Vaccine Eligibility Update, Campus Safety Protocols, Gym and Library Access, and Response Team Office Hours
A COVID-19 Update
In this update:- Vaccination eligibility update
- Campus COVID protocols remain in force
- Expanded gym and library access
- Response Team office hours
To the Bard College community,
We are pleased to announce that starting today, April 6, everyone in New York age 16 and over is eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. That means the entire Bard College community is now eligible, and we encourage all students, faculty, and staff to get vaccinated as soon as possible. The sooner we are all vaccinated, the safer we will all be. Since January, when vaccines were first made available, we have been working with local healthcare providers and State and county Departments of Health to try to organize a vaccination site at Bard. We have also diligently been exploring opportunities to reserve blocks of appointments for Bardians at nearby vaccination sites. Those efforts have not yet borne fruit but we hope they will soon. We will continue exploring every available opportunity to provide our community access to vaccines. In the meantime, please use this tool on the New York State website to find a nearby vaccination site and make an individual appointment.
Infection rates in New York and some other states remain stubbornly high and, in many places, are rising again. New York City, in particular, is experiencing an uptick in positive cases. As you can see from the campus dashboard on the Bard COVID webpage, Bard has sustained a low number of active student and employee cases for the past several weeks, and we still have lower numbers than many of our peer institutions and our surrounding community. Through our diligent collective efforts, together we have prevented an outbreak on campus, but our efforts to contain infection must be consistent and ongoing. For that reason, the College is not relaxing the prohibition on non-essential travel or the requirements to be masked and physically distant on campus. The College’s COVID protocols will remain in force until further notice. We know what works - mask wearing, physical distancing, and avoiding large gatherings both on campus and off, for example - and we know what behaviors risk infection and spread. We have been tremendously successful in maintaining a healthy campus. Let’s not risk that success now, with just six weeks remaining in the semester. We can enjoy the spring weather while wearing masks and observing the necessary behavior.
Members of the Response Team continue to meet on a near-daily basis, to review scientific updates and changes to State guidance, consider adjustments to Bard policy, approve requests for assistance, supervise the College’s COVID operations including our extensive testing program and our isolation and quarantine spaces, and plan for the rest of the semester, the summer (including the MFA program, the Bard Summer Research Institute, Brothers@, and Bard Summerscape and the Bard Music Festival among other programs), and the fall semester. We are glad we have been able to safely expand access to some campus facilities, as has been recently announced: faculty and staff can now utilize Stevenson Gym under the same restrictions as students, and Stevenson Library has expanded its hours so students have increased access to study space in the evenings and on the weekends. Please see your email for detailed announcements from both facilities. Also, don’t forget about the new Taste Budd’s pick-up site on campus at the Old Gym, with twice-daily pick ups at 12PM and 5PM; order at www.TasteBudds.com.
Finally, a reminder that the Response Team holds weekly office hours. Any member of the Bard community is welcome to drop by Tuesday afternoons from 4-5PM. Check your Bard email for the link and password. Please also feel free to reach out to us by email.
Sincerely,
Bard College COVID-19 Response Team
[email protected]
Coleen Murphy Alexander, Vice President for Administration
Kimberly Alexander, Director, Human Resources
Jonathan Becker, Executive Vice President and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Barbara Jean Briskey, Director, Health Services
Deirdre d'Albertis, Dean of the College
Malia Du Mont, Chief of Staff, President's Office/Vice President for Strategy and Policy
Brooke Jude, Associate Professor of Biology
John Gomez, Director, Safety and Security
David Lindholm, Interim Athletic Director
Emily McLaughlin, Associate Dean of the College
Jennifer Murray, Dean of International Studies
Bethany Nohlgren, Associate VP for Student Affairs/Dean of Students
Kahan Sablo, Dean for Inclusive Excellence
Michael Sadowski, Interim Dean of Graduate Studies
David Shein, Associate VP for Academic Affairs/Dean of Studies
Éric Trudel, Chair, Faculty Senate
Dumaine Williams, Vice President for Student Affairs/Early Colleges
For more information, call 845-758-6822.