After leaving campus early last spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students were able to return to campus in August due to hard work from the university. The university put together a set of protocols for the students and university employees to follow. But with those protocols in place, some students were still questioning why the university was continuing with in-person campus visits this fall.
The protocol #ProtectTheDam gave Bluffton a way to bring back students. The #ProtectTheDam protocol has a three-color system. Those colors are green, yellow and red. Green is for when there are no COVID-19 cases on campus. Yellow is for when there are some positive COVID-19 positive cases on campus. Red is when there is an accelerated amount of COVID-19 cases on campus. While there is not a lot of change between the green and yellow there are a lot of differences in the red.
Bluffton has a committee for COVID-19. The committee is the Student Health and COVID-19 Steering Committee. The committee is made up of Dr. Sherri Winegardner, chair of the Student Health and COVID-19 Steering Committee, Phill Talavinia, vice president of student affairs and athletics and Karen Bontrager, director of the president’s office.
The #ProtectTheDam protocols are to keep the students, faculty and staff safe. This protocol has, in a way, put a bubble around the campus community.
In the #ProtectTheDam protocols, visitors are not allowed on campus. Students are encouraged to stay on campus and keep their contact with others not in the campus community to a minimum.
“The ‘Bluffton Bubble’ is not official language from the #ProtectTheDam plan,” said the Student Health and COVID-19 Steering Committee in a statement provided by the university’s Public Relations office. “But reducing the number of people students, faculty and staff come in contact with is part of Bluffton’s Comprehensive Health Strategy. The #ProtectTheDam plan is designed to keep our campus community safe. By limiting trips off-campus, students reduce the risk of bringing COVID-19 back to campus.”
Students are also not supposed to have visitors on campus no matter the status of green, yellow or red. If this is happening then students should talk to their resident advisors or hall director.
The exception to the protocols are prospective students and their families visiting for campus visits.
Robin Bowlus, vice president of advancement and enrollment management, talked about campus visits. Campus visits were switched to online virtual experiences. Bluffton found a way to have students be able to come onto campus and experience Bluffton. There are guidelines that were put into place for it to be safe for everyone.
“Guidelines include limiting the number of guests during a time block,” said Bowlus. “Staggering arrival times, limiting time on campus, temperature checking at the start of each visit, mask-wearing and social distancing. We removed the lunch experience and only take families into the residence hall showroom, and not into all residence halls, to limit direct contact with students. Prospective students can meet individually with faculty members, but we currently do not allow prospective students to observe a class.”
When looking for schools, campus visits are crucial for prospective students in picking a school. They have also given students and parents the ability to understand what life is like on campus and what school looks like during COVID-19.
With the school being able to stay with in-person classes the #ProtectTheDam protocol has been crucial.
“We are very proud of how well our students have done in following the guidelines of the #ProtectTheDam plan,” said the Student Health and COVID-19 Steering Committee. “We can tell that the #ProtectTheDam plan is working because the number of positive cases of COVID-19 has been very low, which has allowed in-person learning to continue.”
The #ProtectTheDam protocols have kept our campus community safe, although Bluffton Bubble is not the university’s words for the protocol. Bluffton University has been the university’s own personal bubble to keep the students safe.
