Back to Brooklyn: Roadmap For Fall 2020
St. Francis College is thrilled to welcome back students, faculty and staff, as we execute our phased reopening of campus.
While our fall 2020 academic calendar will run as previously scheduled, with the first day of classes on September 9th and the last day of final exams on December 21st, much will be different than prior semesters.
We are modifying our campus facilities and operations in accordance with local, state and federal public health requirements related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our campus reopening is built on two core principles:
- Optimizing our community's well-being by mitigating COVID-19 transmission.
- Delivering a stellar Franciscan education aimed at student success and achievement.
Our plan is flexible. Our Committee for Reopening is monitoring the pandemic situation closely and will change course based on New York State guidance and/or our own assessment of the public health situation as it affects the Terrier community. We are prepared to adjust quickly as needed, in accordance with the latest government and public health practices.
In the meantime, we’re excited to begin a new chapter with our Terrier family.
Questions about fall 2020? Email backtobk@sfc.edu
- Academics
- Campus & Facilities
- Residence Halls
- Athletics
- Student Life & Events
- Faculty & Staff
- Tuition & Financial Aid
Academics
Our goal is to maximize face-to-face opportunities between students and faculty while minimizing risks of COVID-19 transmission.
No fall 2020 courses will be taught entirely in-person on campus.
Courses will be instructed partially or completely online, in one of three modalities. Any student unable or unwilling to come to campus for a scheduled class or another educational event can take part in an online version without any penalty:
- Blended Hybrid
- On campus instruction at scheduled times during the week (generally once per week)
- Some sections will have live online course meetings during the week (synchronous)
- Some sections have self-paced online meetings using Canvas and other platforms (asynchronous)
- Online live office hours to engage with professors
- Online: Set-time (synchronous)
- Live online instruction at scheduled times during the week
- Online learning using Canvas and other platforms
- Online live office hours to engage with professors
- Online: Self-Paced (asynchronous)
- Online learning with no scheduled course meeting time
- Online learning using Canvas and other platforms
- Online live online office hours to engage with professors.
All students can expect that at least some of their fall courses will be instructed entirely online. St. Francis College provides faculty training on advanced technology and teaching techniques so they can deliver state-of-the-art online instruction.
In our fall 2020 academic model, many students will have opportunities to be on campus, if they choose:
- Freshmen in the U.S. will be part of a Terrier Community – a cohort of up to about 20 students sharing similar academic interests – that can attend at least two classes together in person, on campus on one designated day each week.
- Students in nursing and science programs will have opportunities for some in-person, hands-on clinical instruction and labs.
- Students may be able to come to campus –as safety requirements allow and under a 'maximum capacity rule' – to access computer labs to complete coursework, meet with support services and hold some meetings for Student Government Association and other student groups, pending appropriate advance approval.
Our International freshmen will be part of a unique First Semester Together Learning Community program.
International freshmen are advised to remain in their home countries and participate in the First Semester Together remotely:
- First Semester Together offers courses in an Online: Set Time format (with live online video classes) and will incorporate an array of academic and student support services. Students take their courses with a set cohort of about 20 fellow international students, helping build camaraderie and establish a peer group.
- If an international freshman obtains a visa and decides to come to Brooklyn for fall semester, St. Francis College will enroll him or her in at least one Blended Hybrid course, providing in-person instruction to ensure compliance with new U.S. Immigration ruling.
Continuing international students can take a fully online course load if they choose, while residing in either their home country or in the United States. Either way, they will be in Active F-1 status and in compliance with the new U.S. Immigration ruling.
Academic advisors will assist students with their individual schedules and answer any questions or concerns. Advising sessions can be scheduled on the Navigate app.
Campus & Facilities
Campus
In accordance with social distancing standards and other health and safety policies and protocols, you'll see changes in our buildings and new rules in place that control access to campus and behavior once inside.
These modifications include but are not limited to:
- Restricting entry and occupation of campus buildings to:
- Students attending classes, labs, educational or academic-related events or meetings (scheduled in advance with appropriate approval), or for training or practice as a member of an athletics team.
- Faculty instructing classes or labs.
