College Grounds to Remain Closed
A photo of an empty Swarthmore College campus back in April. Photo by Greg Hoy.
Most Swarthmore College students will be leaving campus beginning November 20 for a week of Thanksgiving break and will then finish the semester remotely. After a fully remote January term, several hundred students — mostly juniors and seniors — are expected to make their way to campus for the spring semester, which will begin on February 15. (Those who were invited to be on campus for the current fall semester are mostly first-year, sophomore, and transfer students.)
Even with few students living in the dorms for the next few months, the college grounds will remain closed. In a letter to the Swarthmore College community, President Val Smith explained the decision, citing the current surge in COVID-19 cases across the region as well as projections of even higher positivity rates to come. “I expect that our neighbors in the surrounding community in particular will find this news disappointing,” she wrote. “But I hope they can appreciate the safety concerns behind this decision. We will continue to revisit this situation on an ongoing basis and will reopen the grounds as soon as it is responsible and practical to do so.”
As of November 17, 10 students and 20 faculty and staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 since the college started a regular testing program at the end of August. The college has processed nearly 10,500 tests during that time.
