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 

Brown’s spring semester will conclude with a remote reading week and remote final exams after the conclusion of in-person classes on April 8. Students have the option of departing campus at any point following the conclusion of classes and participating in reading period and final exams remotely. The Spring 2021 Housing Agreement ends at 12 noon on Friday, May 28, for Brown RISD Dual Degree students. As noted in the agreement, students who leave Providence for four or more consecutive days (when they would be out of testing compliance) will need to complete the remainder of the semester remotely.

Regardless of your departure timeline, you must maintain your current frequency of COVID-19 testing for as long as you are authorized to be on campus and engaging with campus.

As you think about your departure date, 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 end of May, you should plan to reduce in-person contacts around May 18. 

We also encourage you to check with local boards of public health regarding travel restrictions that may be in place for your destination. Additional information on travel restrictions can be found on the CDC website. 

Departing 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. If you are not certain of your specific departure date, please select the 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. BRDD Students who need to travel out of state for emergency or essential purposes prior to May 28 must first check in with Student Support Services for guidance on the health and safety protocols for returning to campus. Departures should otherwise be reported in the end of semester form. 

If leaving campus by May 28 may be a hardship, you may request extended on-campus housing, a meal plan and financial assistance via the same form in MyBrown by Wednesday, March 31. The cost of the meal plan is $29.50 per day and on-campus housing is $38 per day. Students who receive University scholarship may be eligible for support to cover some or all of these costs. 

If you have questions about testing or need to make changes after the March 31 deadline, 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.

Limited funding is available via the “Emergency Funds, Curricular & Co-curricular Gap Funds (E-Gap)” Phase 5 Application in UFunds to assist income-eligible students with the cost of storing their belongings. As with all E-Gap Funds, priority will be given to students with the highest demonstrated financial need, as determined by the Office of Financial Aid, and certain restrictions apply based on federal and institutional financial aid regulations and guidelines

In Closing

Thank you for your ongoing efforts to care for yourselves and others. 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. If the public health situation requires any changes to Brown’s plans, we will be sure to share further information as quickly as possible.

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: