Delilah Wietasch, Student Trustee
Greetings to all students, faculty, and staff! It is getting a bit chilly now, isn’t it? I hope all of you enjoyed the long and wonderful winter break, but now it is time to shift focus back into our educational goals. I’ve come to know that many students are excited to graduate and transfer to another college, or to earn their respective certificates or degrees. I’m sure all students and staff alike look forward to a warm summer break as well.
Delilah Wietasch
Student Trustee 2021-22
The new semester starts January 18, 2022. Some classes will meet virtually, some on campus sites, and others will be some type of hybrid setting. Your classes are an important factor in helping you become your next best self. If your course sessions contain in person meetings, there are a few procedures to remember to follow. These procedures depend on all of us being honest in our responses in order to care for the health and safety of our community and Moraine family.
Before arriving at any of the three campus locations (Palos, Blue Island, or Tinley Park), make sure that you have been cleared by using the Cleared4Class application. The app will send you a text and an e-mail every morning with a link attached. You need to only complete one of the two (e-mail or text link). You are required to fill out a survey with a range of questions such as, “Have you encountered anyone who has tested positive recently?” After filling out this survey you will get a colored screen. As of Thursday, January 13, Moraine will return to either a blue (for vaccinated individuals) or green (those individuals on a weekly testing protocol and not vaccinated) in order to be cleared to come to any campus. A red screen identifies you shouldn’t be attending either class or entering buildings on campus. It’s recommended you go home and quarantine before returning to campus. The exception is if you are coming to campus to have a COVID test. The COVID response team is asking anyone who has tested positive over the break to have a negative PCR (saliva) test before returning to campus for classes, work or study. Tests are free and available at all three campus sites, and you will have your results 12-24 hours after providing your test sample. Please note that testing has been moved from building M to Building T in the Fogelson Theater entrance on the east side of the main Palos Hills campus. The COVID response team is not trying to make anyone anxious; this is only a precaution to keep everyone safe and healthy. Anyone who is not vaccinated must test once per week and receive a negative result.
The COVID response team has learned that some students are attempting to access campus with a purple screen. Purple is for visitors ONLY. Please be aware of the following from the Code of Conduct office:
Students who show either a blue or green pass through Clear4Class are allowed to come to campus. If a student shows a red pass, they are not allowed on campus and must return home. A purple pass through Cleared4Class is strictly for use by visitors to the campus. Therefore, if a student shows a purple pass, they are incorrectly using a visitor profile and should not be allowed on campus. Students who enter campus facilities with a purple pass are violating the Code of Student Conduct, specifically, “Furnishing false or misleading information to any college official, faculty member or office…” A student found responsible for violating the Code of Student Conduct is subject to disciplinary action including up to an interim suspension.
You will also need to continue to wear a mask in all campus buildings. Surgical masks or KN95 masks are the current recommendations from the CDC as the best for lowest transmission rate. However, if you only have a cloth mask, it is better than nothing. Gaiters and thin lycra masks have been shown to be the least effective, and may actually spread smaller particles into the air for easier transmission.
An e-mail sent Tuesday, January 11 announced that most classes have moved online temporarily with the recent spike in cases across Illinois and the country. Only some classes in T building and in the nursing program will have face-to-face instruction through January 29. Be prepared to be flexible through the end of the month in the event that the COVID response team makes the decision to extend the virtual formats until cases begin to diminish.
Here’s to start the semester happy and healthy!
This article has been updated on January 24, 2022 with new Cleared4Class pass information.
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