Lessening Restrictions on Campus: The Facts and Figures

Takeshin Inayoshi, a sophomore from Eaton Rapids , stands in front of Robinson Hall. Students have adapted to life on campus but are eager to have more freedom (Photo by Ryan Lemanski).

Many new policies have been incorporated into daily life on Albion College’s campus this fall. The guidelines set forth by the college are intended to help keep the community safe, and compliance with these rules could also lead to lessened restrictions on campus for students. 

“We continue to monitor compliance with our public health protocols with a goal to reduce restrictions over time,” said the Office of the President in an email sent out to campus on Oct.6. “We cannot consider making changes to our policies until compliance with these measures increases.” 

The Albion College Together Safely Community Compliance and Risk Dashboard lists sets of measures and ranks the level of compliance with said measures from one to ten, ten being the highest and one being the lowest compliance level. Compliance levels are also broken down into red, yellow and green zones. The objective is to have these levels be in the green zone, which is a level of nine to ten. 

The current scores on the dashboard were last updated on Oct. 7. 

“We have a team of students working to monitor weekly compliance at various points around campus daily,” said Kelly Finn, chief of staff in the office of the president. “We are tracking changes in compliance week over week through observational sampling.”

The first measurement is how many students have geo-location turned on through the Aura app. Currently, the level of this measure falls at an eight. Students who do not currently have their location services can go into the settings on their phones and allow the Aura app to monitor their locations. 

Remaining within the safe zone bubble is another item on the dashboard, and it is currently scored at seven. Students are not supposed to leave campus without the approval that comes from the college after filling out an off-campus travel form because leaving campus can create a risk to the community’s isolation.  

Wearing masks in public places is an eight on the dashboard. Students are required to wear their masks when they are outside of their room. Wearing a mask limits the campus population’s exposure to COVID-19. 

Physical distancing whenever and wherever possible, meaning that students maintain a minimum of a six-foot distance when walking around campus and in educational buildings. is ranked a six.Social distancing, as well, can help reduce the spread of COVID-19. 

Daily symptom reporting is also at a six. To complete this task, students can open the Aura app in the morning and submit whether or not they have COVID-19 symptoms. 

The measures of students completing testing on their scheduled day is at a six as well. All students are required to schedule their testing and show up to complete their tests at the time slot they selected. 

The compliance rate of students who have signed the Albion Community Commitment is at a six. To complete this task, students must sign a document citing their commitment to help keep the community safe. 

Use of hand sanitizing stations and frequent hand washing is also at a six. Throughout the campus, hand sanitizing stations are set up to allow students to practice good hygiene.

The score for completing the public health training modules, the lessons students were told to complete over the summer on various health training protocols, is at a six. These include different trainings and assessments after the training. Modules are available to be completed on Albion’s website.  

To see lessened restrictions, all students on campus must try their best to increase these compliance scores. 

“It will truly take commitment and participation from every member of our community to increase compliance,” said Finn. “We are eager to keep our community safe, see increased compliance and consider appropriate policy changes, but first we need compliance from all of our community members.” 

About Ryan Lemanski 17 Articles
Ryan is a senior from West Bloomfield, Mi. He loves running around campus getting stories from students and exploring the nature center.

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