Dear Students,

I am writing with an update about the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) after hearing some questions and concerns from Barnard students. As MJ Murphy, Executive Director of Student Health and Wellness Programs, wrote you about on Sunday, we are following the protocol recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This means that while we do not have any confirmed cases of the virus on our campus, students who recently traveled back from China are self-isolating for the recommended 14 days after arrival in the U.S. As of tonight, we have only a few students in this situation.

This is an extraordinary inconvenience to the students involved, and an act of selflessness as they do their part to keep our community and themselves safe and healthy. We are immensely grateful for the responsiveness of the students who are affected and we are committed to doing everything we can to support them.

Unfortunately, this situation is new to our campus and we acknowledge there have been some missteps and miscommunications. Whenever these have come to our attention, we have tried to address them immediately. Above all, it is imperative that we treat every member of our community with kindness and respect. As Provost Bell, Vice President González Stokas and I noted in our message earlier this week, such respect is central to Barnard’s core values and we  have a responsibility as administrators to model the behavior we ask of our community.

We will continue to update you as new information becomes available. You can also find all of the community emails mentioned above at Information and Updates on the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

Sincerely,

Leslie Grinage
Dean of the College