A Message From President Standifird - Fall Semester

Dear Students:

We are excited and eager for the fall semester to begin. Some of you may be remote learning and others may be on campus. No matter where you choose to learn, I am thrilled to have you as our student and am looking forward to my first semester as president of our university.

There have been numerous teams and countless hours spent in preparation for the fall. All summer, we have followed the science and the ever-changing landscape of COVID-19. As we get close to starting the semester, there are some critical updates I want to share with you.

The most important pieces of limiting the spread of the virus have proven to be physical distancing, facial coverings and hand washing. This is where we must continue to be aggressive, and I ask for your assistance. Please take these practices seriously. We need you to be socially connected but physically distanced.

For those of you returning to campus, please be vigilant over the next 7-10 days before your arrival. Do not attend large gatherings. Whenever you must be in public, maintain physical distance and wear your face covering. I’m sure you’ll want to see family and friends before you leave for Bradley, but there will be many opportunities to celebrate later. Please wait for those opportunities. The best thing for the Bradley community is to have you come on campus healthy.

If you feel ill or exhibit any COVID-19 symptoms, please do not return immediately to campus. Contact Bradley Health Services, and we will arrange your first week(s) of classes to be remote, and we will hold your residence hall, SAC or St. James apartment assignments for you.

The first weeks on campus are critical to your success from the health and academic sides. When you are back on-campus, remember the importance of handwashing, physical distancing, masking up and please, NO large gatherings. I can’t stress this enough. I know you want to see your old friends, connect with new friends and participate in activities. There will be plenty of opportunities to do so, just not yet. We expect students and student organizations to refrain from organizing, hosting or attending non-university events, social gatherings and parties throughout the semester. Across the country, we have seen large gatherings, like at parties or bars, become hotbeds for the spread of the virus. Let’s not let that happen at Bradley.

Thanks for your patience and flexibility throughout the summer and into the fall. Here are some additional things you should know before classes begin.

Classes

You will begin to see shifts in your schedule within Webster. About half of the courses across the university will be exclusively online and all instructors have been asked to prepare to deliver their courses in a hybrid style and to pivot to fully online should the need arise. This highly flexible manner will allow us to meet classroom physical distancing guidelines and students’ potential remote learning needs.

On your schedule, if you see a course listed as ONL under the building location, this means your class is exclusively online for the semester. If there is a time designation (i.e., 2:00-3:15), your class will meet online during the designated time. If the course is listed as ONL and ARR, then further information will come directly from your instructor(s).

If some of your classes are face-to face while others are online and you would like to make a request to be a full remote learner for the semester, follow the process outlined under remote learning. If you request to be a remote learner, you will not be allowed to reside in the residence halls or SAC.

If all of your classes are online based on university designation, you will still be able to live in the residence halls, SAC or St. James while taking your classes online. No notification is needed if you intend to stay. If all of your classes are online based on university designation and you do not wish to continue residing in your residence hall, SAC or St. James, you will be released from these contracts. To be released, please email vpsa@bradley.edu to notify of your desire to be released. All other housing operations, including Main Street Commons, individual rental properties, fraternities and sororities are operated by outside agencies. All questions regarding the operations and leasing terms of these properties should be directed to the appropriate landlord.

Remote Learning

If you would still like to request to be a remote learner for the entire semester, you may do so before noon on Wednesday, August 19. We must have a deadline so your instructors can adequately prepare for the semester. If you’d like to apply to take your classes solely in a virtual environment, you must send a request to vpsa@bradley.edu and include a brief description of why you’re making the request.

You should note, there may be exceptions to virtual classes like a practicum or lab. If accepted for remote learning, you will agree to the following: all tuition and fees will remain the same (minus housing fees); you will not be able to reside in the residence halls or SAC; all grades received will be letter grades (unless the course is already delivered as a pass/fail course); this decision is for the entire fall 2020 semester only and virtual learning may change your financial aid.

Traveling Away from Campus

When you arrive on campus, we ask that you stay at Bradley. Please don’t leave on the weekends to visit friends who may live elsewhere. If you must travel away from campus, we ask that you complete the travel registry. We will use this if contacting tracing is needed. Again, we are asking for you to carefully consider whether you need to leave the Peoria area.

Local address

It is very important you let us know where you are living this fall. To do so, please go to Webster and in the personal info tab you can change your local address. If you live in the residence halls, SAC or St. James you do not need to make this change (our systems will denote it for you).

Other important pieces

You will receive communication in a few days outlining the expectations and guidelines that you must follow while on campus. We created these with your health and wellbeing in mind. We must all do our part so we can enjoy a safe and healthy semester on campus.

Attached is a one-page summary of the decisions we have made to positively impact your experience on campus this fall. Some of the essential pieces that have already been communicated to you include:

• Testing and contact tracing guidelines.
• We have provided the Considerations for moving to 100% virtual learning and are prepared to transition if necessary. Regardless of the learning environment, you are responsible for tuition and fees.
• You are asked to complete the COVID-19 training module prior to your arrival to campus.
• Undergraduate students can request a leave of absence (gap year) from the university. Leave of absence requests must be approved prior to Aug 25.

This fall will be unlike any other, one with little room for error and we must prioritize the greater good. We urge you to visit the FAQs posted on our coronavirus website to answer other questions you may have about fall plans. We’ll continue to send emails with updates and if you have questions or concerns, please send them to covid19concerns@fsmail.bradley.edu.

Sincerely,

Stephen Standifird
President, Bradley University

   COVID-19 News for Bradley Students

–Sent to all Students on 08/12/20