Update from October 23, 2020:
Dear Hendrix community,
This month, we began sharing new and updated health and safety protocols with students, families, faculty, and staff by email and on this website. These include an overview of comprehensive entry and surveillance testing, contact tracing, symptom screening and reporting, isolation and quarantine, residence hall move-in and single-occupancy campus housing, and new student orientation. We have also asked students their preference for in-person or remote learning to help us plan course delivery for the spring.
We will continue to provide additional information to everyone in our community as we approach the spring semester. In the meantime, please continue to direct questions to aboutcovid@hendrix.edu.
Thank you for your commitment to Hendrix and all that you do to keep Hendrix moving forward.
Sincerely,
W. Ellis Arnold III ’79
President
________
Update from October 1, 2020:
Dear Hendrix students and families,
The Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees and Senior Leadership Team met remotely this week to determine when to return to campus for in-person learning.
After reviewing current data on local and state conditions, we believe that our best course of action is to continue the semester remotely and to return to in-person classes in January.
During the week of October 12, we will begin sharing new and updated health and safety protocols by email and on our website. We will provide an overview of comprehensive entry and surveillance testing, contact tracing, symptom screening and reporting, isolation and quarantine, residence hall move-in and single-occupancy campus housing, and new student orientation. We will continue to provide additional information prior to students’ arrival in January. In addition, we will ask students their preference for in-person or remote learning to help us plan course delivery for the spring.
In preparation for your return in January, we continue to make new and additional enhancements on campus:
- The new community health clinic in The Village at Hendrix will be expanding its testing capacity with a new testing machine that will enable us to perform testing on campus. Our partners at Conway Regional Health System are working to shorten the turnaround time for test results.
- We have expanded our internal contact tracing team on campus.
- Technology Services staff continue to upgrade our network capacity and classroom technology on campus. The College is working with Conway Corporation to upgrade the backbone of our campus internet, which will vastly improve access and speed. Classroom and residence hall wireless performance has also been upgraded, and Technology Services has installed 50 omnidirectional live video cameras in classroom spaces to enable more seamless and vibrant class discussions.
- Our Dining Services team continues to evaluate new safety protocols for serving guests in the cafeteria and has held a safe and socially distanced dress rehearsal to be prepared for your arrival in January.
- We continue to evaluate solutions to enhance air quality in our campus buildings (e.g., UV installation and other system upgrades).
We understand that it has been a challenging year for Hendrix students and families. That is why, in addition to publishing our return plans, we will share details later this month about a new opportunity for current Hendrix students to receive a fifth year (ninth and tenth semesters) tuition-free. While we cannot undo the disruption created by COVID-19 this year, we hope that a tuition-free fifth year will allow the opportunity to have a richer residential experience at Hendrix. We look forward to sharing details about this opportunity soon.
We recognize that not only has COVID-19 affected current students, but it also has impacted the families of future Hendrix students. We will be introducing a new tuition model for students enrolling for the first time at Hendrix in fall 2021. We believe this change will reassure prospective students and families that a Hendrix education is accessible.
We are grateful for your positive spirit and excited to be moving forward together.
Sincerely,
W. Ellis Arnold III ’79
President
________
Update from September 10, 2020:
Dear Hendrix students and families,
The 2020-2021 academic year is underway, and we are off to a good start. We are excited to welcome 324 new students from 26 states in the Class of 2024. This year’s new student class is larger than last year’s, and inquiries and applications for Fall 2021 are significantly ahead of last year. We are also pleased to see strong retention among returning students, and enrollment now stands at 1,076.
I know that you are anxious to learn the timeline for our return to campus. It is extremely important to all of us at Hendrix that we resume in-person teaching and learning and student life on campus once it is safe to do so.
The next two to three weeks are critical, as our next steps depend on several factors, including COVID-19 trends in central Arkansas and the state and progress toward the Centers for Disease Control criteria. We hope to be able to make a decision regarding the remainder of the fall semester by the end of September, but we will share our plans with faculty, staff, students, and families no later than Friday, October 9.
In the meantime, we will continue to monitor data from the Arkansas Department of Health and CDC daily, and we meet weekly with our community partners at Conway Regional Health System. We are also keeping up with successes and challenges experienced by our colleagues at other institutions in the state, as well as member institutions of the Associated Colleges of the South. On campus, our steering committee continues to meet each week to discuss additional safety protocols in order to prepare for a safe reopening as soon as possible. Beginning this Friday, we will share our COVID-19 dashboard weekly on our web page. If you have any questions, please feel free to send them to aboutcovid19@hendrix.edu.
Thank you for your patience and positive spirit.
Sincerely, ![]()
W. Ellis Arnold III ’79
President
________
Update from July 29, 2020:
Dear Hendrix students,
Over the last two months our campus community has worked diligently to prepare for your return to campus. The excitement of anticipating your return to campus has been fuel for our efforts to prepare for your return. Unfortunately, in spite of our determination, external conditions and the current trends of the virus in our state and neighboring states will prevent us from beginning the semester in person next month.
Today, guided by what is in the best interests for the health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff, the Hendrix College Board of Trustees voted to adjust our fall opening plans and we will begin the semester remotely. Although we know this decision is prudent and wise, we share with you the extraordinary disappointment of not being together in person next month. Nevertheless, we will continue to monitor COVID-19 conditions and, if the current trends change, we will return to campus later this fall.
Hendrix faculty and Fall 2020 Steering Committee members have worked since May to prepare for in-person classes and to ensure your safe return to campus. This summer, the College joined Conway Regional Health System and our neighbors in higher education in Conway to form a testing and health services partnership to fulfill our plans for in-person teaching and learning and campus life.
While we are confident in our campus safety plans and our partners in the community, we have serious concerns, based on public health data and predictive models, about the current trajectory of the virus in central Arkansas and across the state. In addition, many of our out-of-state students come from Texas, Tennessee, and Louisiana, which are currently experiencing high infection rates.
In Arkansas, average daily cases have significantly increased since mid-June. Late last week, the state recorded the two highest single-day numbers of community cases since the pandemic began. The positivity rate of infection is now higher than a month ago.
These alarming trends create incredible pressure on testing turnaround and timely contact tracing. Despite solid strategic planning that accounts for multiple contingencies, as well as generous assistance from our regional healthcare system partners, these overwhelming external pressures compromise our capacity to successfully manage the certain growth in cases on our campus.
Given the current situation and the residential nature of our community, beginning the semester remotely is the most responsible position we can take in order to protect the health, safety, and well-being of our students, faculty, and staff.
We are hopeful virus trends will improve so that we can welcome students back to campus safely in a staggered return and resume in-person instruction later this fall. In the meantime, by adjusting our fall plans now, our primary focus will be on preparing to meet our collective commitment to educational excellence. Hendrix faculty have invested significant time and effort since our transition to remote learning this spring. Many of them have participated in a workshop series led by our Associate Provost for Faculty Development and professional development programs sponsored by our academic consortium, exploring effective ways to engage students remotely and to challenge and inspire them just as they do in the physical classroom.
We will update our online resources at www.hendrix.edu/fall2020plans to reflect the adjustments to our fall plans, including the expectations and implications for remote learning, by the end of next week. If you have questions or concerns that are not covered in our new FAQs, please contact aboutcovid19@hendrix.edu.
This is a time of much uncertainty in higher education. It has required all of us to adapt our plans to health conditions that are beyond our control. In spite of these challenges, I am certain of this: the value and importance of what we do at Hendrix has never been greater than it is at this moment in our history; the quality of the educational experience at Hendrix has never been higher; and I am confident that together we will emerge from this time as a stronger community. You are the next generation of Hendrix graduates and the experiences that you will have at Hendrix will not only be life changing for you but will also prepare you to help shape the future of our world.
Thank you for your patience, perseverance, and commitment to Hendrix.
Sincerely, ![]()
W. Ellis Arnold III ’79
President
________
Update from July 21, 2020:
Dear Hendrix College community members,
While academic and campus life have changed this year because of COVID-19, our commitment to students has not. In consultation with our partners at Conway Regional Health System, a steering committee has developed a comprehensive plan to prepare for the fall semester on campus. I am pleased to share this plan with you.
Over the past several months, I have been inspired by the Hendrix community as you have again and again demonstrated tremendous support and care for one another. Going forward, we must commit to upholding the expectations in our plan in order to safely and successfully return to teaching, learning, and living at Hendrix. That is why our plan calls for a Community Commitment. This commitment, which will be distributed before the return to campus, will reinforce our collective and individual responsibility to create and maintain a safe environment at Hendrix for students, faculty, and staff.
