This is a developing story. This article will be updated as needed.
Smith announced its plans for the upcoming fall and spring semesters amid the COVID-19 pandemic early this afternoon. Their announcement follows several others in the country, including Amherst College, who announced their plans last week.
President McCartney introduced Smith’s COVID-19 response plan, called “A Culture of Care,”in an email sent to the Smith community.
We want all students to have the opportunity to live on or near campus for at least one semester during the 2020-21 academic year,” McCartney writes.
Smith will invite freshmen, sophomores, and students graduating in January back for the fall semester; juniors and seniors may come back in the spring. All students will live in single rooms, and necessary precautions being taken include de-densifying floor populations and limiting the number of students per bathroom.
There are some exemptions to the underclassmen-only fall. Smith will allow student leaders, such as members of the Student Government Association, as well as Ada Comstock Scholars with on-campus housing to come back. International students who cannot return home will also be allowed on campus. Senior honors thesis writers and those whose living environments not conducive to remote learning can petition to return to Smith in the fall.
Only juniors and seniors will be invited back to campus for the spring semester. Those not on campus for either semester are expected to take their courses remotely, unless they opt to take time off.
But how will campus life change? People on campus will need to cover their faces, practice social distancing, and submit to compulsory, regular testing for the virus. Social gatherings will be capped at 10 people. Classroom occupancy will be capped at 30.
McCartney writes that Smith has worked with faculty to incorporate “innovative pedagogies for remote and hybrid instruction.”
“Most courses,” McCartney writes, “will be designed to be delivered both remotely and in person.” She wrote that “the majority” of remote classes will be delivered in real time. Faculty also have the choice of teaching remotely. The methods in which professors teach courses will likely vary. Some may ask students to come on alternating days, some lab-based courses may be divided into smaller groups, and some courses may utilize remote lectures combined with small, in-person tutorials.
Smith has access to “one of the best testing systems in the country,” according to McCartney— administered by the Eli & Edythe Broad Institute. Smith plans to test everyone on campus— every student, faculty member, and employee who will be at Smith, and these tests will be mandatory. Students will be tested on arriving on campus, and “regularly thereafter.” A student who contracts COVID-19 will be assigned to “separate isolation housing on campus,” where they will be “cared for and supported.”
Appropriate measures will be taken on campus to disinfect and clean consistently. Students will be expected to regularly sanitize their hands, use disinfecting wipes and other cleaning items in campus buildings.
“The Smith Experience” will remain semi-intact. Mountain Day will still happen, McCartney wrote. Vice President for Equity and Inclusion Floyd Cheung is leading the planning for Otelia Cromwell Day on November 10; the theme is “Tackling Anti-Blackness: Moving Past the Abstract.” Other experiential opportunities for students are in the works.
Athletics will be suspended, at least for the fall semester. However, the President, and Director of Athletics Kristen Hughes are in conversation with several NEWMAC schools, so limited in-league competition may be possible in early 2021.
Smith has taken “two key actions” to address the financial impact COVID-19 has had on many students and families. Financial aid will be increased to offset impacts of the pandemic, and the planned tuition increase for 2020-21 will not occur. Room and board costs will reflect the shorter time on campus in the fall for those returning.
McCartney insists that Smith will make accommodations: “We remain committed to meeting every Smith student’s full demonstrated financial need and to reviewing each student’s financial aid award if their financial circumstances have changed.”
For students on need-based financial aid, there are two additional adjustments for this upcoming year. The allowance for personal expenses is increased by $2,000 per year, regardless of living remotely or on campus; the work-study earnings expectation is also reduced by 50 percent.
Smith will begin the fall semester a week earlier than usual, on Tuesday, Sept. 1. There will be no fall break; students will return home at Thanksgiving where they’ll have until Thursday, Dec. 17 to complete coursework, exams, and projects remotely. These date changes are in accordance with the predicted resurgence of COVID in the late fall.
Students may elect to take three or four courses in the fall. Additional courses will be available remotely during the six-week January/February interim.
Spring classes will begin on Monday, February 15 and will end on Thursday, May 21. Graduation is set for Sunday, May 30.
Students must decide by Wednesday, July 15 whether they are returning to campus this fall. A webinar will be held Thursday, July 9 from 2-2:30 p.m. EST; there the President and others will be available to further discuss the plan.
Other questions can be directed to covid19info@smith.edu. The full outline of the “A Culture of Care” is available at smith.edu/covid19.
