Category: Community Messages Page 4 of 19

April 9, 2021

Dear Colleagues,

As you all know, the success of our pandemic response has relied on a number of different approaches for combating COVID-19—social distancing and de-densification, enhanced cleaning and controlled facilities access, restrictions on visitors and events, and the expectations outlined in the Duke Compact.

This spring, we have added a powerful new weapon to our quiver: three safe and effective vaccines, which are proven to significantly reduce COVID-19 transmission and the risk of serious illness when the disease is contracted. Duke research played an important role in the development of these vaccines, and we are committed to leading the way in vaccine access for students and employees.

Looking ahead, we know that widespread vaccination will be the only way to facilitate a return to normal and robust campus life.

With this in mind, we plan to require all new and returning Duke students to present proof of vaccination to Student Health before they can enroll for the Fall 2021 semester. This policy will cover all undergraduate, graduate, and professional students—in all degree programs—who intend to be on the Duke campus for any period of time starting with the Fall 2021 semester. Documented medical and religious exemptions will be accommodated.

We have offered every current Duke student and employee the opportunity to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Those students and employees who have not yet received a vaccination from Duke are urged to schedule an appointment as soon as possible through the message you received earlier. We cannot guarantee that our supply of vaccines will continue at the same rate; if you miss this opportunity, you will have to obtain a vaccination from another health care provider or a public health agency and provide confirmation to Student Health.

The past fourteen months have been among the most difficult and exhausting in our university’s history. Under great stress, and often at great peril, we have remained committed to each other—and to our missions of discovery, research, and patient care. Today, I ask you to join me in taking the next step toward ensuring the safety and vitality of our university community.

Thank you for your ongoing commitment and flexibility. I am so very proud to call you fellow members of the Duke family.

Vincent E. Price
President
This message has been sent to all Duke students, faculty and staff..

The message is being sent to all Duke undergraduate students.

Saturday, March 27, 2021

Dear students,

We are writing to update you on East Campus Marketplace and Trinity Café hours. Several positive COVID cases have recently been identified among the Marketplace dining staff. As a safety precaution, all of East Campus Union, including Marketplace and Trinity Café, will be closed until further notice. Duke’s Employee Health team is in the process of contact tracing and investigating those cases right now. The information collected so far indicates transmission occurred between employees who have been in close contact with one another.

Other dining options are being made available for students, and we hope to reopen East Campus Union as soon as it is advisable to do so.

In the meantime, the Duke Dining team is working on a number of alternatives for students on Meal Plan I:

• Now: All students’ Board swipe values have been automatically transitioned to food points, which can be used at any Duke Dining venue, including Merchants On Points. These points are now available to all students.
• Beginning Monday: Duke Dining will begin offering hot, catered meal options for both breakfast and dinner beginning with breakfast on Monday, March 29. All meals will be prepared in a separate kitchen facility nearby and available for pick-up from East Campus Union.
• Beginning Monday: Duke Dining will be offering rotating food truck options for dinner each night in the circle in front of East Campus Union. Please see the Dining Food Truck Calendar for trucks and times. This will begin at dinner on Monday.
  

Please be sure to keep checking the Duke Dining website as well as follow Duke Dining on Instagram for the food truck schedule, menu options for catered meals, and other continued updates. As always, Duke Dining is committed to offering a wide range of healthy, delicious options for our students while keeping the health and safety of both our students and team members at the forefront.

Thank you for your flexibility. We hope to reopen Marketplace as soon as it is advisable to do so, and will keep you updated.

Sincerely,
Student Affairs 

This message is being sent to all Duke faculty, staff and graduate and professional students.

March 20, 2021

Dear Colleagues,

Please see the message below that was just sent to all undergraduate students.  Based on the decline in positive COVID tests and the continued low rates among graduate and professional students, we have decided to lift the stay-in-place guidance as planned effective 9:00 AM Sunday. Therefore, beginning Monday morning, all classes will return to their Spring 2021 delivery mode, so please plan accordingly.

We will continue to closely monitor testing results and trends and will be prepared to insitute another pause in activities should there be another surge.   In addition, off-campus undergraduate students will only be permitted access to campus for classes, other academic purposes and essential services.

