PROTOCOLS IN PLACE
For area colleges, reopening amid pandemic is a learning experience
Their plans carefully created and fully implemented, colleges in the Mid-Hudson Valley now are hoping protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on their campuses will prove successful as the new academic year begins.
The rules for the region’s twoand four-year schools are spelled out in great detail in lengthy online documents, and the college’s leaders say they are ready to make any changes necessary as students return to campus for the first time since shutdowns took effect in March.
SUNY Ulster, a two-year com
munity college in Stone Ridge, with a satellite campus in Kingston, is requiring students to answer questions about any potential exposure to COVID-19 before they can set foot in classrooms.
“Once they get into the building, they are quizzed on the questions of whether or not they’ve been out of state, whether or not they’ve had any type of illness,” said Wayne Freer, SUNY Ulster’s director of Public Safety and Emergency Services.
On SUNY Ulster’s main campus, desks in classrooms, seating areas in lecture halls, and tables in the cafeteria have been adjusted to allow for social distancing, Freer said.
Bard College, a four-year school in Annandale-onHudson, began bringing students back to the campus last week, and arrivals will continue through Sunday.
Unlike at SUNY Ulster, students at Bard live in oncampus dorms, creating a possibly heightened risk of COVID-19 transmission. Bard has developed plans for dealing with any cases, including moving students to different residential spaces and initiating contact tracing.
“We have laid out very carefully what will happen if you test positive,” said Bard Vice President for Communications Mark Primoff.
“We even define ‘close contact,’” he said. “People always have that question, about what constitutes close contact that will initiate the contact-tracing process. So we really try to provide as much information as possible for people to understand this process.”
Marist College, a four-year school in Poughkeepsie, has provided an early example of how serious it is about COVID-related protocols. It recently suspended 15 students for violating social-distancing rules by attending an offcampus party.
Marist President Dennis Murray responded to the incident in a blunt letter to the student body.
“Please don’t be a knucklehead who disregards the safety of others and puts our ability to remain on campus at risk,” he wrote.
Primoff declined to comment about the Marist incident but said Bard fully understands that parties and other social gatherings have long been a part of college life.
“What we know about working with college-aged students ... is built into the system,” he said. “We’ve developed a number of teams on campus. One of them is the response team ... made up of every office that need to intersect with these issues.”
SUNY New Paltz, where limited in-person instruction began Monday, has implemented social distancing in classrooms, is requiring the use of personal protective equipment and has reduced capacity in residence halls. Students who live in New Paltz dorms and contact COVID-19 will be relocated to the college’s quarantine site, Awosting Hall.
Under protocols established in July, all SUNY New Paltz students and employees are required to complete a daily health self-screening and report results. They are being asked to take and report their temperature, indicate the presence of any COVID-19 symptoms, and report any exposure to confirmed cases.
They also must wear masks or other face coverings in classrooms, restrooms, elevators, lecture halls, common spaces, studios and labs whenever they are occupied by more than one person.
At Columbia-Greene Community College in Greenport, the resumption of classes has been impeded by the conversion of the school’s cafeteria and gym to hospital overflow spaces early in the pandemic. The overflow space hasn’t been needed but remains in place.
“Our buildings and grounds crew actually started with modifications to our campus all the way back in February, right when things were starting to happen,” said college Public Relations Director Jaclyn Stevenson.
Some modifications, such as installing hand sanitizer stations in hallways, will wind up benefiting returning students.
Stevenson said the college’s plans evolved over the last six months as administrators came to understand the logistics of social distancing, requiring masks, and checking people’s temperatures.
And not all students will need to be on the campus, Stevenson said.
“We only have a limited number of students who are coming back,” she said. “… It’s largely students who need labs or kinetic courses as part of their programs. That includes nursing, construction technology, and also includes some art classes ... [and] we have very specific policies in place now for faculty and staff to enter the building.”
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