To Students and Families:
Planning for the fall quarter at K continues. Here are some important updates:
Housing
As communicated earlier, the College is prioritizing the housing of first-year students and Visiting International students. Students living on campus will reside in rooms or in individual bedrooms by themselves, with no roommates. This is the most effective way to create physical distance in a group living environment. Residential student expectations in the context of the coronavirus and logistical details will be communicated later in the summer, once the housing process is underway. Residential students will be charged the double room rate.
After reviewing the “opt out” data from first-year and sophomore students, it is clear that there will not be space to house sophomore students on campus, including those who had planned to live in Living Learning Houses. This means that sophomores should make plans to live off campus (in Kalamazoo or at home). This is not what we had hoped would happen, but it is now clear that we must greatly minimize the number of students in residence in the interest of student health and safety.
Classes
The College will offer classes in person, in a hybrid (partly in-person and partly virtual) format, and in a virtual format. Students who wish to take a full load of courses remotely will be able to do so. The mix of courses offered in each format will be informed by the very short survey of student preferences regarding classes that students received on Friday. Please take the time to complete the survey if you have not already done so. Not every course will be available in every format, but our goal is to provide a full load of courses that will enable each student to continue making progress toward their degree, whatever format they choose.
Information about the final mix of classes in each format (and also directions on how to search the course schedule by format) will be available by the beginning of August when the add/drop period reopens for returning students so that students will have several weeks to adjust their schedules as needed before the start of fall term.
As we continue to navigate through the pandemic, the College’s priorities remain: a) the health and well-being of our students and employees and b) assisting students in progressing toward graduation with coursework that reflects the K experience of small classes and deep engagement with faculty and staff. The housing information and mix of course formats above reflect those dual priorities. We continue to monitor the public health situation in southwest Michigan and will let you know as soon as possible if we need to modify plans for housing or classes in response to the developing public health situation.
We appreciate your patience as we continue our planning efforts. We will communicate again soon with more information.
Sarah B. Westfall
Vice President for Student Development and Dean of Students
Danette Ifert Johnson
Provost