effects.”
For non-Black students at Brown, and white students specifically, “this is a call to reexamine yourself and the communities you’re a part of and start to reckon with the racism in your own community, the racism inside yourself,” she said, adding that “just because you go to an Ivy League school that’s pretty progressive, that does not mean we are anything near to a perfect institution.”
“Not everybody knows what to say,” said Riche, Toussaint’s mother. “So if you don’t know what to say, donate to bail people out.”
Original Format
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Online newspaper article
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Title
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‘This country is leaving me pretty lost for words’: Students from Brown participate in, support George Floyd protests
Subject
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Students attend protests, donate, spread awareness, discuss ways to act as allies
Creator
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Clara Gutman Argemí
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Brown Daily Herald
Publisher
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Brown Daily Herald
Date
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June 3, 2020
police brutality
protests
providence
racism
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Today@Brown
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This collection captures the different events announced on Today@Brown, a daily email received by all members of Brown, as screenshots.
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As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Providence Public School system has an increased need for help in translating school-related information for families whose children attend any of the Providence public schools.
Brown's Center for Language Studies along with Brown's Annenberg Institute is looking for students, faculty or staff with expertise in certain languages to volunteer to help with communications going out to families. Although the schools have a messaging app that translates into a variety of languages, they have found that this doesn't provide the human touch required for a successful school to home communication. Please let us know if you can help by filling out the form below.
Thanks in advance for your help!
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Language Expertise and Providence Public Schools
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Jane Sokolosky
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Today@Brown
community engagement
providence
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Brown Daily Herald
Description
An account of the resource
This collection consists of articles published by the Brown Daily Herald, the undergraduate daily student newspaper, in regards to COVID-19 at Brown.
Text
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As some students return to campus and Providence, the University has launched the Brown Takes Care campaign to encourage personal responsibility for public health by providing both physical and online resources to stay safe and maintain the community.
The campaign aims to engage Brunonians on- and off- campus with public health guidelines while staying true to “values that are uniquely Brown,” including a community of care and empathy, said Tanya Purdy, director of BWell Health Promotion and co-chair of the Prevention Education Subcommittee of Healthy Brown 2020.
Through social media campaigns, student-created content and activity kits, Brown Takes Care will urge students to think about their roles in managing the pandemic — as individuals, parts of smaller communities and members of a broader population.
“The campaign is designed for there to be many different entry points and for it to be adaptable” to the range of student living situations — on-campus, in Providence or remote — Purdy said.
As other colleges have opened up in different parts of the country, dozens of institutions have struggled to discourage students from socializing in large groups, which have then become clusters of infection. This campaign aims to facilitate the changes in norms necessary for living and socializing while managing the risks posed by COVID-19.
According to the press release, the campaign is designed to provide “guidance” while “letting community members ‘lead.'” The campaign includes a new Healthy Ambassadors program where staff members will be trained to use “bystander intervention and empathetic communication skills” to protect public health.
Students in campus leadership positions will also be trained by BWell Health Promotion to use “motivational interviewing” as a technique for encouraging community members to discuss challenges and priorities of keeping everyone safe from COVID-19. In the press release, Purdy anticipated that over 200 peer educators and over 50 Healthy Brown Ambassadors would participate in the training program before Oct. 5.
The campaign will also include outreach efforts that extend into the surrounding Providence community. Brown Takes Care messaging will be placed in advertising space around the city. The Office of Government and Community Relations also held a forum on Aug. 20 to have a conversation with local residents about returning students’ impact on the community. Additionally, the University has created an email for neighbors to raise concerns or give feedback.
Purdy said she hopes that the campaign will provide opportunities for students to have difficult conversations about their presence on the East Side.
The campaign’s resources will be available on the Brown Takes Care website and will include educational worksheets, instructions for students on how they can create a pod, and social media tools like filters, profile photo frames and daily challenges.
While virtual resources are accessible to everyone, some physical resources are designed specifically for certain groups of students. For example, during the two-week quiet period students living on-campus will receive activity kits that include “resources and ways to still feel connected to the student body, while adhering to the quiet period when they first move on to campus,” said Alexis Jackson ’21, the presidential intern for the University’s Prevention Education subcommittee.
