Earlier today, Claremont McKenna College (CMC) Vice President of Student Affairs Sharon Basso informed the student body “that weekly covid19 surveillance testing is mandatory.” The email also explained that “[f]or those few who failed to get a weekly test – that is a conduct violation. Starting this coming week we will be receiving weekly data reports of any students who have not tested.”
Under Claremont McKenna’s student conduct process, a conduct violation constitutes a “minor violation.” Penalties for minor violations include a “[w]arning letter sent to student,” though “[l]ow-level sanctions may be assigned” and the “[s]tudent cannot appeal.” Lastly “[a]t any point, the Dean of Students can move a conduct case from one category to another, with notice to the students.”
The email also noted that “there is still time this morning to be in compliance if you REPORT TO MCKENNA AUDITORIUM TODAY BEFORE 12:30 PM AND WE WILL GET YOU TESTED THIS WEEK.” The Vice President of Student Affairs also requested that students “[p]lease put a standard testing time in [their] calendars so [they] make it a ‘habit’.”
Since students moved back to campus at CMC, the college has been conducting weekly Covid-19 testing and publishing the results on a dashboard. The highest recorded number of student cases in a week was seven cases during the week of August 30 to September 5. So far, there has been one recorded student case this week.
The declaration comes after the implementation of numerous safety protocols by CMC, including an indoor mask mandate and an anonymous reporting mechanism for contact tracing purposes.