Our plan is a living document. We are closely monitoring key health and safety indicators, and we are continually evaluating our capacity to manage those trends on campus. We continue to meet weekly with our local community partners at Conway Regional Health System and monitor guidance from the Arkansas Department of Health and Centers for Disease Control daily.
We will continue to share new information with our community, and we will update our online resources at www.hendrix.edu/fall2020plans.
While the global pandemic continues to test all of us, it also reveals the tremendous strengths of the Hendrix community, which form the foundation of our Statement of Purpose: empathy, creativity, self-understanding, rigorous inquiry, and informed deliberation. Most important is our collective commitment to educational excellence; despite changes brought by COVID-19, I know the outstanding Hendrix education across the liberal arts will continue this fall and beyond.
Thank you for your patience, perseverance, and commitment to the mission of the College as we prepare for the fall at Hendrix.
Sincerely,
W. Ellis Arnold III ’79
Read the full Fall 2020 COVID-19 Response Plan
________
Update from July 14, 2020:
Dear Hendrix students,
In order to be ready to open campus for in-person classes next month, we have been developing a comprehensive plan with policies and protocols to ensure the health and safety of the Hendrix community. We will release this report early next week.
While we are eager to see you on campus, we are also finalizing a flexible learning option so students who have health or other concerns can learn remotely for the fall semester. We will share more information on this option, including expectations and implications for remote learning, within the next week. At that time, we will be asking all students to respond to a short survey so that we can adjust accordingly.
We will continue to share updates with our community and update our online resources at www.hendrix.edu/fall2020plans. Plans for fall semester on campus will be added to this link next week. Additionally, you can send any questions you have to aboutcovid19@hendrix.edu.
Thank you for your flexibility and patience as we prepare for the fall. While COVID-19 has required changes to academic and campus life, it also represents an opportunity to reinforce our role as a national liberal arts college that inspires and challenges students to adapt and meet the shifting needs of our world.
Sincerely,
W. Ellis Arnold III ’79
President
________
Update from June 17, 2020:
Dear Hendrix College community members,
Many of you have been involved in planning for the Fall 2020 semester at Hendrix. Thank you for your hard work, your helpful suggestions, and your unwavering commitment to Hendrix College.
As we prepare for the fall, I want to share a framework of our plans for the semester.
- Housing assignments for new students will be released by Tuesday, June 30.
- New student advising will be remote, beginning Wednesday, August 5.
- New students move into residence halls Monday, August 17, and returning students arrive Wednesday, August 19. Move-in will be strategically staggered to allow as much physical spacing as possible.
- New student orientation will be Monday, August 17 through Wednesday, August 19. The traditional orientation trips are postponed at this time.
- Classes begin Thursday, August 20. In-person classes will end Tuesday, November 24, before Thanksgiving break.
- Finals will be held online after Thanksgiving break.
We will continue to communicate with you as we update our plans based on guidance we receive from the Centers for Disease Control, the Arkansas Department of Health, and Conway Regional Health System. It is critical that we follow these recommendations in order to safely and successfully return to academic and campus life at Hendrix.
As we finalize details for the fall, we will continue to share new and updated information online at www.hendrix.edu/fall2020plans.
While COVID-19 has required some changes to academic and campus life, it also represents an opportunity to reinforce our role as a national liberal arts college that inspires and challenges students to adapt and meet the shifting needs of our world.
Thank you for your flexibility and patience as we prepare for the fall, and thank you for all you do for Hendrix!
Sincerely,
W. Ellis Arnold III ’79
President
________
Update from March 31, 2020:
To: Hendrix
College Class of 2020 (seniors and M.A. Accounting students)
From:
President Arnold
Subject: Hendrix
College Spring 2020 Commencement
Dear Spring 2020
graduates,
Spring at Hendrix
usually means azaleas blooming on campus and busy days full of year-end
performances, preparations for final exams, and plenty of good times and fond
farewells with friends and mentors. Unfortunately, most of these milestones
have been postponed indefinitely or canceled entirely. I cannot express how
heartbroken I am that your final semester at Hendrix has been upended in such
an extraordinary way.
