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 Thursday, 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. Residence halls will close at 12 noon on Saturday, Apr. 24, after the conclusion of the remote final exam period, and with the exception of graduating seniors or those approved to be on campus, all students must depart. As noted in the Spring 2021 Housing 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 the campus community.

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 conclusion of in-person classes, you should plan to reduce in-person contacts around March 30. 

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. Students who need to travel out of state for emergency or essential purposes prior to April 24 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 you have questions about COVID-19 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 upon departing the area. 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.

Housing and Meals Between Semesters

If leaving campus between semesters may be a hardship, or you have other qualifying circumstances, you may request on-campus housing between April 24 and May 9, a meal plan for this period, and financial assistance via the same form in MyBrown by Wednesday, March 31. Students will need to describe briefly the reason for requesting to remain in residence during this period; students with employment or research on campus will need to provide the contact information for their supervisor. The cost of the meal plan is $204 per week ($29.50 per day) or $438 for the full 15 days. The cost of on-campus housing between April 24 and May 9 is $544 ($38 per day). Students who receive University scholarship may be eligible for support to cover some or all of these costs. 

Students who remain in Providence between semesters and who will be enrolled or continue to engage with campus for the summer term are required to continue to undergo COVID-19 testing with the same frequency. These students must abide by all University policies and should not travel outside of Providence. Students who must travel outside of Rhode Island for emergency or essential purposes must first check in with a dean in Student Support Services for guidance on the protocol for returning to campus. 

For Students Living on Campus for Summer

The Office of Residential Life will endeavor, to the extent possible, to maintain students’ spring residential assignments for the summer term, and this will be the case for most first-year students. Most residences that currently house sophomores, juniors and seniors will not house undergraduates in the summer, and students in these residences should anticipate a different summer assignment. 

Students who maintain the same housing assignment from spring to summer will be allowed to leave their belongings in their room. Students will not, however, be able to access their residence hall between 12 noon on April 24 and the reopening of the residence halls on May 9. Residential Life staff will strive to notify students as soon as possible if they will be able to maintain their current housing assignment for the summer. We expect to communicate specific summer assignments the week of April 5. 

Students who depart campus before receiving confirmation of their summer housing assignment should fully vacate their room and return their key to the Key Office in Graduate Center E when they depart. 

Returning to Campus for Summer

Students who return to the Providence area for the summer semester will be required to abide by the terms of the Student Commitment to COVID-19 Community Health and Safety Requirements (Student Commitment) they signed for spring semester. Any student enrolled in summer term in Providence, or engaging with campus for other approved reasons, is required to enroll and engage in regular COVID-19 testing. 

The residence halls will reopen with a staggered move-in between May 9 and May 11. Students living on campus will receive their summer housing assignment the week of April 5 and will select a time slot to move in on one of these days. You will then need to log into MyBrown by Monday, Apr. 12, to enter your move-in date so that you can resume your COVID-19 testing upon arrival to campus. Students who are approved to arrive before May 9 will be charged for early arrival; students who arrive after May 11 may be required to complete a period of quarantine before they can move into their summer assignment. 

Students will follow a Quiet Period from arrival until in-person classes begin. Provided that Brown’s Campus Activity Status is at or above Level 2, in-person classes will begin on Wednesday, May 19. 

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:

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