Greetings, fraternity and sorority leaders:
As you continue your summer and think about the fall semester, specifically connected to your fraternity and sorority experience, we want to provide resources and initiate discussion. While we wish we could share exactly what to expect this fall, we simply can’t. The institution is making decisions every day and considering local and regional guidance for how we might safely return to campus in the fall. We likely won’t know a lot of specifics until we draw nearer the start of the semester.
As you’ve likely seen or read, CSU plans to resume face-to-face instruction this fall. However, life on campus will look different, and there will be many contingencies in place to ensure the safety of everyone in our community. These contingencies are in development, but will likely impact the ways fraternities and sororities (and other student organizations) can meet, host events, and engage in chapter practices. You can always learn more about updated CSU decisions and guidance at https://safety.colostate.edu/coronavirus/. In addition, CSU has created two additional websites with information about the recovery plan and what fall 2020 will look like. You can find those here:
· https://covidrecovery.colostate.edu/
· https://covidrecovery.colostate.edu/fall-2020/
While it is tempting to wait for final or finite answers to our questions about fall operations, waiting means we miss valuable time to plan and creatively find solutions to likely realities. Since guidance and expectations will evolve throughout the summer, we encourage you to consider what your fall will look like now. To assist in that effort, we’ve created questions for consideration in the attached document. It is our hope that as we know more specifics for the fall, these questions for consideration can become actual guidance and best practices that are firmer in their consideration of our realities.
It is important that you think through these questions with other leaders from your chapter and/or council and that you engage your advisors. Many (inter)national organizations have also issued guidance, new initiatives, and resources to assist chapters in their fall planning. Ensure you’re connected to all your stakeholders as you move through these considerations.
Finally, as we get closer to the fall, we will ask chapters to share their plans for operation to ensure that all groups have spent time considering how things will look different. It’s important that these considerations are made and solutions identified before you arrive back to campus on August 24 for the start of the semester. Thank you for devoting energy to these efforts now.
We remain ready to support you in these considerations, and while we don’t have all the answers, we commit to identifying best practices and assisting chapters as they work to consider solutions. Please let us know how we can assist you.
COVID-19 Chapter Planning Guide
-Office of Fraternity & Sorority Life