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Statement on recent campus parties

A message to all undergraduates living on campus from Vice Provost for Student Affairs Susie Brubaker-Cole and Senior Associate Vice Provost and Dean of Students Mona Hicks.

Dear undergraduate residential students,

We are writing today to address the unacceptable choices that are being made by a small portion of the undergraduate residential student body.

Summary

  • We would like to thank everyone who continues to follow public health orders and related guidance summarized in the COVID-19 Campus CompactThank you for choosing to support the health and safety of your friends and university staff members.
  • Hosting or attending a party blatantly disregards the health and safety of yourself and everyone around you. Accordingly, doing so puts you at risk of losing university housing privileges.
  • The provisions of the Campus Compact are not meant to blame or shame anyone. Instead, they provide community awareness and protection, and a mechanism for addressing and correcting concerning behaviors.
  • Let’s all work together to keep our community as safe as possible. We expect better from our peers and community.

The fuller picture

To those of you who continue to follow public health advice and who choose the health and safety of your friends and university staff over attending parties: you have our most humble appreciation.  We are grateful for your partnership to keep our campus as safe as possible and your understanding of the privilege and responsibility that comes with being on campus during this time.

For the small portion of undergraduate students who have chosen to host and attend parties and large gatherings on campus, we understand that we are all learning to live during a pandemic together and missteps are to be expected. However, attending a party blatantly disregards the health and safety of yourself and everyone around you: your friends, your households, your student staff, your RFs and CDs, your custodial staff and your dining hall staff.  The choice to host and/or attend a party is a choice to put the lives of all of these individuals at risk and it is unacceptable.

There are three things we’d like to share with you today:

1. Our expectations

The COVID-19 Campus Compact lays out the base expectations for us to be able to be in community together during a pandemic. The county and state guidance informs these expectations, but underlying the expectations is the belief in us as a community: the belief that we can come and live together and care for one another during this incredibly difficult time in our world. The provisions of the Campus Compact are not meant to blame or shame anyone. Instead, they are to provide community awareness and protection, and a mechanism for addressing and correcting concerning behaviors. One of our goals is to avoid asking anyone to leave our residential community, and we take that extreme action only when people are seriously or continuously endangering the community.

However, we need to be clear. The Campus Compact guidelines describe the following as high-level violations. These violations may result in restricted access to Stanford facilities or removal from campus, including housing:

  • Hosting or organizing any indoor event, party, or gathering.
  • Participating in large outdoor gatherings where attendees are not following public health measures.
  • Participating in small indoor gatherings with members from different households.

2. What you can do

Talk to and listen to your fellow students:  As members of the community, lasting impact comes from discussing our concerns with each other. As we have stated on the Campus Compact website, it is always best, when we first see something, to say something to one another with grace and respect. Likewise, when we are confronted with concerns over our behaviors and choices, it’s critical we respond respectfully, recognizing our fellow community member’s concern for their own or others’ health.  It can be hard to have these conversations with your fellow students. If you need help, reach out to an RA, Community Director, Residence Dean and/or your Resident Fellow.

Share your concerns: 

  • If you feel unsafe addressing your concerns directly, please share them with us using this form and we will follow-up. Your information will be kept private.
  • If you see a dangerous situation, call 911. If the situation is limited to a public health order violation, DPS will likely address the situation through education by speaking directly with those who are present or by notifying the Office of the Dean of Students. Public Safety has the option, and in some cases an obligation, to enforce the law depending on the circumstances.

3. What we will do 

As a community, we have the capability to meet the expectations of the Campus Compact.  We can do that without recourse to accountability measures if we all stand together. If we are not able to do that, we must follow our accountability measures that are in place to keep our students, staff and faculty safe. Look here to learn how they work and the steps we will follow.

When members of our community report a concern, we will honor all of the actionable concerns reported and address all concerns based upon the information that is reported.

When incidents are witnessed and reported in real time, Residence Deans, Community Directors and Dean of Students staff will do our best to arrive on scene to help intervene in unsafe behaviors when possible. It is okay to call and ask for help. Please understand that because there is limited staff working on campus, we may need support from DPS if the gatherings exceed the capacity for one or two staff members to safely intervene.

It is our hope that we will not need to continue to activate these accountability measures, but make no mistake, the choice to host or attend a party will require that you face the accountability measures of the university.

The pandemic is extremely difficult for all. Connection is what makes us human and we want to continue to have a community that cares for one another and calls on one another to be our better selves. Please help us do this.

Sincerely,

Susie & Mona

Susie Brubaker-Cole
Vice Provost for Student Affairs

Mona Hicks
Senior Associate Vice Provost and Dean of Students