Though it is the
pinnacle of the academic year, we cannot hold Commencement 2020 on campus in
May as scheduled. While many things are still uncertain and undecided, let me
assure you that there will be an opportunity for you to return to campus and be
recognized for your accomplishments as graduates of Hendrix College. We will
celebrate what you have worked so hard to achieve these past four years. I look
forward to sharing more information at a later date once we determine when that
opportunity will be.
In the meantime,
we know how important your Hendrix diploma is to you. Please make sure your
address is up to date in CampusWeb no later than May 1 so that we can mail it
to you at the end of the academic year.
During your time
at Hendrix, each of you has contributed to the character and spirit of this
institution. I look forward to the opportunity to celebrate with you, to
personally congratulate you, and to thank you for all you mean to the College.
Sincerely,
W. Ellis Arnold
III ’79
President
________
An update with information about remote learning was sent to students March 19, 2020:
Information About Remote Classes
Additional updates were released March 16, 2020:
Informational Updates and Available Resources for the Hendrix Community
________
Update from March 13, 2020:
Dear Hendrix community,
I am grateful to everyone who has shared their concerns and offers of support as our Senior Leadership Team has monitored the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)-related developments in recent days.
While there are no cases of COVID-19 currently at Hendrix, our responsibility is the well-being of our students and employees. In a highly residential living and learning environment such as Hendrix, we are concerned that we cannot adequately ensure the health and safety of our students in the
event of an outbreak.
After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to suspend in-person classes at the conclusion of classes today, and we will transition to synchronous remote learning after Spring Break for the remainder of this semester. All other campus operations will continue, and
offices will remain open. A timeline of important dates is listed below.
We understand there are unresolved issues and will continue working to identify solutions to questions not addressed in this message. Please know that we are absolutely committed to upholding the quality of teaching and learning.
We will continue to update our resource and response page at
www.hendrix.edu/coronavirus. There will be an FAQ section added to this page to address other issues, which will be updated as decisions are made. If you have questions about the information presented here, please email
aboutcovid19@hendrix.edu.
I am grateful for the hard work of staff, faculty, and students who have assisted in planning and decision-making. This decision was not made lightly, and we understand its profound impact on everyone. Thank you for your patience, support, and understanding.
In the coming days and weeks, the resilience of our community will be tested, but I am confident this unprecedented situation will ultimately reaffirm the character and spirit of Hendrix.
Sincerely,
W. Ellis Arnold III ’79
President
________
Update from March 11, 2020:
Currently:
- There are no cases of COVID-19 on the Hendrix campus,
nor are there any suspected cases.
- On March 2, the College sent a message to
students, faculty, and staff concerning plans to address health and safety
issues, travel study modifications, and academic continuity.
In addition, here are some measures the College is currently taking:
Addressing academic continuity concerns: As part of the
College planning of our response to COVID-19, we will be setting up Office 365
Teams for Education as the on-line platform for holding classes remotely.
Please note that we have NOT yet made any definite decisions about whether we
will need to hold classes virtually, but we need to have the system deployed in
case we decide to move in this direction. Academic Affairs and Technology Services are developing
instructions and training for faculty and instructions for students. As the
situation continues to develop, we will keep the Hendrix community informed about any updates or
next steps.
Response planning: The
College’s Emergency Response Team has begun meeting to determine likely needs
in the event COVID-19 reaches the Hendrix campus. These considerations include:
- alternate housing for temporary
containment/quarantine
- alternate distribution of meals that would
minimize the need for a large group to congregate in the same space
- how best the College can follow updated
recommendations distributed by the above sources
- addressing sick leave policies per the
recommendation of the City of Conway and local health professionals.
Additional sanitizing: Facilities staff are paying
particular attention to sanitizing high-traffic areas around campus. Thank you
for your patience as this change in focus affects some of the normal campus
maintenance schedules.
Coordinating with community
leaders: Assistant Dean Mike LeBlanc and Nurse Necie Reed attended a March 4 meeting
called by the City of Conway to discuss COVID-19 concerns. Mayor Bart
Castleberry brought together leaders from area hospitals, State and City Health
Departments, larger businesses, schools, and institutions of higher education.
Topics included the City’s disease readiness plan and a review of preparation
by various organizations.