Despite 139 reported violations of public health rules, Stanford reiterates plans for students to return in winter

Oct. 15, 2020, 9:25 p.m.

Citing a “low” number of COVID-19 cases on campus, Vice Provosts Susie Brubaker-Cole and Sarah Church wrote that Stanford plans to proceed with inviting frosh and sophomores to campus for winter quarter in Thursday’s Re-Approaching Stanford newsletter. They added that though 139 public health violations had been reported, none had been forwarded to the University’s Compact Review Panel.

They wrote that instead, the reports were dealt with “by inviting students to follow-up conversations with RDs, CDs, GLO Deans, or Stanford Athletics.” They wrote that they were “so grateful” for students’ actions to protect each other.

The reaffirmation of plans to allow many undergraduates to return to campus comes amid a national uptick in COVID cases, as well as debunked rumors that Stanford had decided to cancel its plans.

During the proposed winter quarter, frosh and sophomore students must be enrolled in classes to be eligible to live on campus and not on a Flex Term). However, undergraduates will be able to appeal to live on campus during their Flex Term “if they are involved in a full-time on-campus opportunity such as an Undergraduate Student Research Grant or a Cardinal Quarter fellowship.”

All students eligible for winter quarter housing will receive an email on Friday containing details on the housing assignment process as well as housing and dining options. 

University R&DE spokesperson Jocelyn Breeland told The Daily that the email will include a form allowing students to rank their preferences for winter quarter housing. Breeland wrote in a statement to The Daily that the process will be different for frosh and transfers.

Stanford reported no new cases among students and one among faculty, staff and postdoctoral scholars for the week of Oct. 5. As of Thursday, no cases are in isolation on campus, according to Stanford’s COVID dashboard.

The University will continue to “gradually adjust campus protocols as conditions permit,” according to Brubaker-Cole and Church. “If current conditions hold, we are planning to offer a greater number of in-person classes, and to offer these classes indoors,” they wrote.

Faculty and department are in the process of updating which classes will be in-person for the winter quarter before Dec. 6 when enrollment opens, according to the newsletter.

Stanford has reversed plans to bring students to campus in the past. The University originally planned to bring frosh and sophomores to campus for the fall quarter before announcing in August that it would not bring students to campus.

Contact Sam Catania at samcat ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Sam Catania ’24 is the Volume 262 Editor in Chief of The Daily. Previously, he was Chief Technology Officer, the producer of the weekly video roundup, a news beat reporter covering COVID-19 on Stanford's campus and the assessment team leader of The Daily's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) team. Sam hails from Philadelphia and is studying Symbolic Systems. You can follow him on Twitter @sbcatania. Contact him at scatania 'at' stanforddaily.com

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