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[MUSIC PLAYING] RYAN LOMBARDI: Hello, everybody. This is Ryan Lombardi coming back to you. It's a little after 12:30 Eastern time in Ithaca, New York. It's good to be with you again.
For those of you that I haven't had a chance to meet, Ryan Lombardi. My role is vice president for Student and Campus Life at Cornell, and I'm glad to be able to spend some more time with you today. For those that I've had the chance to do this with a number of times or had a chance to email with, I want to just express my continued appreciation for your engagement and your flexibility. Obviously, I know we've got a lot to talk about today, a lot of challenges in front of us here, and we're going to do the best we can to try and keep moving us forward through this.
I do want to acknowledge and welcome everybody who's joining us today. I know a lot of students, families, people who are deeply excited and committed and hopeful for the fall ahead. I also want to thank my colleagues that are here with me today, whom I'll introduce in just a moment. We have a fairly focused panel as you know today, so just a couple of colleagues, but I'm hopeful it will be very helpful in answering what I know are a lot of tough and important questions.
I also do want to say that I know that for students, for families this has been really difficult. I feel for all of you. I especially feel for our new students and their parents as you think about starting college.
I have not gone through that as a parent myself. My kids are still in middle school. I just had a webinar that I participated in with them this week where they learned that they'd be in school two days a week, so working through that on our home. But my nephew is starting college this fall, not at Cornell, unfortunately, but my nephew started college this fall. And I've had a chance to talk to him quite a bit this summer as he similarly tries to think about the best way to begin.
So I just want to acknowledge that, and I've had a lot of exchanges with a lot of you and certainly recognize that. And I'm disappointed that we haven't been able to provide a more clear roadmap, but as everybody is keenly aware that this pandemic has no clear trajectory. And we've had continued twists and turns every step of the way that's made this all quite difficult on everybody.
I know the anxiety's there. I know it's high. My hope for you is not only that this helps, but I'm just going to encourage you to try the best you can to not let that anxiety get the best of you.
This is an extraordinary moment in our country, in our world, and everybody's navigating this differently. And everybody is impacted by this differently, and circumstances that are in front of us are going to create unique experiences for everyone.
So the normal thing that people do is they make comparisons. They make comparisons to their peer group. They make comparisons to friends, to family. It happens. We all do it.
I especially want to encourage our students, either continuing Cornellians or new Cornellians, to really resist that temptation right now in this moment to try to make comparisons. I think that's especially important given the news we had to share last night about some students being encouraged to start in a remote situation given the growth in states that are on New York's quarantine list. We'll talk a little bit more about that.
I do also want to assure you-- and there are some questions that I've gotten and that have come in about this. The team has really been working nonstop. And I think one of the unique elements about Cornell is that of course, we set a very ambitious plan and a very bold plan and I think one that has generated a lot of enthusiasm and excitement.
And that also has generated a lot of work for us and perhaps to tackle some challenges that might be more complex than some other places that made different choices. And that's certainly their prerogative to do that. I appreciate the support in the recognition for so many of you that have acknowledged that.
As I mentioned in our last forum, we were concerned about more changes that might be forthcoming. I know we talked about that, and certainly, that has been the case. So we're going to really dig into that today.
But the message I have to keep sending, even as I got updates this morning and continue to talk to folks, is that plans continue to evolve. Things could still change. But what was important to us as we sent the email out last night, Provost Kotlikoff and myself, was we recognize that that ambiguity was not helpful and that we just needed to proceed and give you some direction.
Once again from a logistics perspective-- and then I'm going to introduce my colleagues-- I do want to acknowledge the way we're doing this again. These forums generate a lot of interest, and that's great. We have thousands of people listening in today. I appreciate you doing that, especially in the middle of the day.
We got a lot of questions as is appropriate, both in our emails, but also as a part of the registration, and we're going to go through and present and try to answer as many of those as possible. And for people who are listening, you're certainly-- anyone's welcome to join us, but the focus of our conversation today really will be about the move-in process, updates on the quarantine, the New York travel advisory, and the impacts of that on Cornell. I know there are other questions related to the fall about all kinds of topics-- behavioral compact, enrollment, et cetera, but we're really going to be focused today just because we know there's so many pressing issues related to move-in.
