To: Paul Smith’s College students, employees, faculty, staff
Delivered: March 11, 2020

Dear Paul Smith’s students, faculty and staff,

As you are aware, the COVID-19 virus continues to spread rapidly. The Paul Smith’s College emergency planning team has been closely monitoring the situation, developing contingency plans and considering alternatives to protect the health of our community while continuing to educate our students. While there are no confirmed cases in our area, after much deliberation and out of our paramount concern for the health and safety of our community, we have decided to postpone the start of classes until March 23. We will let you know on Wednesday, March 18 if on-campus classes will resume on March 23 or if we will move to on-line learning for part or all of the remainder of the academic year.

Students who are already on campus may remain here. Other students who have a critical need to be on campus before March 22 need to contact Lou Kaminski at 518-327-6488 prior to returning. If you do not have a compelling need to be here, we ask that you stay off campus to minimize the chance that the virus spreads to our campus.

Faculty and staff should report to work as planned on Monday, March 16. All of us need to be reviewing our contingency plans in light of this situation, and developing alternative approaches that ensure the safety of our community while supporting students and the educational process. In support of that, we are banning most travel and large/outside campus events. We will review these policies prior to April 1 or if the situation changes.

Daily updates will be posted on the college website. Significant announcements will also be emailed and messages sent through the Bobcat alert system. Paul Smith’s people are known for their creativity, flexibility and commitment to getting the job done. I know that those attributes will ensure that we get through this challenging period together.

Best,

Cathy

Dr. Cathy S. Dove, President
Paul Smith’s College
P. O. Box 265
Paul Smiths, New York 12970
518-327-6223 ofc