August 25, 2020

WeB4Me@LC: A Necessary Commitment to Community Health

We need your help to ensure the Lewis & Clark community remains healthy. Our Fall 2020 Reopening plan is designed to safeguard all of us. To succeed, everyone in the community–faculty, staff, and students–must act responsibly and follow rules and guidelines on healthy behaviors.

Dear Lewis & Clark Students, Faculty, and Staff,

We need your help to ensure the Lewis & Clark community remains healthy. Our Fall 2020 Reopening plan is designed to safeguard all of us. To succeed, everyone in the community–faculty, staff, and students–must act responsibly and follow rules and guidelines on healthy behaviors.

We know that if we don’t do these things right, we will sicken our community and end up needing to move to remote-only instruction, as has happened already at other campuses.

Students, faculty, and staff are expected to avoid behavior that places them, and therefore the Lewis & Clark community, at higher risk to COVID-19 exposure. This includes participation in social gatherings or patronizing indoor establishments at which social distancing cannot be maintained or wearing a mask is not feasible. Students are also expected to carefully monitor their own health, to report any COVID-19 symptoms to Lewis & Clark Health Service staff, and to not come to campus if they have such symptoms. The policies and expectations we have put in place are mandatory and apply to all students who will be taking classes with an in-person component, whether you live on campus or off. All employees are required to complete a training module on COVID-19 awareness and prevention and are responsible for a daily self-check for COVID-19 symptoms before coming to campus.

These are some of the commitments we must make to each other and hold ourselves accountable to:

  • Wear a face covering in all indoor public spaces and all outdoor spaces where social distancing isn’t possible.

  • Try to limit your socializing to as small a group as possible of those who you know are observing safe practices.

  • Do not bring any visitors to campus. Only members of the Lewis & Clark community are allowed on campus.

  • Self-monitor daily for any symptoms of COVID before leaving your residence.

  • Self-isolate and seek medical consultation at the first sign of any COVID-related symptoms.

  • Respect any reminders members of our community give you about safe health practices, such as putting on a mask, washing your hands, or maintaining social distance.

  • Wash your hands frequently; practice physical distancing; disinfect surfaces you touch.

  • If you have not yet come to campus, self-isolate to the greatest degree possible during the two weeks prior to your arrival.

  • As required during Multnomah’s County’s phase one reopening status, refrain from hosting or attending off-campus gatherings of more than 10 people while indoors.

There are additional commitments that we have shared, and will continue to share, with residential students.

No doubt, some of what’s required of you might feel difficult. But we know that if our risky behavior results in infection among our peers and colleagues, then we will have also jeopardized our ability to continue offering in-person instruction.

While we are fortunate that Oregon currently has a relatively low and declining COVID-19 infection rate, we know that this does not mean that we can let our guard down. We must be relentless.

Take care of yourself and others. We need your commitment to do what’s required to keep the Lewis & Clark community as safe as possible.

Thank you for your care and support for our community.

Sincerely,

Wim Wiewel, President

Robin Holmes-Sullivan, Vice President of Student Life and Dean of Students

Scott Fletcher, Dean of the Graduate School of Education and Counseling

Jennifer Johnson, Dean of the Law School

Bruce Suttmeier, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences