COVID policies for spring semester 2022

Jan. 24, 2022

Campus community,

Before announcing our COVID policies for students returning to campus for spring semester, we again acknowledge the stress that COVID restrictions have put on all of us. We appreciate the wide support for following our policies, even as we recognize that reasonable minds can disagree. 

The Augustana Strong Task Force (made up of students, faculty and staff), the Augustana Cabinet and the Augustana College Board of Trustees consistently have been guided by these principles:

• We believe that in-person classes and activities are the heart of an Augustana education, and must continue if they can be delivered responsibly. 

• The safety of students, faculty and staff, as well as their families and loved ones, is a core principle.

• We comply with public health mandates and are guided by public health authorities. We are not guided by pressure, fear, or what makes the most people happy.

• Our protective measures are calibrated to the number of positive cases on campus and within the community, the availability of hospital beds, and related factors.

• We will not make decisions before we need to, so that we may take into account the latest public health guidance and the number of cases in the community. This means, at times, we need to live with uncertainty and ambiguity.

Guided by these principles, Augustana determines how to modify campus operations, including masking, testing, isolation and quarantine, limits on gathering size, etc.

What does all of this mean for the beginning of spring semester? While the number of positive cases has dropped significantly at Augustana, thanks to the care community members extend to each other, the number of cases in the nation, Illinois and the Quad Cities remains at near record levels. Availability of hospital beds is still very limited.

We are concerned that students returning from break may unintentionally bring COVID-19 to campus, and do not want to be forced to do what other colleges have done: Shut down in-person courses because of a high number of cases.

Spring semester policies

To protect against the risk of community spread when students return, Augustana is adopting the following policies for returning to campus:

• Students with vaccinations up-to-date (meaning they have the initial vaccinations and the booster, if eligible) will not need to test before returning to classes.

• Students with the initial vaccination and who are eligible for boosters, but not yet boosted, will need to test before returning to classes. (If you are boosted, please register that information with the college.)

For those not up-to-date, free tests will be available at the PepsiCo Center starting at 1 p.m. Feb. 1. More details will be shared by email later this week about on-campus testing. Depending on conditions, this group may be required to test weekly.

• Students who are not vaccinated will be required to test before starting spring semester classes and will be required to test weekly until the state of Illinois changes its requirements.

We are hopeful that we soon will start to see significant declines in the number of COVID cases in our region and nationally. As cases decline, student gathering size limitations and other restrictions will be modified or lifted. 

More information about required testing can be found at Augustana Strong, which we will consistently update with the latest directives, according to the latest public health situation.

We appreciate your support and look forward to welcoming you back.

Steve Bahls, President of the College

Wes Brooks, Vice President and Dean of Student Life