- Staff with student-facing roles (as requested to be on campus by a supervisor and approved by a vice president).
- Other faculty, staff, and visitors, with contracted business and/or appropriate prior approval.
- Mandatory use of face masks or coverings on campus.
- Required temperature checks for students, faculty, staff and other visitors upon entering campus.
- Required satisfactory completion of a health screening questionnaire before campus entry.
- Maximum-occupancy and social distancing (at least six feet between people) enforced in all campus spaces, including auditoriums, labs, classrooms and places of worship.
- Adherence to distance markers and directional signage that control traffic flow and occupancy in the buildings’ hallways, elevators, escalators and other areas.
- Plexiglass barriers in certain areas.
- Sanitizer stations throughout campus.
- Sanitizing wipes in classrooms and computer rooms.
- Lockers will be available to students for daily use only, on a first come first served basis. All stored items and locks must be removed each day.
Campus will be subject to rigorous sanitation practices that comply with protocols recommended by the Centers for Disease Controls, using Environmental Protection agency approved products that are effective against the Covid-19 virus, including but not limited to the following measures:
- At a minimum, high touch areas throughout campus will be disinfected twice daily, including but not limited to tables in common spaces, door knobs, light switches, handles, hand railings, bathroom stalls, sink handles, grab bars, water fountains, and elevator buttons.
- Classrooms and Labs will be disinfected at the end of each session.
- All Locker rooms, Sports Medicine, the Weight Training Room, and the Cafeteria will be disinfected daily.
- The Gymnasiums will be disinfected after practices and games.
- Disinfecting wipes will be provided for classrooms and the other spaces for use of the occupants.
The SFC Facilities team has prepared the campus to reopen by taking additional measures in the summer of 2020:
- All HVAC filters have been replaced
- All air handling units have been disinfected
- Cooling tower and piping system has been disinfected
- Entire campus was disinfected: all buildings, all spaces (315,000 square feet total)
Administrative Offices
St. Francis College’s administrative and student-support offices will continue to operate at least partially if not fully remotely throughout the fall semester, in order to help de-densify the campus.
Anyone needing services of an administrative office should reach out first by email to see if the matter can be handled remotely before visiting campus.
- Academic Affairs | academicaffairs@sfc.edu
- Admissions | admissions@sfc.edu
- Advancement | advancement@sfc.edu
- Academic Enhancement Center | aec@sfc.edu
- Bursar | bursar@sfc.edu
- Career Center | careercenter@sfc.edu
- Center for Student Success/Student Advisement | css@sfc.edu
- Financial Aid | financialaid@sfc.edu
- Human Resources | hr@sfc.edu
- International | international@sfc.edu
- Mission, Ministry & Interfaith Dialogue | missionandministry@sfc.edu
- Office of Accessibility & Accountability | oaa@sfc.edu
- Registrar | registrar@sfc.edu
- Residence Life | sfcreslife@sfc.edu
- Service Desk (IT) | servicedesk@sfc.edu
- Student Health & Counseling Services | stuhealthservices@sfc.edu
The cafeteria will not sell any food or drinks, although vending machines on campus will have some available. The library will be open during limited hours only, to pick up and drop off borrowed materials. Library services and resources will be available online.
Residence Halls
St. Francis College Residence Halls will continue to house students this fall. New protocols will be in effect, including but not limited to:
- No visitors will be permitted into Residence Halls. Residents must present proper ID to be scanned before entry.
- Residents will have temperature checks before entry.
- Residents must practice social distancing in all Residence Hall common areas.
- Residents must wear facemasks or face coverings in Residence Hall common areas. They are not required to wear such items when alone in a private room with a closed door and when eating in common areas.
- Residence hall lounges, kitchens and laundry rooms will remain open and cleaned often. Those areas may be subject to maximum capacity rules, and hours may be adjusted, to allow for social distancing.
- Cleaning staff will be on-site every day to clean frequently-trafficked areas.
- Hand sanitizers and hand wipes will be installed on each floor
- Any resident who tests positive for COVID-19 will need to notify SFC and relocate to an isolation room immediately.
