Commencement for Class of 2020 postponed to next year
“It is with a heavy heart that I must announce the need to postpone Dartmouth's Commencement exercises,” College President Phil Hanlon wrote in an email to the senior class on Thursday afternoon.
“It is with a heavy heart that I must announce the need to postpone Dartmouth's Commencement exercises,” College President Phil Hanlon wrote in an email to the senior class on Thursday afternoon.
Dartmouth undergraduates, staff and researchers have created clubs and health initiatives to provide answers and relief during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The West Gym in Alumni Gymnasium has been designated as a possible alternative care site for approximately 125 patients needing low-intensity care, according to an email sent to campus on Wednesday by COVID-19 task force co-chairs Lisa Adams and Joshua Keniston. Beginning Friday, the New Hampshire Army National Guard will move supplies and furniture into the gym.
As the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps across the country, Dartmouth’s health services are working to provide care and information to students.
Professors and students are discussing COVID-19 in a variety of classes this term. After the College removed some courses from the course catalog following the move to remote learning, several departments began offering new classes centering on the COVID-19 pandemic, and other pre-existing courses have incorporated pandemic-related topics into their curriculums.
In an email to campus on Friday afternoon, provost Joseph Helble announced a series of steps the College will take to help mitigate the effects of the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Though many Dartmouth students will spend the spring term scattered across the world, 184 students remain on campus, according to an email statement from associate dean of residential life Michael Wooten. As campus facilities are mostly closed, these students are living solitary lives on Dartmouth’s usually bustling campus.
Dartmouth, like many other colleges and universities, has responded to the global spread of COVID-19 by transitioning to remote instruction for all spring term classes. As the first week of classes draws to a close, many professors and students have said they were satisfied with their remote classes, though a number of students experienced complications.
In various communications to the Dartmouth community in the weeks since the COVID-19 outbreak began — including during the March 18 virtual town hall — the College promised to increase financial aid this term. Many aid recipients, however, have seen decreased aid packages, which the College has said reflects this term’s lack of room and board costs.
Though many students will still take classes this term despite the move to remote learning, the COVID-19 crisis has abruptly changed both short and long-term academic plans for many in the Dartmouth community.
As it battles the spread of COVID-19, the College has reduced the on-campus presence of many staff members while still paying employees their scheduled base rate of pay through the end of spring term.
In the town of Hanover and the greater Upper Valley, the closing of Dartmouth’s campus is only one piece of a larger halt to normal activity. The threat of COVID-19 transmission has shuttered businesses, strained local medical resources and put local officials and community leaders on edge.
All Frank J. Guarini Institute for International Education off-campus programs for the 2020 summer term have been canceled in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Guarini Institute executive director John Tansey announced in an email sent to affected students Saturday morning.
Amid a string of residence hall closures, the Lodge has become the most recent dormitory to be cleared out and repurposed as a self-quarantine site for students.
In light of the College’s decision to implement a credit or no credit grading system for all spring undergraduate courses, many students have applauded the administration for a measure that they believe will make grading fairer for those faced with extra difficulties posed by remote classes. Meanwhile, a number of students have called for an option to opt out of the policy.
All Dartmouth undergraduate courses will be graded on a credit or no-credit basis for the upcoming spring term, Provost Joseph Helble announced in an email to campus on Monday morning. Graduate courses will continue to use their regular grading systems.
After six days quarantined in a hotel in Lima, Peru amid a nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, 19 Dartmouth alumni and parents will return to the United States Saturday morning.
College President Phil Hanlon and provost Joseph Helble held a virtual town hall on Wednesday afternoon to answer questions about the College’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Dartmouth undergraduate student has tested presumptive positive for COVID-19, College spokesperson Diana Lawrence confirmed to The Dartmouth on Wednesday night.
Students will not return to campus in May, provost Joseph Helble announced to the Dartmouth community in an email Tuesday afternoon. Both graduate and undergraduate classes will be conducted online for the entirety of spring term.