“We’re not looking for any one strategy or one tool to be the thing that makes us successful,” Purdy said. “It’s about being able to have all these different pieces, working in concert with one another so that we can be healthy.”
Though students returning to campus and Providence are required to complete an educational module and sign a 12-part student commitment to COVID-19 community health and safety obligations, students will not be mandated to participate in Brown Takes Care, according to Associate Vice President for Marketing Communications Carly Kite Lapinski.
“This isn’t a compliance campaign,” she said. “It’s really tapping into people’s care and compassion for one another so that they can do the right thing and keep the community safe as a whole.”
Listening to the concerns of students and developing the campaign with both staff and students has been a focus since the campaign was conceived in April, Purdy said.
Maria Guerrero Martinez ’21, undergraduate representative for the Healthy Brown 2020 committee, said she spent a lot of time “talking to students, then voicing all of those concerns in task force meetings.”
The campaign may evolve in the coming weeks and months. “As a public health major working on a public health campaign, it’s shown me that a campaign has to be adaptable and malleable in order to be successful,” Jackson said.
Purdy agreed that the campaign would have to shift and adapt due to changing public health regulations and outcomes of the fall semester.
“The launch is just the first step,” Purdy said.
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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A name given to the resource
Brown announces educational campaign on COVID-19 public health guidelines
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Katie Chen
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Brown Daily Herald
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An entity responsible for making the resource available
Brown Daily Herald
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A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
August 27, 2020
Brown Takes Care
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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Brown Daily Herald
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This collection consists of articles published by the Brown Daily Herald, the undergraduate daily student newspaper, in regards to COVID-19 at Brown.
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A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
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In the shadow of Hasbro Children’s Hospital, Chief Pediatrics Resident Alexis Thompson bowed her head in silence. She was motionless, surrounded by dozens of colleagues, clad in their white jackets, blue-green uniforms and face masks.
Together, they knelt for eight minutes and 46 seconds — the same amount of time 46-year-old George Floyd was pinned down by the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer on his neck before his death last month.
In this moment, Thompson, who is Black, thought of all the other Black lives taken without accountability. She thought of her colleagues and mentors. She thought of her graduation ceremony, due to take place a few hours later on June 5, and of celebrating the completion of her three-year pediatric residency program — an aspiration since childhood. And she thought what it would be like to have the feeling of someone’s weight on you as you gasp for air.
“We are still fighting for basic human rights,” she recalls thinking.
COURTESY OF: PATRICIA POITEVIEN
Healthcare workers knelt for almost nine minutes outside of Hasbro Children’s Hospital June 5
That Friday afternoon, medical workers were taking part in similar acts of solidarity across the country, as part of White Coats for Black Lives. Nurses, students, residents, doctors and other hospital staff from Philadelphia to San Francisco protested against systemic racism and police brutality in the wake of Floyd’s killing.
For Patricia Poitevien ’94 MD’98, like Thompson, participation in the demonstration was both deeply personal and professionally profound.
“I am a physician. I am a person of color. I am a mother of two boys who are Black,” said Poitevien, who is the residency program director for the department of pediatrics and an assistant professor in the division of pediatric hospitalist medicine at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. She is also assistant dean for the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs at the Warren Alpert Medical School.
“The events that are currently occurring in our nation,” she added, “impact me across the landscape of the roles that I play in my life.”
For Poitevien and other healthcare workers, these protests are all the more poignant at a time when they have strained to meet the challenges posed by COVID-19 for months — a pandemic which is disproportionately affecting patients of color.
To see so many coworkers from all different racial identities kneeling together in condemnation of systemic racism was moving, Poitevien added.
“It showed me that my colleagues understand how this impacts me as one of their colleagues,” she said, “but also the patients that we all care for.”
Black people comprise 13 percent of the nation’s population, but 24 percent of deaths from COVID-19 where race is known.
In Rhode Island, Hispanic or Latinx residents comprise 44 percent of positive COVID-19 coronavirus test cases in the state and non-Hispanic Black or African American residents comprise 13 percent, according to data released by the state’s Department of Health. These residents are also disproportionately represented in COVID-19-related hospitalizations, though they make up only 15 percent and 6 percent of the population of Rhode Island respectively.
