Bates College is urging students to follow health guidelines after several have been sent home for violating rules.
In a letter to the campus community last week, Bates Vice President for Campus Life Josh McIntosh said he was concerned about recent reports of social gatherings where students were not practicing social distancing or wearing masks. McIntosh says some students have been sent home for violations including hosting nonstudents on campus and repeatedly missing testing appointments.
“Students who have violated our public health standards have been surprised by the seriousness with which we have taken these infractions, and by the swiftness with which they have been removed from college housing and switched to remote learning,” McIntosh writes. “I want to be clear: if you are found in any residence other than your residence hall, miss scheduled testing appointments or violate other aspects of the public health agreement, the likely outcome is that you will be sent home and switched to remote learning.”
The school advised that those “unsafe behaviors” could lead to the school eliminating in-person classes.
The college has so far limited the spread of COVID-19 by testing students multiple times per week. Only two students have tested positive out of nearly 25,000 tests, and no student cases have been detected since early September.
