An update to students from Laurel Kennedy, Vice President for Student Development (April 15, 2020)

Hello Denisonians,

I’m writing with news and updates from Granville. An April like no other, the campus remains very quiet as we continue to comply with Governor DeWine’s stay-at-home order. Only employees essential to the now-remote operations of the college are currently on campus. Our Denison deer have never had it so good!

A few questions have come in with some regularity, and we are hoping that continuing to keep communication flowing will reduce the stress of at least these small uncertainties.

I hope you are finding a few routines that bring order to your days in this most unusual time. I wish good health and good spirits to you and your families. We all miss you back at Denison.

Laurel Kennedy

Housing and Housing Selection

You received a message from Student Housing in late March indicating that we are pausing on the housing selection process, which will not occur in April. At this moment, there are still lots of unknowns for summer (When will the state of Ohio conclude its stay-at-home order?) and fall (What will the environment be like for off-campus study?). As in all things that are COVID-19 related, a few weeks makes a huge difference in our knowledge base. We anticipate holding housing selection after finals and will be back with more information sooner to that time.

A glimmer of great news is that Silverstein Hall is on pace for on-time completion. Last Friday, several of us got to take a video tour of the both towers of the building, as well as the gathering space on the first floor. When we do our next tour in a couple of weeks, we‘ll record it to share with the student body. It’s good to see the steady progress of a building under construction right now.

Key return

Speaking of housing… We really need your room keys back so we can finalize student accounts, even if you still have belongings in your room. Most of you returned your keys but we are missing about 400. If your key is returned to a campus key-drop or postmarked by May 1, 2020, you will not be charged the $50 key-replacement fee. Please package the key(s) in a padded envelope and mail it to Student Housing, 100 W. College Street, Granville, OH 43023.

Finding Resources

Campus offices are operating out of new locations but are as engaged with students as ever. To make visible the resources and supports available, we’ve added new “tiles” on MyDenison. Please check out MyDenison to see the resources available during the remote-learning period.

One of the new tiles on MyDenison is for Denison Events. This takes you directly to the campus calendar showing all activities, workshops, and events available virtually—everything from yoga classes to grad school fairs to social events. There are many, and they provide ways to stay connected to each other and to the parts of your education that extend beyond classes.

(Pro-tip: In the “calendar” box on the right, click “Check all” to see all the things, and then unclick as desired.)

Your mail

The Mailroom in Slayter has begun to forward US mail and packages to students.

• Denison will forward to your “address of record.” If you need to change this address, please email Donna Davis (davisd@denison.edu) with your full name, D#, and new address.
• Forwarded mail takes a while to receive so you may wish to complete an address change with the US Postal Service. Your address change from your Slayter Box to your current address will help regular mail, subscriptions or statements you regularly receive to arrive more quickly.

UPS, FedEx and Amazon packages cannot be forwarded free of charge, as US mail can be. If packages shipped through these companies are waiting for you in Slayter, please contact Amy Hannahs at hannahsa@dension.edu to make arrangements for the packages to be forwarded.