This reality is part of what prompted Erin Baroni, a third-year internal medicine/pediatrics resident, to march in her white coat with some of her colleagues from Rhode Island Hospital to the State House Friday afternoon. There, they took part in what became the largest protest in recent state history, drawing about 10,000 people.
Though Baroni expressed concerns that large gatherings could cause a second wave of COVID-19 cases, she said that the protests and police brutality, like the coronavirus pandemic, are a reminder of the disproportionate health risks that Black Americans face.
She participated “to show solidarity, not only for our Black colleagues but our patients and community,” Baroni, who is white, said. “Racism is a public health issue.”
Baroni, who has been involved in LGBTQ+ and sexual-gender minority advocacy work for almost a decade, also wanted to highlight the disproportionate effects of violence on Black transgender women.
Giovanna Deluca, a first-year emergency medical resident at Rhode Island Hospital, voiced similar worries about balancing her involvement in protests and adhering to public health guidelines.
“We are worried about resurgence,” she said, but felt determined to stand with her colleagues and community members demanding justice by attending the protest.
At a time when people are especially reliant on the expertise of the medical community, Deluca added that the role of healthcare workers in ongoing demonstrations is particularly important.
“We have strong voices by being in the medical field. I think it’s really important to use them,” Deluca, a New York-native who is of both Italian and Japanese descent, said.
“We fought so hard for PPE because we were scared for ourselves,” she added. “We should be fighting for this, too.”
Deluca also partnered with colleagues, including Baroni, to build a photo collage of solidarity. This, she hoped, would be another way of demonstrating a commitment to justice — especially for her colleagues who might not have been able to attend the June 5 protest.
“We have a really diverse patient population here in Providence,” she added. “We were trying to find a way to show our community that we stand with them.”
Originally, Deluca only asked her co-residents to participate, but word swiftly spread around the hospital and staff from a range of departments — from pediatrics to surgery, internal medicine to family medicine — emailed photos to be included in the collage.
Within 48 hours, she had received over 200 pictures — some from colleagues she had never met before.
The rush of involvement demonstrated “ how strongly the voice of the medical community and of the hospital points towards justice,” Deluca added.
And, for many, the unity and sense of community demonstrated at protests has been a comfort after months of seeing patients struggling in isolation, as many hospitals have banned or strictly limited visitors during the pandemic. “To have so many people together feeling strongly about justice,” Baroni added, “was incredibly uplifting.”
The vigil ended — with some in tears — and Thompson headed home to prepare for her graduation ceremony. Others walked back into the hospital building to face another battle waiting for them inside.
Poitevien hopes “that this isn’t just a moment in our history but a real turning point,” she said.
For Thompson, the day, one of tremendous pain, also brought celebration. A few hours after the vigil, her residency class held their graduation ceremony — online, because of the persisting COVID-19 crisis.
That Friday, she added, felt like “a story of what it’s like to be Black in America.”
She paused, before continuing: “To know that bad things, terrible things, are happening but still finding the strength to realize the good in life.”
Correction: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this article specified the date of the protest and graduation as June 12, last Friday, when it was in fact June 5, a week ago Friday. The Herald regrets the error.
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Online newspaper article
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
‘Racism is a public health issue’: Medical workers unite to support Black Lives Matter
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Olivia George
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Brown Daily Herald
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Brown Daily Herald
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A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 15, 2020
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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University Communication
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An account of the resource
Mass communication sent out by Brown
Email
A resource containing textual messages and binary attachments sent electronically from one person to another or one person to many people.
Email Body
The main body of the email, including all replied and forwarded text and headers
Dear Students,
We hope that you and your families are healthy and safe. As you read in President Paxson’s message earlier today, Brown will take a phased approach to bringing students back for the fall semester in light of the shifting public health conditions of the
global pandemic. We’re writing to provide you with important information to explain changes to academic planning and housing with the new phased approach. It is important that you read this message in full.
In the first phase of the fall term, all undergraduate classes will be taught fully online from September 9 until the week of October 5, and only a limited number of undergraduates will be permitted to return and have access to campus beginning at the end of August. The majority of undergraduate students will start the Fall 2020 semester studying remotely, preferably outside of the Providence area.
Students enrolled for the fall who don’t receive permission to come to campus in the first phase will be permitted to come to campus in a second phase of move-in that will begin in late September, provided the public health situation improves. This phased approach greatly reduces the number of students expected to be on campus at the beginning of the first term of the three-semester model announced July 7.
This letter provides information relevant for all students and addresses topics specific to students living on and off campus. At the end of every section of this message, we provide a set of links to the material described in that section, so that you have easy access to the requirements, guidance and resources you need for how Brown will operate in light of the pandemic.
Process for applying to move into a campus residence hall by the end of August
Students may apply to move into a residence hall starting at the end of August, if they:
live in environments that are unsafe;
live in circumstances that make remote study difficult;
are already in Providence and are unable to travel home;
have previously-arranged plans for archival or laboratory research than can only be done on campus; or
have other exceptional circumstances (to be assessed on an individual basis).
Applications are due no later than Sunday, August 16 at 11:59 p.m. (EDT). Students will be notified of the outcome of their application no later than Wednesday, August 19 at 5 p.m. (EDT). Additional information regarding arrival and check-in will be provided to students who are approved to live on campus before Labor Day.
Students who do not have permission to move into a residence hall before Labor Day are strongly encouraged to remain away from Providence until they are invited to return. Students who have health conditions that may place them in a high-risk category are also strongly urged to remain at home.
Access this important form online:
Application to return to campus before Labor Day (due no later than 11:59 p.m.
EDT Aug. 16)
Responsibilities of all students who are living in Providence (on or off campus) by the end of August
All students who are living in the City of Providence, whether they live on or off campus, will be required to read and sign a form called the Student Commitment to COVID-19 Community Health and Safety Requirements; complete an online educational module; and follow a set of pre-arrival requirements and recommendations. All students will be subject to Brown’s COVID-19 Campus Safety Policy. They also will be required to enroll and begin participation in the COVID-19 testing program, including a required test upon arrival in Providence. We will follow up separately with students living off campus to gather information about your arrival date.
Students living on campus will be required to observe the 14-day quiet period, which will include a period of time when students will be expected to remain in their residence halls except for a limited number of specific essential activities. Meals and other support will be provided. Students living off campus will be required to follow RIDOH’s quarantine requirements.
Failure to comply with public health guidelines on or off campus (wearing masks, social distancing, testing, contact tracing, and limiting the size of social gatherings for attendees and especially hosts) will be a violation of the Code of Student Conduct and will be addressed through the COVID-19 Student Conduct Procedure with sanctions up to and including removal from campus and academic suspension.
Access these important requirements online:
Student Commitment to COVID-19 Community Health and Safety Requirements
COVID-19 Campus Safety Policy
COVID-19 Student Conduct Procedures
Pre-arrival requirements and recommendations
Student COVID-19 testing
14-day quiet period requirements
RIDOH guidance for students living off campus
Location of Study
If you would like to change your Fall 2020 location of study, please send an email from your Brown address to fall2020@brown.edu no later than 12 p.m. (EDT) on Monday, August 17. We particularly encourage this option for students with health conditions that may place them in a high-risk category. You will receive a confirmation email when your location of study has been updated.
Billing
Students impacted by room and board changes will receive communication directly from Student Financial Services later this week.
Academic Planning
The pre-registration process will continue as described in the communications you received on July 28. You will find out about your initial course registration this Friday, August 14, and the add/drop period will open next Monday, August 17 and run through September 22. More information on the new pre-registration process can be found on the recently added pre-registration section of the Undergraduate FAQ site, which was developed in collaboration with the UCS Academic Affairs Committee. If a course is in your Primary Cart, you will automatically be able to access the course Canvas site and any electronic course materials posted there.
All students will be able to order books and course materials through the Brown Bookstore website beginning Monday August 24, including options to purchase and rent digital materials for immediate download, as well as to ship physical items to your location. As always, if you have specific questions about your individual circumstances, you can connect with an academic advising dean in the College by emailing college@brown.edu.
