Published on March 11, 2020 at 4:30 p.m.

Campus Community,

READ THIS MESSAGE CAREFULLY AS IT CONTAINS IMPORTANT CHANGES TO UNIVERSITY OPERATIONS.

The World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. As of today, there are no confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Samford campus or in Alabama. Nevertheless, Samford is taking measures to protect the health of its campus community.

Samford intends to maintain essential operations through the end of this semester, thereby allowing students to complete the academic work already begun for this term. How that will be accomplished, at least until April 6, will change from our normal practice.

Beginning Monday, March 16, all courses will move to online instruction. All employees will continue to work on campus until otherwise notified. Hopefully, on-campus instruction will resume on Monday, April 6. Until then, you will receive regular and frequent updates regarding all university operations that have been or may be impacted by the coronavirus.

Students may not return to campus until classroom instruction resumes. Those students living in university housing who need to retrieve books, laptops and other essential items from campus rooms can come to Samford until 5:00 p.m. on Monday, March 16 for the limited purpose of claiming those items and then promptly exiting the campus.

International students who reside in university housing will receive guidance from the Global Engagement Office. Student athletes will receive specific instructions regarding on-campus residences, meals and team activities from the Athletics Department.

Our university, country and the world are attempting to make wise decisions about an unprecedented and dynamic public health predicament. Samford will provide regular updates via email and at its Coronavirus website. Consult this website at least daily. If you have a question that is not urgent, please wait for further communication that may address your concerns. If you have a pressing question that requires a prompt reply, send your inquiry to COVID19info@samford.edu. We will reply as soon as is reasonably possible.

In making these decisions, as well as many others in the days ahead, our intent is to minimize for Samford students, faculty, employees and others their risk of exposure to COVID-19. These actions by Samford are similar to those taken by many colleges and universities across the country.

We will provide additional information by noon tomorrow.

Best…Buck

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