FAQs for Summer 2020

We plan to open in the fall as usual. However, we will be ready to adopt any one of several learning environments— a decision dependent on the status of COVID-19 in the region and recommendations of health and educational authorities. The health and wellbeing of our students and our community is a top priority at EMU. Exemplary teaching and building community is a hallmark of EMU and the pandemic will not diminish these special deliverables.

2020 Commencement will be held in the fall, ideally during Homecoming and Family Weekend, October 17-18, 2020. We think this is the wisest and most acceptable course of action given the projections of the pandemic’s spread in the next several months and after extensive consultation with students. Thank you to the undergraduate senior class officers, SGA co-presidents, and the many seniors who completed a survey on commencement preferences. 

We will be back in touch as soon as possible with additional information about the Fall Class of 2020 Commencement event. We will also provide updates as they are available on our commencement webpage.

For those completing degree requirements in May, your degrees will be conferred and diplomas will be mailed to you once final grades are received.

If you have any questions about regalia purchase or returns, please be in contact with Dawn Briley at dawn.briley@emu.edu

Yes! Campus activities are as vibrant as ever, but they are predominantly internet based. We will be hosting summer activities that are currently under development. Check your emails from tyler.goss@emu.edu to get the latest scoop.

Please still check your emails for campus-wide communications. Also, check the socials:

Instagram: @emu_sga, @emustudentlife,  and @easternmennoniteu

Snapchat: emusga

#emudistancingtogether    #spreadthelovenotthevirus

 Agreed. We are sorry for all of the losses this change has meant. We are sad with you. It is completely appropriate for you to pay attention to the grief that shows up while you are attentive to other needs. 

Support is available through Counseling Services, counselingservices@emu.edu. Please visit the Counseling Services page to learn more about resources in your area. Other tips include: 

• limiting access to news and media if it causes a sense of anxiety,
• implementing self-care measures to increase resilience, and 
• starting your day with gratitude to recenter and focus on your current priorities.

If you are having trouble accessing your course material or class sessions or have specific technology needs, please be in touch with Zach Yoder, Assistant Provost for Student Success, at zachary.yoder@emu.edu.

Watch your EMU email Thursday, April 2, for a message that will give you all the details. The process won’t be all that different from past registrations, except that your advisor meeting will be done electronically instead of in person.

• Your advisor will contact you and let you know how the two of you will “meet” to work on your fall classes: email, Zoom, Navigate, etc.
• Monday, April 6, through Friday, April 17, is the time period for advising.
• myEMU will open for current seniors and juniors to register beginning at 7 a.m. Monday, April 20, with current sophomores beginning on Tuesday, April 21, and first-years on Wednesday, April 22.
• Registration through myEMU will remain open through the end of the semester in case you need more time or want to drop/add courses. 

Keep your eyes open for extra summer online courses while looking at fall options. 

Our learning, both in classroom and Convocation, has changed this semester. Convocation is a program that hopes to strengthen EMU values like leadership, equity and peacebuilding. To encourage these values and your ongoing connection with them, we plan to honor each student with the number of points that will place them on track when they return in Fall 2020. This will mean different points will be allotted to each individual, and we will work on adding them this summer. But as you return in the Fall, all sophomores will have at least 28, juniors will have at least 56 and seniors at least 70. We hope to see you in Wednesday AM events as they continue virtually this semester. 

 All students with rental accounts received an email from Dawn Briley (Bookstore Manager) with information on how you can print a shipping label to return your textbooks. If you are renting textbooks from the Bookstore and have not received that information, or you have other questions relating to your rentals, be in touch with Dawn at dawn.briley@emu.edu.

Rental textbooks should be returned on time via free shipping. Detailed instructions are provided at http://bkstr.scene7.com/is/content/Bkstr/COVID-FAQspdf

EMU library books, DVDs, and loaned library materials are due September 1.

If you are graduating, please put your loaned materials in the book drop on the south side of Hartzler Library or be in touch with us (library@emu.edu) about shipping them back to us at no cost to you.

Interlibrary loan books are due to us by their due date (check here for that information or to request a renewal). Please put them in the book drop on the south side of Hartzler Library. You may also be in touch (library@emu.edu) about shipping them back to us at no cost to you.

Academic Success Center tutors who are still available to help you write a paper, review concepts from a lecture or textbook, or study for an exam. Tutors will meet with you via Zoom, Google Hangout, or other platform that you decide. Go to Navigate (quicklink on myEMU) or to find the best connection.

Three study tip-reminders:
1. Create a designated study space where you "go to college" each day. Have all books and study materials close by.
2. Plan a work-study schedule for each day. Mix-it up: remember the value of distributed study, rather than long hours on one project or course.
3. Take breaks: exercise, hydration and healthy snacks, conversation with friends and family.

ASC staff continues to be available by email. Don't hesitate to reach out!

