Dear Allegheny Students, Faculty, and Staff,

As part of our ongoing effort to keep you informed about our campus reopening, and to respond to questions we have received in the past two days, we write with updated information regarding the COVID situation on campus. To be clear, in general we are doing amazingly well, and we have a very low infection rate (24 total positives out of 3,356). Because we are doing everything in our power to keep the campus safe and healthy and open for in-person living and learning for those who wish, we are taking additional steps today to give us the confidence that we can isolate cases and eliminate community spread.

Because we uncovered, during last week’s tests, a cluster of positives among a connected group of students, and because we have understood that this arose due to travel off campus, effective immediately, and until we have evidence through testing that we have contained our cluster situation, we are adding the precaution of extending the on-campus quarantine period until further notice. This means students may not leave campus for any reason — including, for example, trips to area businesses, jobs, or any other off-campus locations. While this is disappointing for all of us, given the current status of our clustering, we believe that this is the best way to maintain safety for the entire community.

Additionally, given the clustering and ongoing reported violations of the Gator Pledge, effective immediately, we will no longer give warnings to those students who are found to have violated the pledge. This does not mean that every report leads to action; but should a report uncover a true violation of the Pledge, students in violation will be expected to leave campus and continue their courses remotely from home. While the overwhelming majority of students are taking the health guidelines seriously, unfortunately, there are already a few students who have disrespected these guidelines and violated the Gator Pledge; they are being held accountable through the student conduct process and being removed from campus. It is unfortunate that a handful of students have negatively impacted the experience for the majority of students who have adhered to the guidelines in the strictest possible way. We must reiterate that there can be no gatherings, no parties, no visitors to the residence halls from off campus or other behaviors that put the health and safety of the community at risk. In general, the only person you should be within six feet of without a facial covering is your roommate.

There is simply no room for non-compliance, and our response throughout the semester has been and will continue to be quick and firm, with no room for leniency. We urge families to remind your students to comply; if not, they risk jeopardizing the on-campus experience for every single Allegheny student and our faculty and staff.

A few students have rightfully asked why, after the campus quarantine ends, we are planning to bring admissions visitors to campus, including athletic recruits, when we are doing everything in our power to protect the safety of our campus community. We want to be clear that we are only doing so when the campus quarantine ends, and that we are doing so under the strict guidance of our epidemiologists and medical professionals. The Office of Admissions convened a committee over the summer made up of faculty, staff, and students to create a plan to safely host in-person visitors on campus. With approval from ACHA, the committee examined and implemented the protocols necessary to move forward with allowing visitors on a very limited scale based on guidelines set forth by the CDC and ACHA. Some of those guidelines consist of health screening questionnaires, face coverings at all times, scheduled time between visitors, vastly reduced numbers of visitors permitted, and limited exposure to campus buildings. Walk-in visits are not allowed, and we are not permitting students to visit from CDC restricted areas.

Thank you for doing everything you can to help keep the Allegheny and Meadville communities as safe as possible.

Hilary L. Link, President
Gabrielle Morrow, M.D., Allegheny College Health Agency