Preview
Welcome to Issue 08 of Recap, MICA’s regular communication on the College’s progress and planning around the return to campus for Spring 2021 and beyond.
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Welcome

Welcome to issue 08 of Recap, MICA’s regular communication on the College’s progress and planning around the return to campus for Spring 2021 and beyond.

Recap is also a place for dialogue, so we encourage you to use the Comment on This Topic button at the end of each story. We use your feedback to help build our shared understanding as One Team MICA.

And as always, some information may not apply to all programs and constituents, such as Open Studies. For specific information, please use the departmental directory at the end of this issue.


In This Issue:

  1. Recap Revisit: COVID-19 Testing FAQ

  2. Campus Quick Guides: Short, Simple Breakdowns to Help You Understand MICA’s Campus This Spring

  3. Follow Up: COVID-19 Vaccine Eligibility for Higher Education Faculty and Staff

  4. What If: MICA's Campus Building Access This Spring

  5. Transparency Report: A Snapshot of Responses from the Previous Issue of Recap

RECAP REVISIT
COVID-19 Testing FAQ
On Tuesday, students began moving onto MICA’s campus. Welcome! We are so excited to have you with us as our Spring Semester begins.

With the start of move in also came the start of our on-campus surveillance COVID-19 testing. As a reminder, students, faculty, and staff who will be on campus regularlydefined as once or more a weekwill need to be part of MICA’s weekly testing program.

We know many still have questions around MICA’s testing program, from what to expect when going for your test, to what to do if you can’t make your scheduled time slot, to concerns around testing costs and what to do if you’ll only occasionally have to be on campus.

Information around these questions has been shared in different channels.
And, to help make things easier, we’ve consolidated everything you need to know about testing, including the weekly schedule featured in Recap issue 07, in this ongoing COVID-19 Testing FAQ, as well as a video walkthrough of the process itself.


Testing Schedule
CAMPUS QUICK GUIDES
Short, Simple Breakdowns to Help You Understand MICA’s Campus This Spring
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, life looks different these days—and MICA’s campus is no exception.

We know that coming on campus with all of the changes that are in place to help keep our community safe, from masks to social distancing to temperature checks, can be hard and, at times, overwhelming.

To help you navigate being at MICA during this Spring Semester, we’ve created six quick guides. These short, visual, and easy to digest guides will help you make your way through each day. Plus, they’re easy to access, either in this Recap issue or on the MICA/App, as a refresher any time you have a question. Guides can also be downloaded below.

FOLLOW UP
COVID-19 Vaccine Eligibility for Higher Education Faculty and Staff
As mentioned at the end of a campus memo on Tuesday, January 19, MICA has received additional news regarding COVID-19 vaccine eligibility. We are very pleased to report that the Maryland State Health Department added faculty and staff from higher education institutions who meet certain criteria to the Phase 1B COVID vaccination phase, as follows:

  • Faculty or staff who provide essential in-person learning (instruction which cannot be delivered remotely)

  • Individuals with essential functions related to facility/campus operations

  • Individuals who require residential or on-campus housing

We are attempting to identify a clinical provider to administer the vaccine to MICA personnel and will keep you informed.  If we are unable to identify one with ample vaccine availability, we will each need to go through our local health departments to be vaccinated.

Front line workers with potential contact with students living in residence halls, as well as facilities maintenance, dining hall, and campus police staff, are included in Phase 1C, which begins Monday, January 25.

Please note that the Health Department has also said that due to the limited supply of vaccine, it does not anticipate significantly fulfilling higher education vaccine requests until a majority of individuals over age 65 in Maryland are vaccinated.

For the latest information from the state, visit coronavirus.maryland.gov.

WHAT IF
MICA’s Campus Building Access This Spring
As a reminder, What if? Is an ongoing feature of Recap intended to help create a shared understanding of what the 2020 - 2021 academic year will look and feel like by posing real-world “what if” scenarios submitted by the community.

What if I'm on campus in the spring — does that mean I can access all of the buildings on MICA’s campus?

At its most basic level, students are required to have signed the MICA Social Agreement, and received and provided documentation for their flu shot (or approved waiver) before coming to campus. We know it has been a while since many have signed the Agreement. Need a refresher? See a copy of the Agreement here.

But, even once students have signed the Agreement and gotten their flu shot or provided a waiver, in keeping with Operational Mode 3 and a plan for a highly de-densified campus, we are not able to provide all students with access to all buildings. See below for Campus Access Narratives and Flow Charts to better understand what campus buildings you will be able to access.

It is important to note, in addition to the below designations, if you miss your weekly testing slot and do not make it up at another time that same week, you will have your building access revoked (note: students will still have access to the Student Health Center if needed if this occurs). Health Services will be monitoring testing program compliance, and will report out-of-compliance faculty, staff, or students to Campus Safety for ID deactivation. Any weekly campus user must present for testing weekly, regardless of the nature of their campus engagements. Please refer to the testing FAQ for more information around the weekly testing program.