So with that, I'm joined today by two of my colleagues that I want to introduce here, one of whom you've had the chance to be with repeatedly and another that you haven't. So first, again, my colleague, Pat Wynn, who is assistant vice president in Student and Campus Life. Pat?
PAT WYNN: Hello, everyone. For those that I've chatted with before, you're probably not happy to see me today, but I hope we can answer questions for you. And we are cognizant of how difficult this is for everyone. So thank you.
RYAN LOMBARDI: Thank you, Pat. And then I want to introduce you to someone that you haven't had the chance to hear from before, and that's Karen Brown, who's senior director for Communications and Marketing that supports our entire team in Pat's organization, our [? Housing/Residence ?] Life, Cornell Dining, and many other departments. So Karen, you want to say hello?
KAREN BROWN: Hi, everyone. Thanks for joining in, and thanks for having me, Ryan. We have a lot of information to cover today, and looking forward to making your arrival as seamless and successful as possible.
RYAN LOMBARDI: Great. Thank you, Karen. And you two may want to mute while I do my intro here until it's your turn to kick in here.
So as I mentioned, we're going to focus on move-in, and Pat and Karen are going to go through a long list of FAQs and information, elaborate on some of the information that came via email last night, and really try and provide as much as possible. But I thought it would be helpful for me to take a moment first, though, and just give a little background about how we ended up where we are today and how we got here.
So as many of you know, our initial plan and hope, shortly after Cornell announced that we were going to be operating a residential semester, was that we-- shortly thereafter, New York began the travel advisory. And we started monitoring that closely. Initially, it was a smaller number of states, and so our playing out of the gates was to reserve hotels in the area and allow students to come from those states and quarantine in the area.
I don't have to tell anyone who's watching today over the last month of July, these numbers have continued to grow in terms of incidents of coronavirus and COVID-19 across the country, but also the number of states that are on the New York state travel advisory now. I think we're up to 34 plus Washington DC and Puerto Rico. And so as you can imagine, as those numbers grew, the complexity of trying to find accommodations and space for that quarantine became increasingly difficult and ultimately to a point untenable. We found ourselves in a situation where the hotels that we were looking at now were an hour or more away from campus that we were going to have to provide.
And that just didn't feel like to us, ultimately, with all the transportation challenges and buses needing to be used in a reduced capacity, it didn't feel to us like the best way to start a Cornell experience. And so I'll get into why we think the other way might be better that we're going to go, but we did make this decision. It was a very excruciating decision and very difficult to do, but in light of how things continue to progress.
I also want to say, because I've talked to a few of you, it has been our hope, frankly, that we might be allowed by the state to have a modified plan with some rigorous testing regimen, which we plan to do anyway, that we would be able to do some shorter quarantine time frames. And we were really hopeful that the state might allow that, because we know most people coming and going in the state aren't going to be tested multiple times in the first days that they're here. And so we were hopeful that if we were offered that, we might be able to get an ulterior plan-- an alternative plan, I should say-- for our students.
But we have been unsuccessful in that. I must tell you that we've been working on that very actively up until the end of the day yesterday when we felt like we needed to proceed. And we made that decision because I've also heard from a lot of you, an awful lot of you, about the anxiety that you were feeling around needing a direction and needing us to be able to move forward and head in a certain pathway. So that's led us to today.
And I want you to know, especially to the students if you're tuning in, but I certainly know a lot of families are, too, how much we want you to able to join us on campus this fall. We also know these are unprecedented circumstances, and you certainly understand that. And it's certainly our hope, if things in the country improve and states are removed from New York state's travel advisory, that we would have you join us on campus.
We'll be flexible with that. We'll work with you to get you here and welcome you properly to Cornell rather than having you in some distant place alone without appropriate support. We'll figure out all the logistics that come with that as this changes, but we really do want that to happen. So obviously, we're now at this point where we're no longer able to coordinate and not going to coordinate this quarantine logistics for everybody given that increased number. But I want to clarify a couple of points of our message before Pat and Karen start to get into some details.
We mentioned that you're welcome to quarantine by choice on your own if you want to do that. We put that in there because we had heard from a number of families that have-- maybe the student has a relative in one of the states that's not on New York's travel advisory. I heard that a lot. I was email-exchanging with a parent this morning that-- I think an aunt in Massachusetts, if I remember correctly. And the question came in quite frequently about whether it was OK if they went there first instead of, at the time, going to a hotel, and that's certainly fine.
