November 6, 2020
To the Tuck Community:
Thank you for your understanding and patience regarding the pause of in-person offerings at Tuck this past week. I am pleased to share that we will be moving back to in-person curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular events starting this Sunday, November 8.
Hybrid teaching will pick up on Monday the 9th where we left off; those of you who were assigned a classroom allocation for this past week will get that allocation for this coming week. We look forward to building on the enthusiasm and success of recent in-person hybrid classes and events.
I acknowledge that the pause of in-person offerings this week was frustrating to the many students, staff, and faculty who have been working on increasing in-person opportunities while abiding by our COVID-19 guidelines and norms. It was brought to my attention that some felt that the pause was punitive. Please know that the decision to pause was made entirely out of concern for our community’s health and wellbeing.
By now we all understand how social gatherings can exacerbate the risks of COVID-19. Based on information about an off-campus gathering, the pause was a risk-management decision focused on prioritizing the health of students, staff, and faculty. We are fortunate that over the last two weeks, the COVID case count among the Dartmouth campus community has remained very low.
As we all look ahead, I would like our entire community to know what information might change our path of in-person activities. Here are three criteria that may in the future cause us to revisit our hybrid plans, to pause, or to pivot.
As we resume in-person offerings starting Sunday, I remain hopeful about the hybrid and in-person experiences we will be able to co-create in the weeks ahead. Most importantly, I continue to appreciate every one of us doing our part for our collective health.
A good weekend to all.
Dartmouth has formed a high-level task force to plan for and manage possible disruptions related to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, monitor federal and state recommendations, implement guidance, and communicate with our community.