Access this important academic planning information online:
July 28 communication about CAB, pre-registration and virtual shopping period
Pre-registration process on the Undergraduate FAQ website
Academic advising deans in the College (if you have questions)
Brown Bookstore (to order, beginning Aug. 24)
Campus Resources
During this period of remote learning, campus resources will continue to be available remotely to all students regardless of their location of study. You can learn more about some of these resources on the Campus Life Fall 2020 Opening webpage and on the College webpage. Note that all students, regardless of their location of study, will be able to access Health Services and Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) via telehealth. All students, regardless of their location of study, are also able to access support from the Administrator on Call and Student Support Services.
Access these support resources online:
Campus Life Fall 2020 Opening
The College
Health Services
Counseling and Psychological Services
Administrator on Call
Student Support Services
Information for Students Living in Residence Halls
The Office of Residential Life will communicate housing assignments to students who apply and receive approval to move on campus before Labor Day. Documented housing accommodations will be met for any students who are approved to return. Returning to campus before Labor Day will invalidate any prior requests for specific neighbors unless they also apply for and receive permission to move in at the end of August. Any students who return before Labor Day should be prepared to be reassigned to a new room when the remaining students return to campus (in late September if the public health situation allows).
Students who receive permission to return to campus before Labor Day and are planning to live in residence halls will be invited to move in on their currently-scheduled dates. You should plan to bring only what is essential. Please be advised that Mail Services will be closed from August 22 to September 15 during the quiet period. Students should not ship items that they will need immediately and should bring these items with them.
Information for Students Living Off Campus
If you are returning to Providence to live in an off-campus residence, you must continue to follow state-mandated 14-day quarantine requirements in place for people entering Rhode Island from outside the United States and from certain states within the country. As a student living off campus, you are responsible for keeping apprised of the state directives specific to your situation and for planning your arrival and quarantine accordingly. This may include completion of a certificate of compliance with out-of-state travel quarantine and testing requirements upon arriving in Rhode Island and completion of an out-of-state travel screening form. Unless you have permission for access to campus, you will not be permitted to come to campus during the “quiet period” for students living on campus or during your own quarantine.
As a reminder, students living off campus are required to provide their local address and telephone number during the academic year. While living in Providence, you will be expected to enroll in Brown’s COVID-19 testing program and get tested twice per week, free of charge. Sign into Banner Self-Service to enter your off-campus address. Please know that the city will more assertively enforce the ordinance related to the occupancy of rental units.
Access this important information for off-campus students online:
Rhode Island’s 14-day quarantine requirements for travelers (including link to
list of states with travel restrictions upon entry to Rhode Island)
Banner Self-Service (to enter your off-campus address)
City of Providence regulations for occupancy of rental units
Contact Information
We continue to update the Undergraduate FAQs on the Healthy Brown website to address frequently asked questions regarding Brown’s phased approach to the fall term. We know you also may have questions about your individual circumstances. Please contact the following offices:
The College regarding academic planning: 401-863-9800 or
college@brown.edu
Student Financial Services regarding billing and your student account:
bursar@brown.edu
The Office of Financial Aid regarding financial aid: financial_aid@brown.edu
The Office of Residential Life regarding on-campus housing: 401-863-3500 or
res_life@brown.edu
University Health Services regarding public health questions about COVID-19
testing, the quiet period or quarantine: 401-863-3953
Campus Life regarding other questions: 401-863-1800 or
campus_life@brown.edu
Whether you will be here in Providence or studying remotely around the world, we hope to see you soon for the start of the fall semester, and we look forward to the time when we can all be together on campus again.
Sincerely,
Eric Estes
Vice President for Campus Life
Rashid Zia
Dean of the College
Subject Line
The content of the subject line of the email
Update on Academic Planning and Housing for Fall 2020
From
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Rashid Zia, Eric Estes
To
The name(s) and email address(es) of the person to whom the email was sent
Brown Students
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Email: Aug 11, Dean Zia and Eric Estes to Brown Students
Subject
The topic of the resource
Update on Academic Planning and Housing for Fall 2020
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rashid Zia, Eric Estes
Date
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August 11, 2020
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PDF
Eric Estes
fall 2020
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Rashid Zia
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testing