Dear Howard University Students,

On June 25, 2020, President Frederick shared the University’s proposed Re-opening Plan with the University community. Concurrently, the plan was submitted to the District of Columbia government for review and approval. The University has subsequently addressed inquiries and received recommendations from the District regarding testing, housing, de-densification of the campus, and other matters. Revisions to the plan have been submitted to the District, and we await approval of the revised Re-opening Plan. As we prepare for a formal response from the District government, we are also continuing to monitor and review data from the DMV (District, Maryland and Virginia) region, as well as nationwide, regarding COVID-19 infection rates, hospitalizations, and the transmission of the virus.

We are of course concerned about the increasing incidence of COVID-19 in many states and accordingly we intend to make de-densification (limiting the population of faculty, students and staff on campus) a key part of our plan.

We note that Mayor Bowser announced recently that the COVID-19 State of Emergency previously declared in the District of Columbia will continue through October 2020. We are also closely monitoring decisions being made by local jurisdictions regarding the opening of public schools this Fall, as this will impact our faculty and staff with school-aged children.

As we await a response regarding the University’s Re-opening Plan, we are writing to provide additional information regarding Howard University’s housing and academic plans for the Fall semester, and to obtain your feedback and verify your plans for staying on- or off-campus, based on your updated course schedule. It is critical that we get feedback from you. 

As of July 15^th, the Office of the Registrar has updated the Fall 2020 course offerings, based upon responses from the faculty and each academic department. The updated course schedule indicates that over 80% of undergraduate courses will be offered fully online.  With few exceptions, the remainder are being offered in a HyFlex format. “HyFlex” means that some students will take a course face to face, while others have the option of taking the course remotely, with some students alternating between face to face and streaming instruction.

Please note that Freshmen are registered for their Fall courses by the Office of Undergraduate Studies and its program advisors, and will receive their schedules via BisonWeb. Please check your BisonWeb account over the next several days to review your updated schedule. The majority of Freshman schedules have already been updated.

Please understand that the University’s Re-opening Plan will need to remain dynamic, which means that further changes may be necessary as we get closer to the beginning of the Fall semester. We will update the campus community if the District requests any additional changes or modifications to the plan. Please also note that if the incidence of COVID-19 cases continues to increase regionally and nationally, we will be prepared to implement revisions to the Re-opening Plan to respond appropriately, potentially including the option of fully online instruction, as called for in the Re-opening Plan, for undergraduate courses.

A critical goal of the Re-opening Plan is to “de-densify” the HU campus. This means reducing the total number of people on the campus, including students, faculty and staff. To achieve “de-densification” we strongly urge that, if you have a fully online course schedule, you take your Fall 2020 courses from the comfort of your own home.

Likewise, international students who are currently in their country of residence, and who have a fully online course schedule and may be impacted by visa restrictions, are also encouraged to take courses remotely from their home country.

HOUSING

Guided by the advisements that we have received from the CDC as well as the District of Columbia, our overarching goal for the Fall 2020 semester remains to maintain the health and safety of our campus community. A major part of our strategy to achieve this goal is the reduction of the number of students on campus this Fall, in order to reduce the risk of the spread of COVID-19.

The plans and guidance outlined below are intended to achieve the University’s de-densification goal for Fall 2020.  

First, to “de-densify” the campus the University will dramatically reduce occupancy in our residence halls by instituting single occupancy residence. Requests for double occupancy may be made, but will be honored on a case by case basis, based on very limited availability, and will be primarily for siblings, and for other students who reside in the same household.

Our revised Re-opening Plan will also reserve up to 200 beds for the potential isolation of students who test positive for the Coronavirus.

Under this revised plan, we will be able to house no more than 75-80% of students on campus, compared to the number who would ordinarily have been accommodated in normal circumstances.

Because the University will be reducing occupancy in our student residences, we will be populating student residential housing based on the following prioritization, and in the following order:  

• Freshmen who have already paid a housing deposit
• Students in Cohort-based Scholarship Programs (i.e. Karsh STEM Scholars, etc.)
• Seniors who have already paid a housing deposit
• Student athletes
• International students who are unable to return to their country of residence
• Graduate and Professional students who have already paid a housing deposit, and have face-to-face, laboratory, clinical or performance based courses that requires them to be on campus
• Seniors who have not yet paid a housing deposit, but desire to be housed on campus
• All other Sophomores and Juniors

Students with current housing assignments, who may wish to relinquish housing proactively due to their course schedule, the prioritization described above, or any other reason, may do so by submitting an Online Housing Cancellation form through this link:

(https://studentaffairs.howard.edu/housing/cancel-housing-assignment).

