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In an email sent to the Boston College community, Executive Vice President Michael Lochead and Provost David Quigley announced that students will have two options for their Thanksgiving break plans. The email provided two separate pairs of options for students living on-campus and those living off-campus, but the two choices are largely identical.
The first option for students is to “leave Boston College for Thanksgiving break and not return to campus until the start of the second semester, completing course work and examinations remotely.” If students wish to choose this option, they “must inform the Office of Residential Life of their plans to ensure continued technological access for classes and libraries between the end of the Thanksgiving break (November 29) and their last exam.” For students living on campus who choose this option, they will be offered “pro-rated room credits and board balances...for the spring semester.” Students graduating early in December who choose to leave campus “can seek a pro-rated refund through Student Services.”
The second option is that students may choose to “remain at Boston College or within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts during the Thanksgiving break and finish the semester on campus.” Similarly, students who choose to remain on campus or in Massachusetts must also inform the Office of Residential Life of their decision by Friday, November 13 “in order to maintain access after Thanksgiving to University services, facilities, and COVID-19 testing.”
For students choosing to remain on campus, the email did note that “some in-person classes and finals may be provided remotely.” The email additionally included a reminder that “all students must depart campus upon completion of their last final exam.”
Regardless of their choice, students must register their selection with the Office of Residential Life by Friday, November 13. Instructions regarding how to register their Thanksgiving plans “will be sent to students in a separate email later this week.”
Similarly, the email also included a message to graduate and professional students that they must also “inform the Office of Graduate Student Life to ensure continued access to on-campus services for the remainder of the semester” if they choose to stay within the state.
Prior to this announcement, students received an email from Vice President for Student Affairs Joy Moore on Tuesday, October 13 to survey “student preferences in regard to scheduling options” for Thanksgiving break. However, the University has not yet disclosed the results of this survey.
Today’s email also announced that “Boston College will test all undergraduate students the week of November 16, in advance of Thanksgiving travel,” with more details soon to come.
In addition to Thanksgiving plans, the email announced that “the schedule for second semester has not been determined at this time, but the University is reviewing the benefits of beginning the last week of January, eliminating Spring Break, and having classes on Holy Thursday and Easter Monday,” with more information to be communicated in the future. Just as for the fall semester, upon returning to campus for the spring semester, “Boston College will require all students, faculty, and staff planning to be on campus during the spring semester to be tested for COVID-19 before classes resume.”
Lochead and Quigley concluded the email with a message of thanks, expressing their appreciation for “the generous efforts of the Boston College community over these past several weeks to help keep the campus healthy and safe” and asking students for their “continued diligence and support as we complete the fall semester.”
