Quarantine and isolation in place after eleven students gathered in Murray dorm on September 21 night without face mask or social distancing.
Around 10:05 p.m. Campus Safety received a report of an on-campus social gathering. At about 10:30 p.m., the leadership team received the same report, which they then shared with Resident Life. One Resident Assistant, one professional staff, and one campus safety officer were dispatched to the location.
The situation was resolved in fifteen minutes. The staff were outside in the hallway when the students inside the dorm were dismissed.
The three staff members who responded to the situation, according to one anonymous source, have since been quarantined.
A video was shared anonymously with Dominican Star. Eleven students gathered in a dorm room in Murray, without wearing face masks or social distance, drinking from red plastic cups.
One student, according to an anonymous source, was tested positive for COVID-19. It is unclear whether the patient knew about their status before going to the party.
Barrington Price, Vice President of Student Success and Engagement, said the gathering was disbanded immediately when the report was received.
The Conduct Team of the university, including Norah Collins, Barrington Price, and Lauren Svendsen were made aware of the situation. No email communication was sent to any residents at the publication of this article.
Price said the gathering “didn’t lead to a spike in COVID cases”. However, he states that he does not want students to think it is appropriate to social gather.
“We don’t typically write to students to tell them [about] a violation on campus” Price said. “It [the unauthorized gathering] wasn’t a super-spreader event. There are all sorts of issue that happen on campus on a regular basis that we don’t write to campus community to tell them that an event happened.”
The students, according to Price, violated both the Student Code of Conduct and the Caritas Commitment. He said the violations are also added to the data of Caritas Commitment violations of week from Sept.18 to 24.
Price said that a first violation of caritas commitment results in a warning, a second time results in a $50 fine, the third time a $150 fine, and lastly a conduct hearing from the team.
According to Norah Collins Pienta, Dean of Students, the Conduct Team, organized by Student Life and staff, holds students accountable and facilitates testing. The Wellness Center performs the contact tracing to determine if other individuals need to quarantine.
Carol Seley, Director of Campus Safety and Risk, said there will be disciplinary actions against anyone who violated Caritas Commitment but will not comment on any specific case out of concern for privacy.
Pienta said alleged violations of Caritas Commitment are referred and handled at the Dean of Students’ Office. Pienta elaborated that if a student or community member is aware of a violation, they have the responsibility to report it to Student Life/ Campus Safety.
According to one anonymous resident, no contract has been signed by residents in accordance with the caritas commitment. No clear policies are in place for residents to abide by the safety measures.
According to Pienta, students are supposed to follow the code of conduct of the Housing Contract signed by residents. Even though “Caritas Commitment” is not named, students should abide by the code of conduct that implicitly includes Caritas Commitment.
The surveillance plan for testing, according to Pienta, includes those tested five to nine days after the exposure, community testing, and athletics testing, the last of which have not found any positive COVID-19 cases, according to Price.
Elizabeth Ritzman, Director of Wellness Center, along with Meagan Mitchell, Director of Student Life , Pienta and Seley, did not comment on the social gathering for privacy concerns.
According to an anonymous resident source, the Resident Assistants conduct rounds of the dorms twice on weekdays, between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. and after 12 p.m. On weekends, three rounds are conducted, one after 10 p.m., one after 11 p.m. and one after 12 p.m.
According to Carol Seley, Director of Campus Safety, Campus Safety officers patrol the residential halls every two to three hours. A dispatch is located at Coughlin Commons and Priory front desk from midnight to six a.m. on weekdays and 24 hours on the weekends.
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