Thank you for the rapid and successful modifications that you all made to continue our teaching mission and student support during this past week. We greatly appreciate it and look forward to working with you and our students to protect the health and safety of our community.

Sincerely,

Sally Kornbluth
Provost

Kyle Cavanaugh
Vice President for Administration

This message was followed by the full text of the message sent to undergraduate students earlier in the day. That message can be found here: https://coronavirus.duke.edu/2021/03/update-on-stay-in-place/

This message is being sent to all Duke undergraduate students.

Saturday, March 20, 2021

Dear students,

Last week, we asked all Duke undergraduates to stay-in-place for one week in order to stop the spread of COVID as quickly as possible. THANK YOU for cooperating with our public health measures this week.

The good news is that we’ve seen a decline in the number of undergraduate students testing positive for COVID. This means that we can lift most elements of the stay-in-place order effective at 9 a.m. Sunday, March 21.

However, this doesn’t mean that the pandemic is over. We continue to see students testing positive at a higher rate than last semester and earlier this year,  and our data indicate that the virus is becoming more contagious. Please remain vigilant and carefully follow the Duke Compact and additional public health guidance. We’ve heard you clearly that you want to successfully complete the semester and to support our seniors on their way to graduation. Given the collective effort we’ve seen from you this week, we know these goals are within reach.

DETAILS
When the stay-in-place is lifted Sunday at 9:00 AM:

• All in-person courses—including lab classes—will resume their standard spring 2021 delivery (whether in-person or hybrid).
• Students living in Duke-provided housing (including Avana, Blue Light, and the Washington Duke) may freely move about campus, but  we ask that on campus students  remain on campus grounds, and should only leave campus for essential travel and wellness-related activities through March 28th.
• Students living off-campus in the Durham area are only permitted to be on campus for in-person classes and essential academic activities, to participate in surveillance testing, seek medical care at Student Health, or pick up grab-and-go food orders at the Brodhead Center. 
• Students must follow Duke guidance limiting any indoor gatherings to 10 people or fewer, indoor or outdoors, on or off-campus, unless otherwise permitted through the student events approval process.
• Common spaces such as the Bryan Center, Brodhead Center, and other campus buildings will re-open to residential students.  However, indoor dining will not be permitted at this time.
• Libraries will reopen for undergraduates.

REMINDERS 
These items are not new, but it is extremely important that you continue to follow this guidance: 

• Travel: We expect that you will remain in Durham for the rest of the semester. If you must travel, it is crucial that you register prior to your departure, and follow university guidance—as outlined on the Keep Learning page—for sequester upon your return.  Adherence to these return guidelines is crucial to our collective success.
• Public health guidance: Continue to follow all public health guidance in place this spring: wear your mask when you are around others, avoid gatherings, complete your surveillance testing, report your symptoms and respond quickly and honestly to contract tracers.
  

THANK YOU
We have been so impressed with all the ways we’ve seen you rally to take care of yourselves and each other this week as we navigated the stay-in-place order. Seriously: great work. Let’s ensure we can finish out the semester strong.

Go Duke,

Mary Pat McMahon
Vice Provost of Student Affairs

Gary Bennett
Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education 

John Blackshear
Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students

This message is being sent to all Duke undergraduate students.

Thursday, March 18, 2021

Dear students, 

It’s been quite a week. As we have travelled across campus in the past few days, we continue to be impressed by how you’ve rallied to take care—of yourselves and others—as we navigate the stay-in-place order. 

We’re now 4 days in and we are seeing the improvement we had hoped from the undergraduate community. For testing conducted through Wednesday, we had 54 cases of COVID, down from 107 cases in the same period last week.

However, we’re not there yet so the stay-in-place order will remain unchanged through 9 a.m. Sunday, March 21.

During the next few days, continue to follow all guidance: wear your mask when you are around others, avoid gatherings of more than three people, complete your surveillance testing, report your symptoms and respond quickly and honestly to contract tracers.  

