1. Health and Safety. We expect that all members of the Elms College Residence Life community—students, staff, and visitors—act in a manner that demonstrates respect and consideration for those around them, including respect and consideration for the health and safety of all community members. All residential students are prohibited from creating a health or safety hazard within the Residence Halls and the College may request or require a resident to leave housing, with no refund, if their continued presence in the housing community poses a health or safety risk for community members. Students are required to comply with health and safety laws, orders, ordinances, regulations, and health and safety guidance adopted by Elms College, including directives from the CDC and MDPH. This guidance will evolve as the public health crisis evolves and may include, but is not limited to, social distancing, limitations on mass gatherings, wearing a face covering, COVID-19 diagnostic and surveillance testing (including before or upon arrival to campus), contact tracing, disinfection protocols, and quarantine/isolation requirements (including before or upon arrival to campus). Adherence to health and safety requirements applies to all residents, staff, and visitors and extends to all aspects of residential life, including bedrooms, bathrooms, community kitchens, lounges, computer rooms, courtyards and other common spaces.
1A. Guest Policy. The guest policy can be found in the Student Handbook. Students are now able to have residential and non-residential guests with them in the residential buildings. Students are expected to follow all expectations and guidelines including reporting guests to Residence Life.
1B. Face Covering Policy. Everyone, vaccinated or unvaccinated, will be required to wear masks while indoors on campus (classrooms, public spaces, residence hall common areas). Masks are optional for the outdoors. The effective date is August 23. Elms College has the right to update or change the Mask Policy at any time in accordance with recommendations from the CDC, MDPH, as well as city, state, and federal guidance.
1C. Student Travel Policy. Residential students should follow CDC (Center for Disease Control) and Massachusetts Department of Public Health ( MDPH) Elms College has the right to update or change the Commuter Travel Policy at any time in accordance with recommendations from the CDC, MDPH, as well as city, state, and federal guidance.
1D. Pre-Arrival Testing and Quarantine. Each resident student agrees to be tested upon arrival to campus:
The Health Center will do the test and wait for the results which should be received within 24-36 hours. During this time, students will not need to quarantine in their residence hall room upon waiting for test results unless instructed otherwise.
Students arriving by international flights will be tested upon move-in at the Health Center and must quarantine in accordance with MA Dept of Public Health Travel Advisory if NOT fully vaccinated.
2. Quarantine/Isolation/Separation. At any time, the College may request or require a resident to leave Elms College Housing when that resident’s continued presence in the residence hall community poses a health or safety risk for community members. Residential students are required to comply with requests from Residence Life Staff to leave their assigned space due to COVID-19 or other public health emergency; failure to do so is a violation of the Student Code of Conduct (Conduct Standards D & W) and may subject a student to emergency removal from their assigned space. Not all residential rooms or halls are appropriate for self-quarantine or self-isolation, and in those situations where a student is recommended to self-quarantine or self-isolate, students will not be permitted to continue residing in their residential space. Residents are required to vacate the residence halls for the purposes of isolation/quarantine. Students will be asked to return home to isolate. If unable to return home, they will be provided alternative housing arrangements. Removal from Elms College housing to isolate or quarantine (either at home or elsewhere on campus) does not constitute a termination of a residential student’s housing contract. Each case will be handled on an individual basis to ensure the most convenient yet best practice for health and safety measures are taken. Vaccinated students experiencing symptoms or exposure should still quarantine.
2A. Quarantine/Isolation Living Environment. Students needing to quarantine/isolate on campus will be moved into designated buildings/spaces. Students may need to share a bathroom with other quarantined/isolated students of any gender. There are no college staff living in these spaces, but students will still have support from Public Safety as well as Residence Life. Students will be provided meals from dining services. If students are required to quarantine in a designated space, they may not assemble together, go to the mailroom, classes, dining hall or athletic center.
2B. Leaving Quarantine/Isolation. Students may only return to campus and their prior assigned room with approval from the Director of the Health Center and the Director of Residence Life.
3. De-densifying Efforts. Residential students are required to comply with any de-densifying efforts needed on campus due to COVID or other public health emergency if needed, including, but not limited to, the relocation of all or some residential students to alternative housing. Relocation does not constitute a termination of a residential student’s housing contract. In the event Residence Life must relocate students as part of a de-densifying strategy due to public health concerns for an extended period of time and alternative housing is not available, the College will offer impacted students fair and reasonable reimbursement, which may cause an adjustment of the amount of financial aid the student received, as appropriate and based on information available at that time.
4. Dining Services. Dining services will return to full service operations however, it is subject to the discretion of the College and is subject to modification to address public health concerns if needed. Dining staff may make operational adjustments as needed to address health and safety concerns. Students will be notified of any changes.
5. Contract Termination. Upon reasonable notice, Elms College reserves the right to terminate housing contracts due to public health emergency needs, including COVID. In the event the College terminates housing contracts due to public health concerns, the College will offer fair and reasonable reimbursements, which may cause an adjustment of the amount of financial aid the student received, for impacted students as appropriate and based on information available at that time. The College has the right to terminate the housing contract of students that do not adhere to policies outlined in the Elms Safe Agreement, as well as the Student Handbook, in these cases students will not receive a reimbursement.
6. COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing. All Residential students are required to submit a record of completed COVID-19 vaccination by August 15, 2021. Failure to comply by the 15th will result in a hold being placed on students Elms Account, and students will not be permitted on campus.
What this hold means:
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Students may not come to campus under any circumstance, attend classes or check into the residence halls. Please note: The College is not offering an online option for undergraduate courses.
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If the first dose is completed:
If students have received the first dose, they must submit proof of vaccination to the Health Center and the date of the second vaccine appointment to be documented. They will be cleared to attend and/or move in until the date of the second vaccination appointment. Failure to submit vaccination completion on the date of the second vaccination would result in removal from the campus
-Students who are close to complying (first shot has been completed, second shot scheduled, but will miss the deadline) will sign a contract stating that they will comply. Failure to comply with the contract will result in classes being dropped and a refund will not be issued.
Residential students who are unvaccinated due to medical or religious exemption, are required to comply with Elms’ surveillance testing every other week. If a resident tests positive for COVID-19 or receives any directions from a health professional in regard to monitoring symptoms, isolating, and/or quarantine the student is required to contact the Elms College Health Center immediately at (413) 265-2288 or
healthcenter@elms.edu.
7. Students with Underlying Conditions. Elms College highly recommends that students with underlying conditions do not live on campus. By signing below, you identify that you do not have any underlying condition to your knowledge at the time of signing or you understand the risks of choosing to live in a group living situation during a national health crisis/pandemic. Underlying conditions include, but are not limited to:
Pregnancy, hypertension, immune suppression, metabolic disease, neurologic disease, renal disease, autoimmune disease cardiovascular disease, chronic lung disease, and/or gastrointestinal/liver disease.
If you need to contact Residence Life Staff, you may do so at 413-265-2461 during business hours or 413-374-7145 during non-business hours.
