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6/12: COVID-19 Update #22

The following message was emailed to the campus community on June 12, 2020.

Dear Santa Clara University community, 

As we finish the last week of our spring quarter, we look ahead. Our teams are hard at work on our fall planning, and we’ll communicate our plans for the upcoming academic year by mid-summer. Our leadership team will continue to check in regularly; however, this marks our last Friday Campus Update. 

Celebrating the Class of 2020: We are excited to host tomorrow’s celebration and mark this important milestone for our graduating seniors and honor their families. The program will start at noon PDT June 13 with pre-festivities beginning at 11:30 a.m. The event will be on YouTube and our commencement website. We encourage families to continue to post pictures and videos on social media using #SCU2020 and #SCUseniors.  Please note that face coverings and social distancing guidelines apply at all times when on campus. 

“Don’t Just Occupy Space, Create It”: Last week, at a virtual event conferring honorary degrees on Risë Jones Pichon ’73, J.D. ’76 and Joanne Hayes-White ’86, Semi Williams ’20 reflected on the impact of these two amazing women, as well as Williams’ own path as a Black student at Santa Clara. We would like to encourage you to read Semi’s powerful speech and view the recording of this event.

Fall Undergraduate Calendar: As the Provost emailed to campus this morning, the 2020-21 undergraduate academic calendar is unchanged. Fall classes will begin on Monday, September 21, 2020, and end on Friday, December 4, 2020. Final exams are scheduled for December 7-11, 2020. For health and safety reasons, students will not return to campus after Thanksgiving; Week 10 and Finals Week will be conducted remotely for all undergraduate classes in fall 2020. This will help reduce both the risks associated with travel during flu season and exposure of our community to the virus. 

Decisions regarding the mode of instruction for fall quarter for our undergraduate programs are under discussion, and will be announced mid-summer.  

Fall Study Abroad Program: On April 27, we announced the cancellation of study abroad programs with start dates on or before August 31. As noted in the Provost email today, upon the recommendation of Santa Clara University’s Crisis Abroad Task Force, we have made the difficult decision to extend the cancellation of fall 2020 study abroad programs to include those with departure dates on or after September 1.

Spring 2020 Move-Out Update: A reminder that all students who previously resided in campus housing must make arrangements to have their belongings removed from their residence hall or neighborhood unit by July 12 if they have not already done so. Although appointments will be scheduled through July 12, students must finalize their move-out plans by Friday, June 19 (i.e., request a move-out appointment, designate a proxy, or contract with Bronco Student Services). Please review the Housing Office’s Spring 2020 Move-Out Information webpage. 

Fall Housing Update: Given the ongoing need to protect campus against a possible resurgence of COVID-19, our student housing plans for the fall term will undoubtedly be different than most years.  Please know we are committed to providing the best possible educational experience for students.  To this end, we are currently reviewing student housing capacity and making necessary adjustments to ensure the safety of students, faculty, and staff in residence. We know this is an area of keen interest, and we will update students and families about our final plans in the next few weeks. 

Campus Ministry June 14 Mass: The presider for this Sunday’s virtual Mass celebrating the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ will be Fr. Dennis Smolarski, S.J. To watch via livestream, please subscribe to the Campus Ministry YouTube channel. Go to the Campus Ministry YouTube page on Sunday morning, 10 a.m. (Pacific), and you will be able to view the livestream when Mass begins. From June 21 through September 6, we will plan to continue a simple virtual Sunday Mass at 10 a.m. All are welcome to view the weekly livestream on YouTube. Those interested in attending on Zoom and/or assisting in a "virtual" liturgical ministry, please complete the register to participate/assist in Zoom Masses form. Find more information on Masses during Summer 2020.

As we wrap up the quarter, we end with a note of gratitude for our entire community.  In particular, our students have been resilient and flexible, especially our graduating seniors who did not envision such an end to their Santa Clara journey. We hope you stay healthy and safe and we wish you a wonderful summer.

Jeanne Rosenberger
Vice Provost for Student Life

John Ottoboni
Chief Operating Officer