On-Campus Summer Programs And Activities, April 15, 2020

Dear students, staff and faculty:

Early in our planning around COVID-19, we charged a small working group to advise on the feasibility of hosting in-person programs on our campus this summer. In the intervening weeks, we have continued to see an increase in COVID cases and fatalities in the United States, accompanied by more stringent social distancing measures. The campus remains in remote operation until further notice, and last week we announced that two of our signature summer programs—Praxis and SURF (Summer Research Fellowship Program)—will be limited to remote-only formats.

In that context, we have accepted a recommendation from the working group that we cancel all summer campus events and programs through the end of August.

The following programs are canceled: the Campus School June Program; all external rentals of campus facilities, including those in the conference center; in-person Executive Education programs; and Summer at Smith precollege programs.

The Center for Early Childhood Education will not run its regular summer session but will be prepared to reopen as soon as possible after the campus reopens, to support employees and their families.

All graduate programs—Exercise and Sport Studies, the master of arts in teaching, biological sciences, dance and social work—will be conducted online, or delayed, at the discretion of the program director until in-person campus operations resume. Directors of those programs will reach out to current and prospective graduate students to discuss ways to continue their academic work in this context.

We will assess conditions for presemester events, such as the Bridge and International Student Preorientation programs and preseason athletics, in the summer.

Our decision to cancel in-person programs and operations underscores our commitment to the health and safety of our community and our serious and concerted focus on flattening the curve of COVID-19 spread. While we regret the circumstances that led to this decision, we hope that providing certainty now is helpful to you in your planning.

Sincerely,

Kathleen McCartney
President

David DeSwert
Vice President for Finance and Administration

COVID-19 Incident Response Team (CIRT) Summer Programs Working Group

Patty DiBartolo
Associate Dean of the Faculty

Susan Etheredge
Dean of the College and Vice President for Campus Life

Laurie Fenlason
Vice President for Strategic Initiatives

Sam Masinter
Interim Vice President for Public Affairs