COVID-19 Update: March 17, 11 a.m.

Dear students,

First, I want to acknowledge how deeply upsetting the COVID-19 situation has been for everyone. The campus experience you have come to love has come to an end for the semester, and I am very sorry that your time has been cut short. I am especially sensitive to the experience of our seniors, who were looking forward to enjoying their final weeks here in Gambier, and spending time with friends.

My staff, in close collaboration with colleagues across the campus, have been working tirelessly (quite literally around the clock) to determine how you can retrieve your belongings from campus. Over the last several days we created a plan in close consultation with our local health department officials, who recommended that we act quickly and with strict guidelines, given their models of how the virus is expected to hit our community. Indeed, the situation has changed dramatically since we developed plans over the weekend, just 36 hours ago. The guidance issued late yesterday afternoon by the CDC, further restrictions imposed by Ohio’s governor, and news this morning of increasing cases in nearby counties (although not at Kenyon) have prompted us to act quickly once again.

We are providing several options for you to collect your belongings, with the goal to keep our community as healthy and safe as possible. If you cannot return to campus by Sunday, March 22, belongings may remain in your room until May. There will be a moratorium on students returning to campus between Monday, March 23, and at least May 1 (the Ohio Health Department predicts that the virus will peak here in late April or early May). We will closely monitor the guidance from our local health authorities and communicate with students in April when we expect that they will be able to return.

If you intend to leave your belongings in your room for the foreseeable future, or if you were intending to pick up your belongings later this week and your plans have changed, please indicate your plans on this form. There is also an opportunity on the same form to let us know that you would like to leave most of your belongings, and request that some essential items (such as laptops) are sent to you. Please note that even if you elect to leave your belongings in your room, staff will likely need to access it in order to discard perishables, unplug appliances, etc. For additional questions, please consult the College’s COVID-19 FAQs.

I hope that this change provides some peace of mind and reassurance during this turbulent time in our world. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work through this, as we always do at Kenyon, together.

Meredith Harper Bonham ’92
Vice President for Student Affairs

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