We don't have expectations for you to find a hotel now in Ithaca and do that. In fact, our key message to you is that if you don't have some type of situation like that that's readily available with family members or some other kind of situation-- a few of you have siblings. I know this, double Cornellians-- we'd really encourage you to just stay at your permanent residence until your state is lifted from the New York state quarantine travel advisory. We're not going to dictate what you have to do, but that's our strong encouragement, that you just settle in and you start your semester in remote and in a virtual capacity. And then as soon as we can get you here, we get you here.
We recognize, of course, that there is a month between now and the time classes start, so there is time. And I would anticipate things will change. I can't predict whether they'll get better or they'll get worse in terms of the states. But I know that is a difficult message to hear, but I do want to emphasize that.
You also-- and we mentioned this in our email last night. I do appreciate and understand that this creates a hardship for some of you. Not everybody, obviously, has the same means, and Cornell prides itself on supporting students of all socioeconomic backgrounds. And so we want to make sure that this doesn't create a situation that is excessive hardship to you and your family.
I mentioned in a previous forum, if you remember, that we are creating an emergency fund. For continuing students, you might remember, last year, we use the access fund for this mechanism to help when we were dedensifying and closing the campus in the spring. We are setting up an emergency fund. It's a little different than the access fund, but very, very similar in that it's to be used for all of COVID-19-related expenses.
And so for those of you who have that extreme hardship, we will be sharing information about how to apply for resources for that. If this has caused a financial hardship, this change in course so late in the game has caused a financial hardship, we'll be sharing that information.
But also, as we mentioned last night, we will be creating an exceptions process for those students who really have no option but to come to campus, and we know that some of our students fall into that category. We know that some of our international students-- that their visas depend on this. That's really critical for them, and so we want to make sure that we support those populations so that they can be here.
And again, we will be sending out the process for exemptions, and Pat and Karen will talk about this at the very beginning of the week next week. So I'm going to turn it over to Pat and Karen now and let them go with the details.
I do want to publicly acknowledge them, though, that the team has been working nonstop since March, and March is when we had to make the difficult decision to close campus. And there was a lot of question about that at the time. We remember that. I think Cornell was on the early side of making that decision, and so there was a lot of questions about whether we had done the right thing, whether we're making the right decision.
This team and Housing and [? Residence ?] Life and Dining has been working virtually 24/7 since March with no time off and no rest to both then close the campus and start to get ready for opening. I can't thank them enough for their efforts, and I know for some of you who are tuning in, I'm sure you have frustrations. I'm sure you've got all kinds of emotions. Believe me, they do, too, and we do, too.
They, more than anyone on this campus, wanted to be able to welcome you in a more seamless fashion. Karen said we're going to do a seamless fashion, but a more seamless fashion. But they have been working nonstop. And despite how hard this is and despite some of this not being good news, I'm very proud of the work that they've done, so I do want to state that.
And I just want to again say to all of you, to the students, to the families, that we very much regret these are the circumstances by which we're starting this semester. Please hear me loud and clear. If there was anything I could do about that, I would do it.
Me and my colleagues, we have dedicated our lives and our careers to supporting young people in their college experience. It's what we care most about. We believe that student life is the lifeblood of a college experience and a college education. Otherwise, we wouldn't be doing this work, and so we recognize the concern and the care and the frustration.
And so we just want to tell you how much we care about you, and whether we get to see you in a couple of weeks or whether it's a couple of months or somewhere in between, we will embrace you virtually or at a distance and support you in every way that we can. And again, please do everything you can to take care of yourself in this interim until we can get ourselves back together in a more reasonable fashion.
So with that, I am going to turn this over to Pat, who is going to start us off. She'll hand off to Karen to do some of this. They've got a lot of details to share with you, and they're going to walk through that. And then I will come back as we get close to the end to close it out. So with that, Pat, I'm going to turn it to you.
PAT WYNN: Thanks, Ryan. So I do have a lot of information to share, and I'm going to try to go through this as slowly and methodically as I can so that you can really grasp what we're trying to achieve. And we'll proceed.