Campus Access Narrative and Flowcharts

Student Narrative
If you are an enrolled student who will regularly be accessing campus, you must:
  • Sign the Social Agreement
  • Receive your flu shot and provide documentation, or submit a waiver for approval

Without completing these two items, you cannot access MICA’s campus.

In order to regularly access MICA’s campus, you will also need to participate in weekly COVID-19 surveillance testing. If you miss your testing appointment and do not make it up during the week, your campus building access will be suspended. Additionally, if you test positive for COVID, your campus building access will be suspended.

Please note: Students will still have access to Student Health if their access is revoked for other buildings. Student Health staff will monitor your symptoms via telehealth appointments and will be available for in-person visits only if you are if instructed to come to the clinic.

If you’ve completed your Agreement, submitted necessary flu shot information and participate in either weekly COVID-19 testing if you’re regularly accessing campus, or pre scheduled testing if you’re not regularly accessing campus, you will have some level of campus building access, depending on your year. Please see the MICA Reopening Website for building hour information.

If you are...
  • An enrolled first year, sophomore or junior, you will have access to:
    • Your residential hall if living on campus, and core MICA buildings.
    • Core Access includes:
      • Bunting
      • Meyerhoff House (1st floor only)
      • Gateway (1st floor only)
      • MICA Fitness (opens February 8, 2021)
      • Health Services
  • An enrolled senior or graduate student, you will have access to:
    • Your residential hall if living on campus, academic buildings and all core MICA buildings.
    • Academic Access includes:
      • Brown
      • Fox
      • Main
      • 1515
      • Station
      • Dolphin (only those in program)
      • Lazarus (only those authorized)
      • Art Tech
      • Film Center

Student Narrative Flowchart
We know this can be a bit confusing, so we’ve developed this visual chart to help guide you through the flow of events that will eventually lead you to a successful on-campus visit.
Employee Narrative
If you are a MICA a employee will be accessing campus, you must:
  • Sign the Social Agreement
  • Receive your flu shot and provide documentation, or submit a waiver for approval

Without completing these two items, you cannot access MICA’s campus.

You will need to participate in either weekly COVID-19 surveillance testing, or pre scheduled COVID-19 testing, if you are accessing MICA’s campus:
  • More than once a week (weekly testing)
  • Less than once a week, but interacting with people while on campus (pre scheduled testing)

If you miss your testing appointment and do not make it up during the week, your campus building access will be suspended. Additionally, if you test positive for COVID, your campus building access will be suspended.

If you’ve completed your Agreement, submitted necessary flu shot information and participate in weekly COVID-19 testing, you will have full campus building access.

If you are accessing MICA’s campus less than once a week, and are not interacting with anyone, you do not need to participate with weekly surveillance testing, but will still have full campus building access. Examples of this include stopping by campus for curbside pickup, or a non-regular, brief visit to your office with no plans to interact with others. The CDC defines close interaction as an individual who has had close contact within 6 feet for a total of 15 minutes or more.

Employee Narrative Flowchart
We know this can be a bit confusing, so we’ve developed this visual chart to help guide you through the flow of events that will eventually lead you to a successful on-campus visit.

TRANSPARENCY REPORT
A Snapshot of Responses from the Previous Issue of Recap
As mentioned previously, we’ve included the ability for you to submit comments on individual topics for each issue of Recap in order to help provide an open dialogue around the complex and evolving issues of mounting the 2021 semester.

We thank all of you who have submitted thoughtful comments from past issues. Those comments are used to inform future issues, raise awareness on topics, and ultimately help build shared understanding as one team MICA. And while we cannot provide individual recognition for each comment, we are providing a summary snapshot of those comments to promote transparency.

DEPARTMENTAL DIRECTORY
Please address specific questions to an appropriate departmental contact.
Graduate Studies: graduatestudies@mica.edu

Undergraduate Studies: ugstudies@mica.edu

Student Affairs: studentaffairs@mica.edu

Open Studies: openstudies@mica.edu

Finance and Operations: vpoperationsandfinance@mica.edu

Technology: helpdesk@mica.edu

Strategic Communications: communications@mica.edu

Human Resources: humanresources@mica.edu

Strategic Initiatives: strategicinitiatives@mica.edu

Advancement: advancement@mica.edu

Admission: admissions@mica.edu

Parent Relations: parentrelations@mica.edu

That’s it for this installment of Recap. Thank you for your engagement in this ongoing dialogue and building of shared understanding. If there are any topics you would like to have addressed in future installments, please provide your ideas here.

Stay safe and be well.

Coming Up in Issue 09: Revamped Reopening Website



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