Update from President O’Shea:

“Dear Members of the New College Community,

There are no reported COVID-19 cases on campus.

To reiterate previous messages, our chief concerns are to safeguard the health of every member of the community and to ensure that every student can successfully complete the semester (and every senior scheduled to graduate in May is able to do so).  Moreover, New College of Florida has a responsibility to the larger public and to the state to carry out our activities in a way that slows the spread of the coronavirus.

Thanks to all our students for their responsiveness to the actions that have been taken to diminish contagion.  No one dreamt of anything like this when the academic year began, and it is an enormous and stressful interruption.  Thanks, too, to faculty and staff for all they have done and will do to continue to deliver courses, tutorials, advising and services.

As a reminder, students who remained in the residence halls for spring break and are able to go home or to another location must leave the residence halls by noon on Friday, March 20. Students (such as international students who are subject to travel restrictions) who have a compelling cause keeping them from adhering to this requirement should go to the Student Affairs Office in HC-1 to appeal for an exemption. If you do not receive express approval by tomorrow (Thursday) at 5PM from Student Affairs to remain on campus, you must leave.  Students facing financial barriers to returning home can apply for assistance from the Student Emergency Fund, managed by Regina Rodarte in Student Affairs.

The Fitness Center will close tomorrow, but will offer personal fitness counseling via email and phone. The Bookstore is fulfilling online orders, but is not open for walk-in customers.

The Jane Bancroft Cook Library is open by appointment-only to New College and USF students, staff, and faculty from 9 am to 5 pm on weekdays. The Library will be closed on Saturdays and Sundays. Please call (941) 487-4305 or email library@ncf.edu to schedule your appointment to check out or return materials. The Library’s operating hours are subject to change. Please visit the Library home page for the most up-to-date information.

We are suspending on-campus admissions tours from March 23 to April 30, 2020. Prospective students and their families will be encouraged to take the virtual tour and to connect with admissions counselors using Skype or other online communication tools. We will not be hosting an in-person Admitted Student Day on April 18 and are considering alternatives for this event.

Our on-campus SACS accreditation visit, originally scheduled for April 7-9, has been postponed. We will communicate the new date once we receive confirmation from SACS.

Administrative departments remain open, but supervisors should speak with their staff to determine alternative ways to maintain services to the campus, including telework (work from home), flexible hours, and virtual meetings to limit face-to-face interaction as much as possible. Human Resources will be providing an Alternate Work Location Agreement form for supervisors and employees to complete. Please also review the Employee Guidance FAQ that is posted on our Campuswide Alerts web page.

Be well and do your best to take care of yourself and others.”