So for all students who are coming to Ithaca, we are asking that before you travel here, you are quarantined in place for 14 days and seek a COVID-19 test at your current location. Individuals traveling from states subject to the mandatory 14-day quarantine under New York state Andrew Cuomo's executive order will be required to quarantine upon entry into New York state. Quarantine also applies to students coming to Cornell from international locations.
Students who plan to live on campus and are traveling from a state on the New York state travel advisory should prepare to begin their semester online unless they can quarantine for 14 days in New York state or in a state that is currently not under the New York state travel advisory. Prior to coming to Cornell, please quarantine at your current residence for 14 days. If at all possible, seek a COVID-19 test prior to departing and travel to Ithaca only after confirming that your test is negative.
Those able to do so can quarantine with family, friends, or in a hotel of their choice in New York state or any other state that is not under restriction at your own cost. Unless you receive an exception from us, you will not be able to quarantine on campus, even if you have been assigned a single room. Note that the restricted states list can change, and we typically see states being added or removed from the list on Tuesdays of each week.
Students should update their arriving-from information in the reentry checklist as soon as possible. Once we know you will be able to quarantine yourself, whether here in New York or in another state not on the travel advisory list, you will then be assigned a move-in date and time as part of the regular move-in process starting on August 23. We understand that some students, due to their self-quarantine dates, may need are moving at different days and times than has been assigned, and we can adjust their move-in date if absolutely necessary.
We are trusting that you're following the law as set forth by New York state, so while we won't be requiring proof, please note that there are penalties imposed by the state if travelers do not abide by these restrictions. And I just want to read you what is currently posted on the New York state website. It says, "New York state has the authority to fine individuals who do not abide by the quarantine mandate and may bring them to a hearing and order them to complete the mandatory quarantine. All out-of-state travelers from designated states must complete a traveler health form upon entering New York. Travelers who do not complete the form could be subject to a $2,000 fine."
Remember that anyone arriving in New York state by plane, car, train, et cetera must fill out the traveler health form, which was actually linked in Ryan's email yesterday. Cornell housing will be monitoring the travel advisory, and we'll communicate options for students as states are removed. If students do arrive later in the semester, we will make a further adjustment to the housing rate.
If you are unable, due to personal hardship, to arrange for your own quarantine accommodations and you could not remain at your permanent residence and engage effectively in a Cornell education, you may request an exception in order to quarantine on campus. All students from travel-restricted states will be sent an email from Cornell Housing next week explaining the exception request process. The deadline to apply for an exception is August the 5th, and students can expect to hear a decision on their request by August the 10th. Quarantine housing will be provided for those who receive an exception.
If you are approved for a hardship exception to quarantine on campus, you should plan to arrive on August 17. You will also be tested upon arrival. We will do our best, but you may or may not be placed in your final room assignment during this quarantine period.
And now I want to talk a little bit about arrival for on-campus residents from international locations. Students who plan to live on campus and will be returning from an international location should do the following. Prior to coming to Cornell, international students should make every effort to quarantine for 14 days in New York or a state or other low-risk location not currently under New York state advisory. If at all possible, obtain a COVID test prior to departing and travel to Ithaca only after confirming that your test is negative.
Students arriving from an international location who need to quarantine will be assigned quarantine accommodations by Cornell Housing. Plan to arrive on campus by August 17. Testing will be arranged for you as part of your on-campus move-in. And we recognize that travel may be difficult for international students, and we will work with you if you, too, need to arrive later in the semester.
And now I want to talk a little bit about arrival for on-campus residents from states not on the New York state travel advisory. Students who plan to live on campus and currently reside in states that are not on the New York state travel advisory should do the following. Prior to coming to Cornell, please quarantine at your current residence for 14 days. If at all possible, obtain a COVID test prior to departing and travel to Ithaca only after confirming that your test is negative.
Arrive at Cornell on your assigned move-in date and time. Students will receive their assigned move-in date and time on or around August the 7th. Please plan for a staggered move in process to begin on August 23 and end approximately August 31. Testing will be arranged for you as part of your on-campus move-in.
Students should monitor the New York state travel advisory site regularly. If your home state should be added to the list between now and your arrival time, you should plan to stay home until your state is removed from that list.
Arrival for all students who plan to live off campus in the greater Ithaca area, whether you're a graduate or undergraduate-- first of all, we know that many of you are already in the Ithaca community, and many of you are actually year-round residents. Off-campus students should be planning their own arrival in accordance with their leases and their roommates. There is guidance to help you plan your arrival safely online. You can find those links at the bottom of Ryan's email sent to students yesterday.
As a reminder, those students who plan to live off campus should still do the following. Prior to coming to Cornell, quarantine at your current residence for 14 days. If at all possible, obtain a COVID-19 test prior to departing and travel to Ithaca only after confirming your test is negative. Depending on which state or country you are traveling from, you may also need to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in Ithaca. Please note you are required to quarantine in accordance with New York state guidelines, which includes a requirement to complete a traveler health form.
Please schedule an arrival test through the reentry checklist prior to your arrival. If you are already living in Ithaca and have not done so already, please schedule your test through the reentry checklist today.
For all students, if your plans change as a result of these revised guidelines, please update your fall housing and arrival information on the reentry checklist. If you have not yet submitted your housing information as part of the reentry checklist, please do so as soon as possible, ideally today. And now I'm going to turn this over to Karen Brown.
KAREN BROWN: Thanks, Pat. I want to talk about some of the fun stuff about arrival and move-in and some of the nuts and bolts about what our process is going to look like.
I just want to remind to remind everyone that orientation for first year and transfer students is going to run from August 26 through September 2, and the programming will be offered virtually so that students can participate from anywhere, including students who will be taking fall semester courses remotely. There is also a virtual orientation for families and ongoing new student orientation programs throughout September. Schedules will be released really shortly for all of that.
I want to talk a little bit about your housing assignments and the move-in assignment and arrival information that we'll be sending along on or about August 7. It's going to include an assigned date and time for your arrival for testing. And then we have a ton of volunteers on hand to help you find the place where you'll be quarantining overnight until you get your test results, maybe in your residence hall room for those who arrive on the 23rd and 24th, and then maybe in a hotel room for those who arrive after that. As Pat said, you'll have the opportunity to request a change to your arrival assignment time to better coincide with your travel arrangements or your quarantine plans, and the housing office will be communicating all of that to you.
If you choose to stay at home and study remotely for the fall semester, but plan to return in the spring, you're going to need to cancel your housing contract in the housing portal and reapply for spring housing. That's available for you to do right now, so if you'd like to do that, it's a good time to go ahead and adjust it. Your fall housing room rate will be further adjusted accordingly to coincide with that. If a student assigned to a double room chooses to study remotely for the fall semester, the roommate should expect that another student will be assigned to that space, so we'll be informing you of that as it's done.
Please, if you're going to cancel your housing contract, please contact the housing office to do so, housing@cornell.edu, by August 31. That way, we'll be able to fill the room with others who want to stay with us this fall. Updating your arrival information and the reentry checklist is important, but it doesn't cancel your contract. So if you'd like to take that on, that would be really appreciated.
Let's talk a little bit about move-in on that actual date that you were assigned to arrive. It's really important to note that guests, visitors, families, parents are not permitted in the residence halls, and students will be expected to be able to move their personal belongings in what they can carry. So think about that as you're packing. Think about the things that you're going to need for an overnight stay or 14-day quarantine period.
If you packed your belongings and shipped them with Big Red Shipping & Storage and you put your linens in those boxes, those linens will be in your room whenever you arrive. If you shipped from another vendor, please note that those packages are going right to the service center, and students will not be able to access those until the testing and quarantine period is cleared. So you may want to think about packing some linens in your suitcase.
We will have some volunteers on hand to help guide and help direct. But the equivalent of two suitcases and a backpack-- if you want to bring your bicycle, we heartily welcome that.
There will be opportunity after a quarantine and testing period is cleared for parents to drop off additional personal belongings. We'll help facilitate that. Just noting that parents are still not permitted in the residence halls throughout the fall semester.
Big Red Shipping & Storage has received a number of customer contacts from you all, and thank you for that. They're working very hard to get their schedule arranged so that they can get those belongings put into the residence hall rooms prior to your arrival.