 Learning online does happen differently and new study habits might be helpful. Here are a few things to try:

1. Communicate with your professors, find out best ways to ask questions. 
2. Reach out to our student-tutors in the Academic Support Center for advice or specific help with classes: learn more here. 
3. Keep a schedule: make a schedule reminding you of due dates and virtual office hours. 
4. Even for virtual lectures or discussions, take notes as you normally would.
5. Gather your regular study group virtually - set a purpose, share notes, check on each other.
6. Focus on one thing at a time - close distracting tabs or apps, take breaks between goals

We are still offering reference help for you in your information research. Be in touch with us by chat (on the library home page and most database pages), by using the contact us link, or by e-mail.

If you search online and find materials that you need, let us know at library@emu.edu and we will try to get them to you. We can often find an electronic version, or can scan or mail the item. If you live nearby, we are offering "take-out" services at the front door.

This information was sent to students and parents in a correspondence on April 17:

EMU will be issuing room & board credits to residential students who lived on campus and were required to leave campus as a result of COVID-19.  

This action is based on credits that were calculated on the unused portion of room and board, net of room grants and other fixed cost obligations.  Credits vary, depending on the housing and meal plan, and will be applied to student accounts by April 24.  

We have negotiated in good faith with our service providers to mitigate as many fixed costs as possible, but there remain some contracted food service costs that EMU has incurred and were used in calculating  the credits. Those fixed costs amounted to less than 20% of the amount of the overall credit. EMU is absorbing other fixed costs. 

If a student had a balance outstanding on their account, the credit will go towards that balance.  For returning students, the credit will automatically carry over to the next term. Graduating seniors or students not returning may request a refund of credit balance by contacting the Business Office.

For those students who received a waiver to remain on campus, there will be no credit or a reduced credit based on the recorded move-out date.  

Additionally, for those students who participated in the Guatemala Cross-Cultural trip, we are still gathering all expenses and will provide separate communication to those students and families. 

Please contact the Business Office businessoffice@emu.edu with questions on your account once the credits are posted.

There are other ways in which we are assisting our students in addition to room and board credits. For instance, EMU has started an Emergency Student Compassion Fund to provide direct tuition relief for current and prospective students.

Additionally, through the CARES Act, EMU was recently notified of funding to use for direct student aid.  These funds are designated for those most in need to cover expenses related to the disruption of campus operations due to COVID-19, and include eligible expenses such as food, housing, course materials, technology, health care, and child care.  

More information will be coming  soon on how these funds will be made available.

The following contains important information for you as we finish this year at EMU, please read carefully and follow the prompts as necessary. 

Harrisonburg continues with other cities to be attentive to the emergence of COVID-19 cases. There have been multiple outbreaks in our local long term care facilities heightening our call to strong social distancing practices. Adhering to CDC guidance for communal health, we have composed very specific guidelines that must be followed if you would like to retrieve your belongings before we are released from shelter-in-place orders (June 10). We have times available to sign up to move out both before (May 13-30) and after (June 15-June 19) the current date of release from shelter-in-place order. Along with the guidelines that we have written, we want to make sure that you are aware of the health risks of traveling to EMU/Harrisonburg at this time. 

1. STUFF: If you have belongings in your room/suite/apartment here at EMU’s campus and need to schedule a time to return to move out/check out, you must follow this link [not embedded in text: https://forms.gle/YaRkU1kCFKSY8oE3A] to complete a waiver that ensures your awareness of health risks and makes you aware of the procedures you will need to follow in order to move-out/check-out.
1. Follow the link, complete the form, and when you submit the form, Housing will be notified and you will receive an email from Jonathan Swartz that will contain a link for you to schedule your time to come to campus and move-out/check-out. DO NOT come to campus until you have scheduled a time to do so. 
2. KEYS: If you have EMU keys (room key as well as any other keys issued by Facilities Management or by your academic department), BRING THEM WITH YOU WHEN YOU RETURN TO CAMPUS to move-out/check-out. You will place all keys in the same express checkout envelope when you complete the check-out process. Look for an email from Lori Gant regarding keys other than your room key.
3. BICYCLES: If you plan to return to campus to get your things, plan to get your bicycle. If your bike was left unlocked when you left campus in March, it has likely been moved to a secure location so that it would not be stolen. Call Campus Safety and Security (540-432-4911) when you are on campus to move out and tell them you need to retrieve your bicycle.
4. BOOKS: If you have books either at home with you now, or in your room on campus that need to be returned to the library and/or the EMU bookstore, and you have not mailed them back to EMU, mark them clearly (Library/Bookstore) and leave them on your desk in your room. We will make sure they get to where they need to go after you check out.

One more time - the process of returning to campus to get your belongings and move-out/check-out begins by completing this form (it’s the same one as above, linking it again here): Spring 2020 Move-Out and Check-Out.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email jonathan.swartz@emu.edu

COVID-19 has caused a delay in the release of these housing placements. You do not need to take any action with housing placements for next year - we will get your assignment to you as soon as we can, hopefully mid-late May. If you have questions about your housing application, email housing@emu.edu.