Dear Commuting Students, 

In our communication last week about your Spring 2021 Location of Study Form, we noted that we would follow up soon to gather information about your plans for the end of the fall semester. This message contains important updates and provides details on some essential actions required of you,

including many that are essential to our ability as a community to continue to promote health and safety and help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Please read this email carefully and note the various deadlines.

Pausing Testing for End of Fall Semester

The fall semester will conclude with a remote reading week and remote final exams after Thanksgiving Break. As a commuter, you must maintain your current frequency of COVID-19 testing for as long as you are either using campus facilities or interacting in-person with other members of the Brown community.

If you will be disengaging with campus and the Brown community between fall and spring semesters, you can pause your testing until your return in January. Using the form in the MyBrown platform, you must enter by Friday, Nov. 13, the date when you plan to disengage for the fall semester. (You will be able to select from a date range; if you are not certain of your final date of engagement, please select the latest likely date.)  

Students who use campus facilities or interact with Brown community members 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 Nov. 13, email the Student Testing Call Center at studenttesting@brown.edu or call 401-863-6500. (Students cannot make changes to their testing between Dec. 18 and Jan. 4.) For additional resources, please consult the information on the Healthy Brown website, especially the information on the student testing page.

Winter Break Meal Plan

If you would like to extend your meal plan or obtain a meal plan for Winter Break (Dec. 12-Jan. 8), you need to do so in MyBrown by Nov. 13. The Winter Break meal plan is $197 per week ($28 per day) or $759.86 for the full 27 days. Students who receive University scholarship may be eligible for support to cover some or all of these costs. You can request an evaluation for support for a meal plan in the same form in MyBrown.  

Resuming Testing for Spring Semester

Spring classes will begin remotely on Jan. 20; those classes with a hybrid option will begin meeting in person on Jan. 27 (provided that the University is at Campus Activity Status is at or above Level 2). Please use MyBrown to indicate when you will resume your campus engagement in January. This information is due by Sunday, Dec. 13. (You will be able to select from a date range; if you are not certain of your exact date, please select the earliest likely date range when you will resume engagement.) 

Students who will be enrolled in the spring will be required to agree to an updated Student Commitment to COVID-19 Community Health and Safety Requirements (Student Commitment) and to complete a new online educational module by Friday, Dec. 18, 2020. You will receive a follow-up email with further information and an individualized link.

Please note that off-campus students and commuters will not be allowed on campus during the Quiet Period preceding the start of spring semester (Jan. 9-26, 2021) except to engage in routine COVID-19 testing.

In Closing

Thank you for your ongoing efforts to care for yourselves and others through this difficult 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