If you are a continuing student and you moved out in the spring and we stored your items with Storage Squad, those items are also being placed in your rooms prior to your arrival. Working very hard on that schedule as well to make sure that those belongings are matched up to the correct room and student.
If you are not moving back onto campus or you're moving into off-campus housing and Storage Squad has stored your items for the summer, they will be reaching out to you to make appointments to meet up with you at your new location. If you choose to study remotely for the fall semester, you can continue to have your items stored with Storage Squad for a fee until you return in the spring. And if you choose to have your items shipped to your home, you can reach out to Storage Squad directly to make those arrangements, and they'll help facilitate that.
Just a note from the last forum-- we talked a bit about having MicroFridges and mini refrigerators in residence hall rooms in every residence hall room. We were not able to fulfill that offer. There just aren't enough available for purchase or rental in our area.
MicroFridge does tell us that they still have a limited supply available for rental, so if you choose to rent a MicroFridge for your own use, it will be placed in your room prior to your arrival. You may also choose to purchase and send a mini fridge to your on-campus address for delivery to the service center that can be picked up following the testing and quarantine period. We are working, though, very hard on a solution to provide additional refrigeration and microwaves in residence halls and the communal areas so that everyone can have some level of access to refrigeration.
So once we send you your move-in arrival assignment and you've been tested, you'll have specific instructions on where to arrive in your move-in arrival assignment. If you're arriving by personal vehicle, you should arrive in this specific place. If you're arriving on bus, we're going to take you right from the bus drop-off into the testing facility and then help guide you to your new residence hall.
And we will also be providing-- I know that some of you have seen on the to-do list that after August 1, there will be a parking placard available for you to download and bring with you when you arrive in your personal vehicle. We're switching that process a little bit so that you're going to receive that arrival placard for whatever mode of transportation you're coming on so that you can download that and bring with you when you arrive so that volunteers and staff in specific areas know that you're in the right place. So you'll be getting more information about that on [? the ?] [? 7th. ?]
And now I'm going to turn it back over to Pat. She has a few more things to share.
PAT WYNN: Thanks, Karen. So a question is, what should I expect during the initial quarantine after check-in? Upon arrival, all students arriving from states that are not on the New York state traveled advisory list who plan to live on-campus housing will be tested and placed in quarantine in a single room overnight while they await their test results. We expect that most test results will be available within 24 hours. So I just want to clarify, there may be situations where you are put in a double room, but you will be there alone. We will not be placing two students in a room these first two nights because we won't have the test results until the next day.
Students assigned to arrive on August 23 or August 24 will quarantine overnight by themselves in their designated on-campus residence. If the result is negative, you'll be released from quarantine and allowed to stay in your on-campus room. If the result is positive, you'll be moved to appropriate isolation housing for 14 days, and we will make those arrangements.
Students assigned to arrive August 25 through the 31st will quarantine overnight in area hotels. You'll be given hotel assignment information prior to arrival in Ithaca. All arrangements are being made by Cornell, including payment for the room. Once you receive your test result, you'll be transported to your on-campus residence if negative or into appropriate isolation housing for 14 days if positive. And again, we are making all of those arrangements.
Students will be provided with the welcome kit at check-in, and this is for all students, not just students who are living with us. And within that welcome kit, there will be two reusable facemasks, hand sanitizer, a thermometer, and a key fob to use to press elevator buttons and whatever else is needed. And you'll also be given boxed meals for the time that you are in quarantine.
Students in residence halls will be permitted to leave their room to use the restroom, to pick up their meals, and to get some fresh air. Residential advisors, residence hall directors, house staff, and dining staff will be on site to assist students, and online programs will be available.
The question came up, what happens if I test positive upon arrival and need to isolate for 14 days? Students who live on campus and test positive upon arrival will be moved into appropriate isolation housing in an area hotel. Cornell will transport students to the designated isolation location and will provide meals for the duration of the isolation. Cornell Health will closely monitor students placed in isolation and will work collaboratively with the local hospitals to identify conditions that might require hospitalization. Off-campus students will be advised by Tompkins County Health Department based on their individual circumstances.
As Karen noted parents, family members, guests, visitors are not permitted in the residence halls during move-in or during the fall semester. Please be advised that all individuals entering New York state from a restricted state are required to comply with the New York state travel advisory, which requires anyone traveling from a restricted state to complete the New York state traveler health form and to quarantine for a period of 14 days.
Individuals who are in New York state for less than 14 days must remain in quarantine for the duration of their visit. There are limited exemptions to this rule. For more information, please go to the New York state website or covid.cornell.edu. The requirements of the travel advisory do not apply to any individual passing through designated states for a limited duration which really is less than 24 hours through the course of travel-- in other words, stopping at rest stops, a layover, whatever.
Who is permitted in the residence halls during the semester? Only students and certain staff members will be permitted in the residence halls during the fall semester. As stated in the university's travel and visitor policy, visitors, including parents, other family members, and alums, will not be permitted in campus facilities, including residence halls.
Students may visit other residence halls. Students are responsible for adhering to the guest policy as stipulated in the Cornell behavioral compact. During this time, students are expected to adhere to all guidelines in the Cornell behavioral compact, and the campus activities office will offer a variety of virtual programming beginning in early August and continuing throughout the semester.
And the last question is, does the on-campus move-in process apply to students living in Greek housing? For students living in fraternity and sorority housing, the move-in guidelines depend on whether it is a Cornell-owned building or independently owned building. For the Greek life communities in Cornell-owned buildings, the guidelines for students living on campus apply. This includes receiving a scheduled move-in appointment, testing upon arrival, and being limited to two pieces of luggage and a backpack.
So just one more reminder-- please visit the covid.cornell.edu website frequently as information changes. Thank you for your time, and I'm going to turn this over to Ryan.
RYAN LOMBARDI: Great. Thank you very much, Pat, and thank you very much, Karen, for the detail that you provided and going through that so deliberately. I know that's helpful. And to all of the viewers today, we will be making this available again. So I know a lot of information continues to come, but we will make it available so you can review it and make sure that you are up to speed on everything.
I want to emphasize just a couple of points that Pat and Karen made because I know these have been very hot topics, so this is in the spirit of just hitting it again. But a lot of questions about move-in info and when we're going to get it-- and Karen talked about that, the timing. One of the complexities here that I just want to acknowledge is, as you heard them talk about, we're coordinating an immediate test upon arrival with move-in. So it's not just as simple as saying, here is when you move in.
We actually have to coordinate the testing site and do all this kind of stuff, which is why it's taking us a little longer than normally it would to provide you that move-in information. So I did want to make sure you're clear. Even though you were given the timeline here, that question's come a lot, so I wanted to emphasize that.
I also wanted to emphasize, I think, a point that Karen made, which was we know that it can be pretty restrictive in trying to get to Ithaca. And so if your timing assignment does create a conflict, either because of your personal travel or because of the 14-day quarantine-- again, if you're in one of these situations where you have a relative in Massachusetts that you're staying with-- I gave that example-- you will be able to request a change of move-in slot through the housing portal. So I did want to emphasize that point as well because I know that a lot of questions came in that regard.
So I'm going to talk a little bit about what will be coming next, but to begin to wrap up a little bit this segment of the conversation around move-in and quarantine, I want to emphasize again something I said at the beginning of this, and this is especially for students, but also for parents-- the anxiety around this decision about what you want to do this fall. I encourage you in the strongest terms possible to make this your decision. It needs to be what's right for you.
Again, I know that we're comparing our friends, our peers. It's just not helpful to do that to yourself. It just is going to add to your anxiety, and every school, every person, every individual is in a different circumstance. No one will be viewed differently if they choose to begin remotely versus begin in person. We want students and their families to make the decision that's right for them because everybody has their own circumstances, so I just want to emphasize that one more time.
I also re-emphasize-- and again, I know that some of the information that we shared yesterday was hard to hear, especially for those students who are on the quarantine states in New York state travel advisory. I can't emphasize enough again how hard it was for us to come to that decision and how much regret having to end there, but also how much we're going to continue to work to provide the best experience possible.
And if the conditions change, as I said at the onset, if the conditions change, you're going to hear from us again, and we're going to keep doing what we've been doing for the last two or three months and trying to piece this together. We think the conditions will change. I don't know which way, but you can expect to hear from us again.
