Hello,

As we hope you read in the message from Provost Richard M. Locke and EVP Barbara Chernow on March 1, all students in the Providence area for the spring term need to provide information about their end-of-semester plans. Receiving this information is essential to our ability as a community to continue promoting health and safety.

This message contains important updates and provides details on some actions required of you, including many that are essential to helping to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Please read this email carefully to understand deadlines and important dates related to the end of the spring term and start of the summer semester. The dates also appear in an at-a-glance table at the end of this letter.

End of Spring Semester 

The spring semester will conclude with a remote reading week and remote final exams after the conclusion of in-person classes on April 8. You must maintain your current frequency of COVID-19 testing while you are engaging with campus. Students who need to travel out of state prior to the end of the semester for emergency or essential purposes, must first check in with Student Support Services for guidance on the health and safety protocol for returning to the Providence area. 

If you plan to leave Providence at the end of the semester, it is important to help protect your health and the health of the home and community that you will travel to. We encourage you to reduce in-person contacts and practice strict social distancing and mask wearing for 10 days prior to your date of departure — especially if you plan to travel by airplane, train or bus. For example, if you plan to leave Providence at the conclusion of in-person classes, you should plan to reduce in-person contacts around March 30. 

Disengaging from Campus 

All students who are leaving Providence or disengaging from campus at the end of the spring semester will be paused or removed from Brown’s COVID-19 testing program at the time of their departure or disengagement. Disengagement from campus means that you may not come to campus or access any Brown facilities. By Wednesday, March 31, please log into the MyBrown platform to enter the date when you plan to depart or disengage from campus. If you are not certain of your specific departure date, please select the latest most likely date for your departure. 

As noted above you must maintain your current frequency of COVID-19 testing for as long as you are engaging with campus. Any student who is engaging with campus while they have paused testing will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards. 

If you have questions about testing or need to make changes after March 31, email the Student Testing Call Center at studenttesting@brown.edu or call 401-863-6500. For additional resources, please consult the information on the Healthy Brown website, especially the information on the student testing page.

Returning to Campus for the Summer Semester 

Summer classes will begin remotely on Wednesday, May 12; classes with a hybrid option will begin meeting in-person on Wednesday, May 19 (provided that Brown’s Campus Activity Status is at or above Level 2). On-campus students will follow a Quiet Period from arrival until the start of in-person classes. Off-campus students returning to Providence need to plan their return to allow adequate time for quarantine per Rhode Island Department of Health guidelines — those in effect in May — in advance of in-person classes.

Any student enrolled in the summer term in Providence or engaging with campus for other approved reasons during summer term is required to enroll and engage in regular COVID testing and must enter their return date in MyBrown by Monday, April 12, in order to resume their testing. Students who will be engaging with campus for summer semester will be required to abide by the terms of the Student Commitment to COVID-19 Community Health and Safety Requirements (Student Commitment) signed for the spring. Please note that off-campus students will not be allowed on campus during the Quiet Period preceding the start of summer semester (May 9-18) except to engage in required COVID-19 testing.

In Closing

Thank you for your ongoing efforts to care for yourselves and others through this unprecedented time. Know that there are many resources and people who are here for you as you work through your various decisions and planning. Please consult this FAQs page for questions about the End of Semester Information form. You can also email spring2021@brown.edu or call 401-863-3500. For questions about testing, email the Student Testing Call Center at studenttesting@brown.edu or call 401-863-6500. 

Best wishes for the final weeks of the semester. 

Sincerely,

Eric Estes
Vice President for Campus Life

Rashid Zia
Dean of the College

Dates At-a-Glance: