The Chatham Student Government discussed plans for the spring semester during its latest weekly meeting. 

Dr. Jenna Templeton, Chatham University’s Vice President for Academic Affairs, explained a potential plan regarding the delivery and instruction of classes after winter break.

 Templeton said that a final decision would be made about the upcoming semester by Oct. 15.

 The proposed plan is that the semester would start on Jan. 6, 2021, with online preliminary instruction from Jan. 6-8 to allow additional time for students to move back in. Formal instruction would start on Jan. 11.

 There would not be a spring break. Instead, Chatham would incorporate academic rest days in March and April that would add up to the same amount of days off that a spring break would’ve given.

 Instead of a predetermined finals week, there will just be 15 weeks of full instruction and the delivery of finals would be up to the discretion of the faculty.

 Templeton said it would be highly unlikely for this semester and future semesters to be pass/fail because now there is adequate time to prepare for instruction surrounding the virus. It was only implemented last semester because the transition to distance learning happened quickly and abruptly late in the semester because of COVID-19 shutdowns.

 COVID-19 testing update

Also during the meeting, Dean of Students Heather Black provided an update on COVID-19 and Chatham’s handling of the virus. She highlighted that there was a new case regarding a commuter student, and that the University is ramping up testing.

 Last week, Chatham started random sample testing of resident assistants and GRDs in residence life. Next will be random sample testing of residents on campus, not including athletes. (Student-athletes were tested at random earlier this semester.)

 Chatham is also looking to potentially give health screenings through the ChathamU app.

 Dean Black shared that students who have a reason to stay on campus over winter break need to submit their request form before this month’s deadline. 

Cameras on campus

Another topic of concern discussed during the meeting was the cameras across campus. There are very few cameras around campus, the majority being in the blue light safety posts positioned throughout Chatham. However, the footage from those cameras are often blurry, resulting in no useful footage from them. 

To fix the issue, Chatham’s chief of police is willing to have an open forum to answer questions regarding a more comprehensive safety plan. 

      The next CSG meeting will be Thursday via Zoom. The guest speaker will be Ron Giles, director of the Athletic and Fitness Center.