Ellen Hu ’24
Editor-in-Chief
On Feb. 10, Scripps students received an email from Interim Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Adriana di Bartolo-Beckman detailing revised COVID-19 restrictions. The email revealed plans for 5C dining, guest approval within residence halls, and the beginning of school-sponsored parties for the spring semester.
Cross-campus dining will be implemented starting Feb. 26 and will be available for limited meals. Scripps, Pitzer, Claremont Mckenna, and Pomona dining halls will be open to all 5C students during brunch and dinner on weekends as well as dinners on weekdays. Harvey Mudd’s Hoch Shanahan Dining Commons will also be open to the 5C community for weekend brunches.
“We understand that students across the 5Cs want cross-campus dining for breakfast and lunch during the week,” said Dean di Bartolo-Beckman in the Jan. 10 email. “Knowing that lunchtime places the greatest demands on our dining halls, we believe it is prudent to begin 5C dining with dinner mealtimes (and with brunch on the weekends) to ensure that our dining halls are able to continue to meet high standards of service.”
Guests from Scripps and the other 7Cs will be able to enter residence halls starting Feb. 26. While this policy was previously implemented in the fall semester, it was revoked upon student arrival for the spring semester as a response to the COVID-19 surge.
Additionally, school-sponsored 5C parties can begin starting Feb. 26. Each school will be able to host one party and must follow a set of guidelines instated by the home campus. It is unclear what the Scripps-specific policies are at this time.
Common spaces have slowly been opened over the course of the semester. While all common spaces were initially closed with the exception of dorm kitchens, these spaces are now open. The newest additions include SCORE and the Student Union which were officially opened to the student population on Feb. 10. No food or drink is permitted in any of these spaces.
These updates follow a period of strict restrictions following a surge in COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant. Many of these restrictions were communicated prior to students’ arrival on campus and focused on the first two weeks.
The mask mandate has been maintained, although more restrictions regarding the type of masks that can be worn have been implemented. Students and staff are required to wear surgical-grade masks. Scripps provides students with a weekly kit of approved masks composed of five surgical masks and one KN95 mask. These kits can be picked up from the student mailboxes and are replenished weekly.
Upon arrival, students were asked to get tested as soon as possible and quarantine in their rooms until they received negative results. This policy was accompanied by two weeks of virtual classes to begin the semester. Students were not required to be on campus until Jan. 23 in an attempt to accommodate flight cancellations.
On Jan. 21, it was announced that some classes would be taught in outdoor classrooms. However, these plans were impacted by the wind storm that took place on Jan. 21. Many of the outdoor classrooms that were located on Alumnae Field needed repairs.
Students who are interested in learning more and keeping up with the most up-to-date information can check the Scripps Strong website. Resources on the page include a COVID-19 dashboard and policy updates.
Image Source: Ellen Hu ’24
