Off-Campus Visitor Policy Proposal

Dear President Dudley, Deans, and members of the COVID-19 Committee:

We are asking you to revise the current off-campus visitor policy. We believe the current policy is unfair, overly burdensome and contributes little to student safety.

1.     Students are already permitted to (and do in fact) see non-local visitors off-campus outside of their residence, including in high-risk non-distanced settings like restaurants, hotel rooms, and camping tents. Students are not sanctioned or required to quarantine after these interactions.

2.     Students often have interactions with members of the Lexington community, including barbers/hairdressers, restaurant workers, retail workers, coworkers at off-campus jobs, volunteer partners, and even friends and family. None of these close contacts are bound by W&L Community Expectations. Students are not sanctioned or required to quarantine after these interactions.

3.     The policy unfairly and unreasonably targets those visitors who are unable to pay for other accommodations.

4.     The current policy does not apply to faculty or staff, who are not sanctioned or required to quarantine after hosting non-W&L visitors in their homes.

5.     As many students—especially seniors and law students—have long-time, long-distance partners and fiancés, the current policy demands a disproportionate sacrifice from the students. This will be especially true for the 18-week stretch from the beginning of Winter Term through the conclusion of Spring Term.

6.     For many seniors and law students, who already have private leases in Lexington, have existing job offers and opportunities, and cannot put off major requirements to next year, remote learning or a leave of absence is an infeasible alternative.

7.     Risk-mitigation procedures and restrictions are possible. These may include:

a.     Requiring visitors to receive a negative test result soon before arrival;

b.     Requiring visitors to remain off campus;

c.     Requiring visitors to wear masks and social distance whenever interacting with other students;

d.     Permitting only one visitor per student;

e.     Allowing each student to host only a specific, predeclared individual;

f.      Requiring the visitor to be declared in the Daily Attestation;

g.     Limiting the permitted number of visitor–student contacts; and/or

h.     Limiting host student close contacts after the visitation, and requiring a test after several days, possibly at host student's expense.

A more permissive off-campus visitor policy would be fairer and more equitable, while improving the mental health and happiness of seniors and law students without adding significant risk to the community, at a time when mental health and support are more important than ever.

"W&L's COVID restrictions have negatively impacted my relationship not only because of how strict they are but also because of how unclear they were from the beginning […] My boyfriend lives in Virginia and works form home and I [] live off-campus."

—Anonymous. Quoted in "Love, Sex and COVID," InGeneral vol. 18, no. 1, page 3.