January 21, 2021

Dear staff and faculty,

We wanted to forward on the following message about spring arrival, which we have just shared with students and families.

We know you may have questions too, and additional COVID updates will be coming next week.

We are so grateful for the care you have taken in keeping our community safe, and helping us to continue to deliver the transformative Bennington education.

Thank you,

Oceana Wilson, Acting Dean of the College and Dean of the Library

 

 

Happy 2021,

We hope that this message finds you doing well. We are working on final plans for your arrival to campus this spring. We know that some students will be coming to campus for the first time as a new student or a student who studied remotely in the fall. We also know that some of you may be changing your status (remote/on-campus) from the fall to spring. We are aware that you may still be finalizing your plans for the spring term, but are asking all students to please fill out this form by January 28, 2021. We are looking forward to having you on campus this Spring and wanted to provide some information about the arrival process. Our goal is to keep everyone as safe as possible during this transition back to campus.

Before Arrival
Current best practices and Vermont State Guidelines suggest that all students who plan to come to campus for the spring term should quarantine for 14 days prior to arriving, or for 7 days and present a negative test result within 48 hours of arrival to campus. Please make sure to check your calendar now to see when that quarantine needs to start for you based on your arrival date.

We ask that students who need to use public transportation or travel via personal vehicle with multiple stops to return to campus do so exercising extreme caution practicing social distancing, wearing a mask at all times, and washing your hands frequently.

Arrival times and dates

• New students who are enrolling in Bennington College for the first time this term (Spring 2021) should plan to arrive on Saturday, February 13 between 11:00 am and 7:00 pm.
• All students coming to campus who were enrolled in fall 2020 or earlier may arrive on Saturday, February 13 between 11:00 am and 7:00 pm or Sunday, February 14, between 11:00 am and 7:00 pm.
• With state guidelines and quarantine restrictions, these are the only 2 days that students can arrive on campus. We understand that some students, particularly those traveling internationally may experience travel challenges out of their control, please reach out to Christine Winget directly by February 1 to work through solutions.
• As a note, students who arrive after 7:00 pm will not be able to be tested on the day of their arrival and will need to quarantine in their room for an additional period of time based on when their test result is received.
• In the next week, all students will receive a link to sign up for an appointment on one of those two days. This will be an appointment to check in to campus and receive your first COVID test for the spring term. You will not be able to go to your House until you have received your COVID test.
• Arrival to campus this spring will look different than it has in previous years. We will send more information about this in the coming weeks.

Arrival testing and quarantine

We will send more details about arrival check in and testing, but here is the broad outline:

• Each student will receive a COVID-19 test upon arrival and will need to complete an in-room quarantine until receiving a negative test result.
• Non-perishable food for the in-room quarantine period will be provided at check-in, but we encourage students to bring their favorite snacks and/or beverages along with them for this time as well. Students will not be able to use the kitchen facilities in their house during the in-room quarantine. We will provide a list of the items that will be provided during this period in a future email.
• Once students receive their negative arrival test, they will then move to an in-house quarantine. During this time students will be permitted to interact (wearing masks and maintaining social distancing) with others in their house. The second test for all students will occur on Monday, February 22, and students will be released by House once all students in that given house have received a negative test result. We expect that will be by February 25 at the latest.
• During the House quarantine, a small number of students from each house will pick up their meals on a schedule defined by Dining. We will be able to provide the menus for these meals in the upcoming weeks.

Testing in the spring term will continue on a weekly basis for all students and all staff and faculty who work on campus.

The College has planned a Question & Answer session on Tuesday, January 26 at 4:30 pm ET for students and families. Please register to attend.

We will share additional information in the coming weeks. Please feel free to submit any questions you have, at any time.

—Christine Winget, Acting Dean of Students