Fall 2020 Student Life Update with Emily Fidago

In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and Chatham’s plans to return to campus in the Fall of 2020, a number of faculty and staff working groups have been set up to create plans for safe operation. Check out the Fall 2020 category on Pulse@ChathamU for up-to-date Q&A’s with various campus leaders in their areas of expertise. Next up, we chat with Associate Director of Student Engagement Emily Fidago about what students can expect on the co-curricular calendar this fall, including plenty of virtual and outdoor events.

what parameters will be set around indoor and outdoor events?

Associate Director of Student Engagement, Emily Fidago

Emily Fidago: Indoor events will have 25 people max; outdoor events will have less than 50 people. This is in line with Allegheny County's restrictions. We'll only be serving food at outdoor events. Students can expect to wear masks at indoor events and at outdoor events unless they can be six feet apart. We're going to encourage physical distancing at indoor events and make every effort to keep students spaced apart. But students don't have to be in person to participate in our events; we're going to be offering plenty of virtual events.

can you highlight some of the virtual events that student engagement will be hosting?

EF: Yes. We will have virtual bingo nights and virtual trivia. There's a virtual open mic night plan underway where we'll be partnering with some other campuses. Another thing I've been trying to do is increase our outdoor event offerings happening throughout the week.

what types of activities will the outdoor event series feature?

EF: We are bringing a barnyard petting zoo to campus, twice. It'll be on campus during orientation and then again on August 26, the first Wednesday of the semester. They're going to be set up on the old quad. The outdoor event series will be happening Wednesday afternoons between 12 pm and 2 pm. I know students are going to be experiencing a lot of anxiety so, my thought was, What fun stuff can be happening? We're going to have a strolling magician, a strolling comedian, and a caricature artist. We’re having an artist come in to do Nature's Name WordArt; they’ll design your name using nature images. We're having a pop cover band come in to perform on the quad in September. We'll also have an origami artist and a tarot card reader.

How will the student engagement retreats be effected?

EF: The Emerging Leaders Retreat usually takes place at Camp Guyasuta. But this year I've been collaborating with Assistant Professor of Humanities, Dr. Allie Reznik ‘11 and a few alumni from her year. We're going to hold it at Eden Hall instead and our title is Emerging Leaders Retreat: Planting Seeds of Change. It's going to be more focused on advocacy and your identity as an activist. If we're still in person, it's supposed to be a single day at Eden Hall. We’ll participate in a meditative hike, and help students focus on self care and what they need to stay energized in order to actually advocate for other people, especially in these times. Quayla Allen ‘11, an alum who works for Sundance and is returning to Chatham for our Master in Food Studies program, is going to do the speaker session about her journey into activism and why she thinks self care is so important. The whole day is going to be about cultivating your identity in activism, how to be involved, and how to be intentional in your efforts. Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Center for Women and Politics, Dr. Dana Brown will also virtually discuss how to register to vote, how to check your registration, and how to contact your elected officials. The way we're going to debrief the day is to garden at Eden Hall. The thought is to give back to the land we've been using by nurturing it. We want to close with this cathartic activity and discuss what everyone has learned that day in small groups.

Students participate in Quad Games last fall

If a student organization wants to host an event on campus will there be a different protocol for doing so?

EF: They'll still use the standard student organization event request form that they all have access to on MyChatham. Their options for programming spaces are more limited this year. They will have to follow the restrictions I mentioned previously. We're encouraging student organizations to still hold events, and they can definitely hold virtual events as well. We can help them promote the links to those events on MyChatham, in the ChathamU app, and in the Screaming Squirrel e-newsletter to help them get the word out.

Will there be meeting restrictions for student organizations on campus?

EF: It'll be the same protocols as the events. If they're going to be having a meeting inside, they can't have more than 25 people. If they're inside, they all have to have masks on and be physically distanced. We've actually closed certain spaces. For example, the conference room in the Carriage House is going to be offline, because it's not big enough for people to have meetings in right now. Their options are basically the Carriage House Main Lounge or the 24 hour lounge. Students have to take ownership and responsibility. No one will be there policing them. They're still going to have the same autonomy they've had in the past when they're holding their meetings.

Thanks to Emily for filling us in on the latest event protocols. Stay tuned for additional Fall 2020 interviews, coming soon. In the meantime, learn more about our plans and protocols for Fall 2020 on our website.