A message from President Lynn Morton:

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff,

Thank you for your continued dedication to keeping our campus safe this semester. I know it hasn’t been easy. I am grateful for the sacrifices you have made to prioritize our community’s well-being.

We wanted to provide you with an update about our plans for the Fall 2021 semester. As of right now, Warren Wilson College plans to return to being a residential college in August. Our hope is to reopen next semester as close to “normal” as possible. I always say “post-pandemic world” not “post-COVID world.” The virus and its new variants are not going to magically disappear; however, there is reason for strong optimism that we are emerging from the worst of the pandemic.

We expect that Fall will not quite be “business as usual” but rather “business as unusual.” We may see continued mask requirements but more relaxed physical distancing requirements. Details such as classroom physical distancing, dining hall capacity, events, and outside groups on campus are being worked out and may shift as circumstances change. We have compiled a Q & A Document to answer as many of these details as possible, and we will continue to update it as protocols evolve. Please refer to this document or contact the relevant office on campus if you have specific questions.

While we will likely see more virtual learning opportunities within individual classes than before the pandemic, we will not offer every course as a choice between full online, hybrid/flexible, and in person. Residency requirements for freshmen, sophomores and juniors will return, as will policies and procedures regarding exceptions to the housing policy. In-person faculty and staff exception requests will be handled through Human Resources. 

On the balance sheet between hope and fear, I choose hope. Yes, it is anxiety producing to consider a full reopening in five months. But we have good reason to be very hopeful that with the rollout of vaccines we will all be able to return to the life-sustaining practices of socializing, meeting, teaching, and learning in person.

In Community,

President Lynn Morton