Help Keep Our Campus Safe and Open

Rockhurst University Companions, 

This is not the message I had hoped to be sending to our community on our first day of classes. Despite the best efforts of our staff to ready our campus for safe learning in pandemic conditions and the work of many to inform students about our expectations that they comply with requirements meant to keep our campus safe, we are beginning the year with a number of violations. 

Yesterday morning our Student Development office received a large number of incident reports regarding violations that took place Thursday through Saturday nights.  

• The incidents include at least three separate parties in University residential facilities and a large group of students who rented a party bus to take them to bars.  
• These situations involved a blatant disregard for the COVID-19 protocols we have in place (i.e. lack of masks and social distancing, violation of residential guest or off-campus party protocols, etc.), and in most cases involved other misconduct regarding alcohol and cooperation with University officials.  
• As a result, 27 interim suspensions have been issued, meaning these student companions were asked to leave campus for at least a two-week quarantine period, cannot attend in-person classes (will engage through virtual and other means), and will go through our disciplinary review process. Not included in these numbers is the significant number of student guests that will also be subject to the disciplinary process.  

On Friday, I recorded a brief video, which we shared with campus, that talks about wisdom, one of our University’s core values. I asked that students exercise prudential judgment as we begin our semester together so that we can mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and perhaps avoid the fates of larger universities such as Notre Dame and the University of North Carolina who switched to remote instruction for the semester or for a temporary period.  

The University has communicated expectations around safety protocols, including the potential for disciplinary actions, on a number of occasions over the past few months. Be assured that we will not hesitate to change our plans to create the safest environment possible for our faculty, staff, students and visitors. Our ability to remain face-to-face is dependent on all of us realizing the seriousness of the situation: While inconvenient, the behavior required in a worldwide pandemic requires individual sacrifices for the good of the whole.  

What does this mean for our campus? Despite the many students who are doing their best to follow the protocols that we put in place, it will take only a few violations to jeopardize our ability to continue face-to-face instruction. Over the coming days, we will gather information, monitor the situation and keep the community informed should our plans change. Let us continue to invite one another to follow the required guidelines and protocols to embrace our core value of cura personalis – mutual concern along the journey.   

The University needs to respect and will uphold your freedom to make decisions. However, when those decisions harm or put others at risk, measures must be considered and taken to ensure the safety of all. Such consideration must even include the decision to return to all virtual delivery of instruction.   

WE are being invited to determine how WE will spend this semester. IF WE want to spend this semester on campus, then every one of us needs to cooperate. There can be no exceptions. This may seem harsh and unfair. But, this pandemic is indifferent to such feelings.  

I believe we can do this but only if each member of our Rockhurst University community participates fully. We cannot become sloppy or careless. We need to remain diligent. ALL Protocols for All Companions at All Times. Sapientia aedificavit sibi domum - "Wisdom has built herself a home." (Proverbs 9:1) This expression rests at the bottom of our school shield. Let’s live together, in OUR home, practicing Wisdom. 

Sincerely, 

Thomas B. Curran, S.J.
President