The Campus and Community Advisory Committee met on October 27. The committee provided its fourth set of recommendations [PDF] to the University administration on Nov 30, 2020.
The committee meets next on Tuesday,Nov 3 at 3 p.m. Connection information is available at this link.
CCAC Recommendations: 4
BACKGROUND
The Campus and Community Advisory Committee (CCAC) has convened six times, most recently on October 27, and we wish to convey our recommendation on the issue of what has become known as “clump versus sprinkle.” This phrase refers to the question of how to group wellness days for the spring semester. As all of our recommendations do, this recommendation rests on the following assumptions. We convey these recommendations with the following caveats:
- A robust testing and contact tracing system is in effect that includes re-entry and surveillance testing of students living in both on-campus and off-campus housing as well as faculty and staff working on campus.
- The Community Standards and Health Behavior efforts are substantially enhanced from what they were in August at the start of the fall semester.
- 500 beds will be available for isolation and quarantine.
- A community positivity rate or other appropriate metric is specified in conjunction with the Orange County Health Department. The metric will be considered on a particular date to be determined by the Roadmap Implementation Team working group on infectious disease/testing/and tracing. If the metric is exceeded, then students will not return to campus in greater numbers than are currently on campus and/or their return will be delayed, or remote only instruction will be implemented until the metric is met.
- Students will not be asked to return home once they arrive.
- Students and parents must be fully notified of all potential scenarios so that they can make fully informed decisions about housing and/or returning to the Chapel Hill community.
CLUMP VERSUS SPRINKLE
Four scenarios were provided by the registrar’s office along with an option to “build our own” based on a given set of constraints. In considering these options, the CCAC looked at a variety of issues, including the timespan between wellness days and questions about how much students and others in the campus community might travel given different scenarios. We particularly privileged student voices in this conversation. Students have been sorely tested by having no breaks this fall. In addition to the myriad other disappointments and challenges caused by the pandemic, the lack of true “down time” has been difficult. In addition, given that UNC Chapel Hill cannot prevent students from travelling or leaving campus, we wanted to arrive at a recommendation that supports rest but not far flung travel as might happen with a traditional 9-day spring break when weekends are factored in.
After review and discussion, scenarios 1, 2, and 4 were eliminated. The committee came up with two scenarios of our own which are labeled scenarios 5 and 6 in the chart that accompanies this recommendation. The majority voted for scenario 6 (n=18). Scenario 3 received 3 votes and scenario 5 received 4 votes. In sum we are much more in favor of a “clump” approach to wellness days versus the “sprinkle” approach. We would advise considering enhanced testing after the long weekends provided in the “clump” approach given that students may opt to travel, although it may not be as far afield as in a traditional spring break. Finally, we would like to request that staff also be considered as plans move forward so that at least some of these wellness days apply to them as well given that the only real holiday (day off) for staff in this accelerated time frame is April 2, 2021.
