Both addressing anti-Black racism and furthering diversity and inclusion initiatives at the University were centered in a Sept. 18 memo written by President Christina Paxson P ’19 and Provost Richard Locke P’18 in response to the Diversity and Inclusion Oversight Board’s 2020 annual report released in May. 

Five individuals working in University labs at 70 Ship Street, a multi-lab research building, have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past four weeks, according to a Sept. 19 email to workers, reviewed by The Herald, from Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey. 

The University maintains a positivity rate under 0.1 percent as the testing program proceeds, while Providence College reported an outbreak and greater Rhode Island remains at risk for an outbreak of its own.

The University’s financial losses for Fiscal Year 2021 may range from $100 to $165 million due to the economic impacts of COVID-19 and adjustments made to the academic year, President Christina Paxson P ’19, Provost Richard Locke P ’18 and Vice President for Finance and Administration Barbara Chernow announced. 

Professor of Neuroscience Monica Linden’s eight-year-old daughter stared at her mom through the glass doors of her home office, waiting to share something while Linden taught a seminar on brain regions that ran for over an hour. 

For Natalia Brown ’23, the decision to return as an in-person Residential Peer Leader was not an easy one. When the University announced its phased opening plan, she considered pulling out of the RPL program entirely. “It was almost too much stress,” Brown said.

The University announced today that it has agreed to reinstate both the women’s equestrian team and the women’s fencing team to varsity status after both teams had been moved to club status in May.

The University will suspend its Alumni Interview Program for the 2020-21 admission cycle, Dean of Admission Logan Powell announced in a Sept. 10 email to past alumni interviewers. 

Health Services will offer both in-person and virtual care during the fall semester, as many students begin returning to campus amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In April, Brown created the Healthy Fall 2020 Task Force: a 14-person committee charged with giving high-level administrators recommendations for developing a public health plan for reopening in the fall.