The Office of Residence Life will house students according to the prioritization above, which means that if you are not in a category mentioned above, you must complete the form to relinquish housing. You are asked to do so by Thursday, July 23^rd. After that date, The Office of Residence Life will reclaim housing in accordance with the de-densification plan. Housing deposits will be credited to your account. 

Please note that this guidance applies only to the Fall semester. Any students housed on campus will be expected to move out of the residence halls by the last week in November, when formal instruction ends. We will announce Spring 2021 plans at the earliest possible opportunity. We want to maintain flexibility for the Spring semester for our students and for the University as the pandemic continues to evolve and we adjust to developing conditions.

MANDATORY QUESTIONNAIRE

We ask that all students complete a questionnaire available at this link: https://howard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bIyZZZdgajx6Ohf by Thursday, July 23, 2020.

This questionnaire will provide the University with the information it needs to continue to plan for the Fall 2020 Semester, including whether or not you are seeking to reside on campus, or intend to take all of your courses remotely.

Please note that all prior housing assignments have been suspended, and the Office of Residence Life will now make new assignments based on the guidance in this letter and your response to the questionnaire.

We apologize for the inconvenience that this may cause to our students and families, and ask for your continued patience as we navigate conditions that have arisen as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

ATHLETICS

Last week, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) announced the league will suspend all sports competition, championships and non-championships, for the 2020 Fall season. A decision is yet to be made on whether the Fall sports will be moved to the 2021 Spring semester. Additionally, the conference’s plan is to proceed with winter sports competition as scheduled, unless health and medical professionals advise otherwise. Student-athletes will continue to have ongoing engagement with their coaches to ensure optimization of their physical and mental well-being as they continue their matriculation.

STUDENT CHARGES

As with many of our students and their families, closing the campus in the Spring created economic hardships for the University itself that we are still recovering from.

We experienced significant declines in many key revenue sources after the pandemic hit, and also needed to make significant investments last Spring to stand up on-line instruction and move to remote work for faculty and staff.  These impacts are ongoing.  Many of Howard’s revenue sources will still be depressed as we enter the Fall, and there will be a number of significant new costs we will be required to incur as we prepare the campus for re-opening safely.  Special grants from the Federal Government and contributions from supportive donors have helped offset some of these losses, but not all of them.

Despite these challenges, Howard remains committed to keeping the cost of college as affordable and accessible as possible. This is not easy.  While other highly ranked institutions have large endowments and have been able to use them to absorb the unexpected costs of the pandemic, Howard University does not have that same luxury or comparable investment resources. Howard’s tuition is also significantly lower than comparably ranked universities and the University also maintains a very large financial aid program. This helps make Howard more affordable, but it also means that net income from tuition at Howard is significantly lower than at many peer institutions. Additionally, Howard offers wider range of academic programs than most colleges. We maintain a strong pipeline for African Americans into a variety of disciplines because we support our own programs in medicine, law, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, social work, and many other areas of study. We also own and operate our own hospital for where our health sciences students have an opportunity to practice the skills they learn in our academic programs. We take great pride in employing the largest number of African American faculty in the country. This all requires resources, and tuition and other student charges are a significant source of those resources.

All of that said, we are aware of the significant financial impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on many of our students and their families. As we prepare for the Fall semester, the Board of Trustees is actively reviewing the University budget and current student charges and considering whether there is a way that we can provide further assistance to our students with the greatest financial need in this difficult time. We intend to share the results of these discussions with the campus community in the very near future.

Thank you again for your patience and understanding during these challenging times.

Excellence in Truth and Service, 

Anthony K. Wutoh, Ph.D., R.Ph.                          Tashni-Ann Dubroy, Ph.D.        

Provost                                                                   Chief Operating Officer

 

** Check out the new FAQ section of the Re-opening Plan website for additional questions.