- 24 hour security will be provided by SFC to ensure temperature checks and scanning into residence halls are occurring and students are adhering to the no visitors policy.
Athletics
Student Life & Events
- Campus facilities are not currently available for any outside group, organization or individual to host individual events.
- Student groups are encouraged to hold meetings online and conduct activities remotely as much as is possible.
- Any on-campus events organized and hosted by St. Francis College-affiliated groups, departments or individuals in fall 2020 must adhere to rules regarding social distancing and maximum capacity for campus spaces.
- To host any on-campus event, organizers must receive permission from appropriate College offices.
- For students and employees, all upcoming travel outside the United States organized, led, or financed by St. Francis College remains suspended until further notice.
Faculty & Staff
Critical for fall is our commitment to resume some in-person instruction on campus, in an environment that minimizes risk of COVID-19 transmission.
Regarding faculty, staff and administration, the College will follow a phased return-to-campus process that evolves over time. This process will intentionally limit the number of people on campus to reduce density and ensure proper social distancing, while providing appropriate support to serve our students.
We will assess our return-to-campus progress as we move forward and will continue to pursue the safest ways to bring faculty, staff and administration back to campus. The following are key areas involving employees for fall:
- Currently, we’re planning for the following employees to work on campus at the start of the fall semester:
- Faculty, but only when instructing courses or labs.
- Some student-facing employees who need to be on campus to provide services to students, as determined by the department’s supervisor and approved by the applicable divisional vice president. Supervisors in those departments will create rotating staffing schedules so only some team members are on campus at any one time. When working on campus, student-facing employees may be located in a designated central location, not necessarily in their standard offices.
- Some employees who work in Security, Facilities and Document Services/Mailroom, as determined by the department’s supervisor and approved by the applicable divisional vice president.
- All other employees and faculty should plan to work remotely until further notice.
- For the time being, employees, including faculty members, who are not asked by a supervisor to be on campus but need or want to go there for a specific reason, must make a written request to their supervisor or department chair at least 48 hours in advance. The campus visit request procedure is as follows:
- The employee or faculty member must make a written request to his/her supervisor or department chair;
- The supervisor or department chair will review the request and if approved, they will obtain the written approval of the applicable divisional vice president or his/her designee.
- If approved by the applicable divisional vice president or designee, the employee’s supervisor or department chair will e-mail the request on behalf of the employee or faculty member to SFC Facilities and Security at sfcvisitorsdl@sfc.edu. This e-mail request must include the following information:
- Reason for the campus visit;
- Name of the divisional vice president or designee who approved;
- Specific approved location(s) requested to be visited;
- Requested time of arrival and departure from each visited location.
- SFC Facilities and Security will then review the request and notify the employee and supervisor whether their request to come to campus is approved.
- Employees requesting special access will not be permitted access to campus without the prior written approval of SFC Facilities and Security in accordance with the above procedure.
- All employees must bring their SFC ID cards with them when arriving to campus.
- All employees authorized to come to campus at the start of fall semester will need to conform to all other applicable requirements including a temperature scan on campus and a passing response to the College’s health screening questionnaire prior to arrival.
- Employees must continue to register their personal travel to any state or country with a travel advisory. Employees must also notify their supervisors of any such travel. Employees who travel to a place with a travel advisory must self-impose a two-week quarantine, regardless of symptoms or lack thereof, prior to returning to campus.
- Employees who are asked to come to campus by their supervisors, but have medical vulnerabilities as defined by the CDC, or have other circumstances that may pose special challenges to on-campus work, should speak with their supervisors, healthcare providers, and/or contact the Office of Human Resources at HR@sfc.edu regarding the possibility of accommodations.
- All employee travel sponsored by St. Francis College remains suspended until further notice.
Tuition & Financial Aid
St. Francis College continues to be one of the most affordable private colleges in New York City.
Find important information through the following links:
Find important information through the following links:
Any student who needs money for expenses related to the disruption of SFC operations from COVID-19 — to pay for things like a new computer or course materials — should apply for funds from the CARES Act. If eligible, you can receive a grant up to $775 with no need to repay. Students can also apply for money to support their education through the Terrier for Terrier Emergency Relief Fund.
