State’s colleges differ on COVID penalty enforcement
Spokesman: No WestConn students disciplined
Connecticut colleges have established disciplinary guidelines for students who disregard COVID-19 safety policies, but not all of the schools have been enforcing the penalties.
As colleges face a growing number of coronavirus cases, they have developed regulations around large gatherings, maskwearing and other public health precautions to help curb the spread of the illness on campuses.
But the colleges appear to be taking different approaches to disciplining the students.
At Trinity College in Hartford, where an outbreak has temporarily suspended all in-person classes this week, “a limited number of students were disciplined for violating
COVID-19 guidance,” school spokeswoman Stacy Sneed said. She declined to comment on how many students have been disciplined or provide more information.
At the University of Connecticut, more than 200 students have violated the school’s
COVID-19 policies, but none of them have been suspended or expelled, according to spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz.
Reitz said 212 students have violated the
COVID-19 precautions since undergraduates returned to residence halls on Aug. 14.
“Most have been for having guests from other dorms in their rooms during the initial two-week quarantine period, or having small gatherings in their rooms,” she said.
Reitz said the school feels a collaborative approach is most effective since the non-compliant students represent a small fraction of the nearly 24,000 undergraduates.
“In general, UConn’s approach to compliance has been to work collaboratively with students so they want to follow the regulations and encourage others to do the same as a way to help us keep the campuses open,” Reitz said. “Given the small number of violations in comparison to the entirety of our student population, that positive tone seems to resonate with our students and has created an atmosphere of compliance and cooperation among the vast majority of students.”
However, at least one student was removed from on-campus housing after a video went viral of a dorm party that violated COVID-19 regulations.
But Reitz pointed out that “a student isn’t necessarily suspended or expelled for violating the housing code and, in this case, the student remains enrolled, but not as an on-campus student.”
At Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, none of its students have been disciplined for violating COVID-19 policies, spokesman Paul M. Steinmetz said.
He said students who disregard rules about social distancing and maskwearing receive one warning. After a second violation, students are referred to the school’s academic judicial process, with potential penalties including dismissal from the university.
“We have not brought anyone before the judicial process,” Steinmetz said. “I have heard of people not wearing a mask, but putting it on when someone asked them to. A warning would come if we find a big gathering in a dorm room, or even off campus, with a large unmasked crowd. If people comply and put on a mask as they walk down a hall, we let that go without a warning.”
Other Connecticut colleges are taking a stricter approach.
Sacred Heart University has suspended more than 100 students for
violating the school’s COVID-19 rules and two of them have been removed for the rest of the semester for being repeat offenders, according to Larry Wielk, dean of students.
Quinnipiac University has disciplined more than 40 students for things like violating no-visitor policies for residence halls or exceeding the limits for gatherings.
At Fairfield University, where an outbreak of more than 60 cases this week has called for off-campus residents to quarantine in their homes, spokeswoman Susan Cipollaro said students have “been found responsible” for violating COVID-19 guidelines, and potential punishments range from student conduct probation to expul
sion.
However, she said the school will not disclose “disciplinary matters,” and has declined to say how many students have been disciplined.
Leigh Appleby, director of communications for the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities, said discipline policies are a good way to underline the importance of the COVID-19-prevention guidelines.
“As we have said since day one, while we are confident in the comprehensive plans our institutions have developed to operate safely — all of which were written in close consultation with public health experts — the best plan in the world is meaningless if folks don’t take it seriously,” he said.