COVID-19 FAQ

aerial image of RWU's Bristol campus in the fall

Reopening 

What is Roger Williams plan for Fall 2020? 

We are fully committed to a safe and healthy reopening of Roger Williams for the fall 2020 semester. All our energy is focused on how to resume an in-person living and learning campus community in coordination with state of Rhode Island and CDC guidance. But with our goal to reopen, we are designing options for our students (and students from other universities) that must remain remote or unable to return to campus.

How is RWU going about pursuing this?  

Nearly 200 faculty, staff, and students in our Academic Planning and Reopening Roger groups are developing models that will allow all students, regardless of their location, to engage in their course of study deeply and meaningfully. These groups are working from guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and the Rhode Island Department of Health, and they are implementing protocols for social distancing and safe operations in classrooms, dining services, residence halls, and all the other facets of our campus. Our preliminary plans will be submitted by June 15 and finalized with feedback from the Rhode Island Department of Health in early July.

When will classes start? 

We will decide on the official move-in and start date of the fall semester by mid-July. Many circumstances related to the pandemic and state executive orders may change over the coming weeks. Regardless of an official start date, we are ready to accommodate student needs; we are also considering breaking the semester into blocks to allow for a later start, such as three, 5-week blocks or two 8-week blocks.

Academic Approach

What is the academic plan for the fall? 

While much of our energy is focused on the reopening of campus and specifics around our residential and academic experiences, we are also using this planning time to imagine new academic pathways and opportunities to meet your learning needs and preferences. We recognize that, for a variety of reasons, you or other students may not be able to return to campus in the fall. As such, we are exploring flexible options that allow you to stay remote and continue your RWU studies in new and different ways. Our aim is to provide you with a framework that gives you the flexibility to determine when you want to start, how you want to start, and how you want to engage.

Can you explain a bit more about this 'flexibility'? 

While governors and state public health authorities will lift stay-at-home restrictions at different paces and different time schedules, it is how consumers and customers reengage that will restart the economy. We look at RWU in the same way. What that means is that it is not sufficient for RWU to simply think about opening – we must think about how we reopen that ensures students are ready to return. Geography, as well as circumstances such as safety concerns or financial hardships, may affect your ability to return. Universities will not reopen colleges, students will. 

In order to meet all students where they are, we are exploring hybrid academic models that will allow some of you to have a traditional residential experience with a blend of in-person and remote learning, while offering other options to those unable to return to campus and those wishing to remain in your community to help reopen the economy.

Can you tell me more about these new hybrid academic models? 

RWU is listening to you and your families to determine what kinds of programs would best work in this current environment and beyond. It is time to put you in the driver’s seat and not keep you in the back seat. We are designing a customized, hybrid approach that blends in-person courses, online studies, experience-based opportunities, and work. Potential offerings include: 

  • Allowing you to build your own semester that can blend in-person and online studies, off-site, project-based options, and credit for work experience.
  • A Civic Scholars experiential semester option, where you can make a difference in the community earning course credit under the guidance of a professor while working with an organization or community partner to rebuild your community and economy. Or you can pursue a guided remote research project with a faculty member.
  • A Structured Gap semester if you are considering delaying full-time learning to use your semester-away experience to earn credits through our prior learning assessment process.
  • A modified, campus-based semester that will spread a full-time course load over a block schedule, so that you can take 1-2 courses at a time with a more in-depth delivery over a shorter time-period.

You can decide what is best way to engage; you could blend remote learning with an experiential education project, or an internship with an experiential project. 

No matter what your current circumstances are, you can remain connected to RWU and to your education, and we will welcome you to campus when you are ready.

When will academic programs and offerings be finalized? 

Our faculty and staff Academic Planning Groups are working diligently to come up with all new models and fast-track the approval process to put them in place for the fall semester. We are expecting to share the specifics of these new model designs in June and have them implemented by July. 

Health and Safety

What health and safety protocols will be in place when students to return to campus?

We are working closely with Rhode Island state officials and other universities to plan for a safe, collaborative reopening of college campuses. Our institutional planning teams for Reopening Roger are developing phased plans around how to live, how to work, how to learn, how to engage, and how to respond with safety and well-being as the priorities for our campus and local communities. We are examining protocols for social distancing and safe operations in classrooms, dining halls and cafeterias, residential halls, and public gathering spaces, as well as establishing protocols and procedures for isolation and quarantine on campus.  

A handful of colleges and universities around the country are conducting their own COVID-19 testing and tracing. Will Roger Williams University be doing the same? 

Roger Williams is fortunate to be in a geographic region where the number of COVID-19 cases have been fairly contained. Additionally, testing has generally been more available with CVS national headquarters and strong diagnostic labs located in the state.

RWU will implement its own COVID-19 testing and tracing measures in advance of reopening. We have deep faculty expertise to tap into and develop innovative protocols for our campus and local communities that will be consistent with and complementary to state public health initiatives. It is only through an early, proactive testing and tracing culture that we can mitigate and contain the spread of positive cases. Additionally, these initiatives will also open student internship and student employment positions to be involved as “contact tracers” and peer educators in various ways.

What can you say about risks and family concerns about student health? How would they be mitigated?

Our campus functions as a small town on a 180-acre footprint, so safety is always top of mind. We are reviewing every aspect of safety and expanding our strategies to open up the campus in phased approaches, from evaluative self-screening measures we will ask of our faculty, staff and students to how classrooms, dining halls, and fitness centers are designed, to how people make their way around campus. We will have modified dining experiences to start the semester, establishing time assignments for students to appropriately manage capacity, and encourage take-out to reduce the number of people dining together. In the dorms, we will not have triple rooms this fall and will only have three or more per room or suite when the built capacity and design of the room safely ensures appropriate distance and personal space for each roommate. 

Incoming Freshmen 

What is the deadline for acceptance notification? 

We have extended the deadline until June 1. Given the overall environment, we are committed to working with you whenever you are ready to engage. If students need more time than June 1, we recommend you contact your admission counselor prior to June 1 to talk about your circumstances and discuss an extension if we still have capacity. 

Will the first-year service project still be an option or will the date change if the fall semester is altered?

For more than 15 years our entire first year class has participated in a community service project to strengthen our connection to the residents and communities in and around Bristol. Considering the current environment, we are moving away from that model this year. There will still be opportunities for community engagement throughout the academic year – most likely embedded in the Roger Seminar for first-year students. 

If the fall semester is altered, what other opportunities will be put into place for meeting other students and getting involved on campus?

RWU is expert at building community. Whether it is done in person or virtually, our new students will be connected with each other as new students and be guided by peers. We remain focused on providing opportunities for you to engage in activities, clubs, and organizations, on campus or remotely through technology and other means.

Enrollment/Financial Aid

How is RWU providing financial aid to students and families during this time? 

We have added COVID-related situations to our financial aid appeals form. The appeals committee meets weekly, and we make every effort to get back to each family within a week of submission.

Can I defer enrollment to a future semester if I do not want to start in the fall? 

If you decide to defer enrollment, we will work with you to determine what your time off might consist of and how we can best be of assistance. In considering a deferral, if students want to work or do some sort of experience and take an online class or two part-time, we want that to be to part of your learning. Our advisors can work with you in a one-on-one setting to better understand your specific concerns and goals and develop a plan to help you reach your personal goals for deferring but help keep your educational goals on track as well. 

What happens if Rhode Island opens before other states and students are not able to travel from the state they live in to RWU?

We will be as flexible as possible to best accommodate your needs. With our new options, there are numerous opportunities for you to remain engaged in learning and earning credit without physically being here.