And I do want to emphasize again that you shouldn't feel that pressure to try to set up a quarantine situation. The message, really-- and there was a lot of information in the email, so the message really is, if you're coming from one of these states and you don't have one of these situations that's easily solved with a relative or something like that, really strongly encourage you to just start your semester online and then join us as soon as you can once the state is lifted and once things get a little better shape.
A couple of other updates and announcements that I want to provide-- we were anticipating sharing with students and families the details of the behavioral compact this week because we were finalizing all the information we just provided to you and there were some changing circumstances that evolve this week with the expansion of the travel advisory. That will go out next week, hopefully at the start of the week, so you should look for that. And then we'll do some follow up conversations on that.
You should also anticipate additional financial aid information coming out soon. In our last forum, you had the chance to hear from Diane Corbett, the director of our financial aid office. And as you've heard repeatedly today, details about move-in, about the exemption process, and all of that information will be coming next week. So next week will be a busy week in terms of information you'll be receiving.
We also-- and the provost especially, as the chief academic officer, had information in the email last night about enrollment and the timelines around enrollment, so be sure to look at that closely. And there was advice in there, if you have specific questions about your own circumstances, to speak with your college advisor about that. You students likely know who that is. If not, for especially new students, reach out to the student services office in your school or college, and they can help you. They're working-- although mostly virtually right now, they will be glad to support you.
At the end of next week, like a lot of these other things that you'll be getting next week, you'll see that course list up. And again, to emphasize that message in the email, that list will have the modality that the various courses will be offered so that again, it tells you online, in person, so that you can know that as you make your final decisions.
A few other forums that we intend to hold soon-- I am going to ask a few students to join me in a coming forum that will be specifically focused on our new students coming in. We have an amazing group of returning students. I love spending time with Cornellians. They're brilliant and wonderful people.
And I have had a lot of time to talk to them over the summer, and they're very excited to help our new students, whether they're coming here physically or need to stay at home, to help you transition and build community with you and make friends with you. They're very excited to do that. So we're going to have them join me, and we're going to start making some connections.
And then we're going to do one, too, for life on campus to give you a little more information and insight about the various activities and resources and how this will all work this fall under the modified circumstances that we're operating.
I know that my colleagues mentioned this, but I'll emphasize once again, that the COVID website, or covid.cornell.edu, is an outstanding resource. Most, if not all, of this information is on there.
It is dense. I recognize that. It's a lot of information, and we're continuing to update that as regularly as possible. That site is also where we're putting these captioned for the videos that we're doing here. When we record them, we put them on there so that you can view them again.
And with that, we're going to close today-- again, students, parents, I know I've exchanged-- my colleagues here have exchanged emails with many of you. I have appreciated that. We're going to continue to do our best. I know that our housing office and other offices are a little backlogged on those, but are doing their best to keep up with them. You can imagine the volume is extraordinary, and we're hopeful that these forums are a little bit helpful in moderating that.
But want to just appreciate the spirit of Cornell. And these circumstances are not what any of us want for the year or what we wanted last year for those returning students, but Cornellians always figure out a way to make their way through this. And believe me, there have been moments over the past months where my colleagues and I, I think, have wondered about that ourselves because of the lack of sleep and the intensity of the work and, I'm sure, the anxiety, and I'm sure that's the same for parents and students.
But I just want to emphasize how strongly I believe in us and in you and how we can make this year go. And I want to sign off by just sending my good wishes to all of you for health and for safety and for peace. Again, I know, as I've said in most of the times we've had together, that this has impacted so many of you, either from a health perspective, from an economic perspective, family members, really devastating circumstances, and I continue to send our deepest support and encouragement to all of you as you navigate that, our gratitude to our health care workers, our service workers who have kept us going.
And whether we see you in a couple of weeks in August or whether it's a couple of weeks after that or even later in the semester, students, we're very excited to do that, and we will do everything possible to make sure Cornell experience special. It will certainly be unique, and it will be magnificent without question.
So with that, we're going to sign off. I wish you the very best and look forward to a lot of information, again, coming next week with the details that I mentioned. Have a great day and have a wonderful weekend.
Note: The information shared in this video is accurate as of July 31, 2020 but continues to develop. Please visit covid.cornell.edu for current updates and for links to the most recent recordings.
Vice President Lombardi hosted a forum on the move-in and quarantine process, July 31.
