Top 5 things evening undergraduate and graduate students need to know before returning to classes

As The Citadel moves forward with Operation Fall Return 2020, an agile, conditions-based plan to return cadets and students to face-to-face instruction, college leadership is communicating regularly to keep all constituents informed.

One of the sessions, held on August 6, was focused on students within The Citadel Graduate College — including graduate, college transfer, veteran, veteran-day and active duty students.

Nearly 100 people watched as The Citadel Provost, Sally Selden, Ph.D., along with the associate provost of enrollment management Kelly Brennan, Ph.D., and other college officials, supplemented other communications provided by the college since the beginning of the pandemic.

Throughout the process, college leaders, faculty and staff, and members of The Citadel community have been heavily involved in making campus safe to continue the mission – to educate principled leaders in all walks of life.

“We have been in constant contact with different medical professionals. We’ve been engaged with the Medical University of South Carolina; we have a presidential advisory board, which is comprised of medical professionals who’ve looked at our plan and given us feedback,” said Selden during the virtual town hall. “We’ve also submitted our plan to South Carolina’s Council on Higher Education, which is the governing body in the State of South Carolina that oversees all of higher education. We are on campus adhering by all CDC and DHEC regulations and, in fact, we’re doing things that they suggest we don’t have to, such as testing.”

The top 5 takeaways from the virtual conversation, which included real-time questions from students, are as follows:

Students taking face-to-face courses must be tested for COVID-19, approximately two weeks prior to start of classes. Negative test results should be emailed to cgc@citadel.edu; if a student tests positive, they should call The Citadel Graduate College office at (843) 953-5089.
Based on the CDC and South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) guidelines, any student who tests positive for COVID-19 before returning to campus will begin classes remotely, and will receive a return-to-class date based on the date of their positive test.
Students should be checking their “Week at a Glance” schedule daily. That is where they will find information on the format of their class (face-to-face, A/B, hybrid, or virtual) as well as the location of their classrooms. It will also instruct students in A/B hybrid classes which days they should be in class and which days they should be attending virtually. (Note: If a face-to-face course transitions to online, it will be marked “hybrid,” however the building and room number will be listed as “online.”)
Two masks will be distributed to all students taking face-to-face courses; they will be distributed to the student’s first class on campus; CGC students will not have to go to a special location to get their masks. (Note: The distribution will be based on student schedules, as of two days before the start of classes. If students change their schedule two day or fewer days prior to classes, their masks will take some time to catch up to them.)
There is a process in place to consider student accommodations for virtual learning, if any students have a medical or personal reason that may impact their ability to return in person for the fall semester. The Campus Assessment Team, led by David Allen, Ph.D., can be reached through this form.

“We appreciate you being part of our community,” said Brennan as the virtual town hall concluded. “We want to continue to support you towards your educational goals. That is what we are all here for — program directors, our deans, our professors, you name it. So please, again, reach out and keep asking questions.”

Any students, knobs, cadets or parents with questions about Operation Fall Return and COVID-19 protocols can find Frequently Asked Questions here, or use this form to send a question.