Colorado College, a private school in Colorado Springs, is switching to remote learning and asking on-campus students to leave after three dorms were quarantined following a handful of positive COVID-19 cases, leaders announced Tuesday.
Colorado College is the first higher-education institution in the state to switch to remote operations after welcoming students back to campus in the midst of the pandemic.
“Despite our rigorous and successful testing, retesting and response protocol, and our low incidence of positive cases, the El Paso County Public Health Department has required us to quarantine entire residence halls. The department tells us to expect rolling waves of large quarantines going forward,” acting co-presidents Mike Edmonds and Robert Moore wrote in a letter to the campus community Tuesday. “The residential liberal arts experience is a special element of life at CC, but we can’t offer a quality residential experience to our students under these circumstances.”
The college, which has about 2,300 students, uses a block system for classes, so all Block 1 classes will now move to remote instruction, with most courses staying that way for the remainder of the fall semester, school officials said. Colleges leaders said they hope a limited number of students will be able to take in-person or hybrid fall courses later in the semester, depending on their degree.
Hundreds of Colorado College students were placed on two-week quarantines in their rooms across multiple dorm buildings as COVID-19 test results came back positive after they moved into on-campus housing.
Right as a two-week quarantine was ending for one dorm, 10 students tested positive for the new coronavirus last week, leading Colorado College to put two more dorm buildings on two-week quarantines Saturday at the behest of El Paso County Public Health and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, according to the school.
On-campus students are now expected to leave campus by Sept. 20 unless they are already enrolled in one of the few in-person or hybrid courses the college was providing. The college will let those students know by Thursday if they have permission to stay.
International students and those with “dire need” can continue living on campus. Details about move-out are forthcoming, officials said.
Students in quarantine may leave when their quarantine ends at noon Sept. 12. Quarantined students who live within driving distance and who can be driven home by a family member or responsible adult without stopping can leave at any time, the school said.
The college will credit the accounts of all students living in the quarantined dorms — Loomis, Mathias and South halls — their Block 1 room charges, including students who had room assignments there but were moved elsewhere for quarantine or isolation.
Colorado College said it will make an announcement Thursday for students partaking in other blocks.
“We recognize that there are many reasons why this shift will cause hardship for students and families,” Edmonds and Moore wrote. “CC is making every effort to help meet the needs of students. For a list of ways to access support for such needs as internet access, technology, software, food or housing security, among other challenges, please see our COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund information.”
This is a developing story that will be updated.