As a reminder: students are expected to stay in Durham throughout the semester. Any students who must travel right now must also carefully adhere to return guidance as outlined on the Keep Learning page. Adherence to these return guidelines is crucial to our collective success. Thanks to those of you who registered their travel.

We remain cautiously optimistic that this pause will help us get through this uptick in COVID cases but we need you to stay vigilant. Let’s maintain the health of our fellow students and neighbors, and support our seniors on the way to graduation. Thanks again for all you’re doing and we’ll update you again on Saturday afternoon with more detail.  

Go Duke,

Gary Bennett 
Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education 

Mary Pat McMahon
Vice Provost of Student Affairs

John Blackshear
Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students

The message is being sent to all Duke undergraduate students.

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Dear students,

We are writing to share the March COVID conduct and compliance update. In the first three days since we asked undergraduates to stay in place we have seen the terrific effort being put forth by students to get through this period. We will provide you with an update on Thursday, but in the meantime, keep up the great work. We know many of you are focused on midterms and thinking about making sure our seniors get to have commencement. Thanks to your faculty, too, for all the ways everyone has adapted to additional remote classes this week, too.  

As we have throughout the year, we are providing a monthly update to share aggregate data around conduct outcomes for individual students and student organizations found responsible for any violations of COVID and Duke Compact-related expectations. As you know, we follow up on all reports of on- or off-campus conduct and investigate to determine any student responsibility.

For the period from the start of the term through Friday, March 12, we can provide an aggregate overview of following categories of conduct sanctions:

• 72 students referred for educational interventions for less severe infractions of the Duke Compact — these outcomes are not part of a student’s disciplinary record.

• Sanctions for COVID-related violations are implemented by either the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards or Housing and Residence Life. 128 sanctions have been issued this spring to students (total number of sanctions does not equal total number of students; in other words, one student could receive multiple sanctions). These actions, which include suspensions for an upcoming semester, formal warnings, disciplinary probation, withdrawal of campus privileges, and educational initiatives, may become a part of the student’s conduct record and in some cases reportable to graduate schools, study away programs, employers, and other university programs in which a student’s disciplinary record may be a factor in participation.  

• 2 campus organizations currently on suspension for COVID-related infractions; this status carries over from the Fall 2020 semester in both cases. (Note: this does not include organizations disaffiliated with the University)
  

Administrative Action Review Panels are held to determine if allegations of flagrant violations of COVID policy expectations and the Duke Compact could result in interim measures to preserve the health, safety, and welfare of the Duke and Durham community, pending the conduct process. 

• 9 students have had cases this semester addressed through Administrative Action Review Panels. Examples of flagrant violations include: hosting gatherings, failing to follow quarantine and isolation protocols to protect fellow students, and repeated violations of COVID expectations. (Note: individuals affiliated with unrecognized student organizations and who host organizational events are accountable as individuals, not as part of an unrecognized group.) As in Fall 2020, interim measures have included loss of campus privileges, interim suspensions, and other interim restrictions.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Academic dishonesty incident reports have more than doubled compared to a typical academic year. From a typical volume of approximately 89 reports during the fall 2019 semester, 243 reports were submitted during the fall 2020 semester. A majority of cases involved unauthorized collaboration such as:

• Accessing online sites, such as Chegg, prior and/or during an examination window

• Posting exams or examination questions to online websites

• Collaborating with other students by copying and/or sharing answers to quizzes, post labs, and/or examinations.

Academic dishonesty is a violation of the Duke Community Standard. All reports are carefully reviewed and adjudicated; students found responsible for serious violations of academic integrity will also face sanctions of disciplinary probation or suspension from Duke. Do your own work and follow faculty guidance carefully in each of your courses. If you are experiencing challenges in your coursework, please reach out to your faculty member as soon as possible to seek assistance. There are also additional campus resources, such as the Academic Resource Center and the Thompson Writing Center, that can help through tutoring, time management, developing skills and strategies for writing essays and papers.

THANK YOU

Thank you, as always, for all you are doing to keep yourselves, your fellow students, and the Duke and Durham communities safe.

Thank you and go Duke,

John Blackshear
Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students

Jeanna McCullers
Senior Associate Dean & Director,
Office of Student Conduct & Community Standards