December 14, 2020

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

We are writing to provide an update regarding our plans for the Spring 2021 semester. To facilitate our plan to offer as much in-person instruction as possible for the semester, North Central College is instituting a mandatory COVID-19 testing program for students, faculty, and staff.

We are very pleased to announce that a new saliva-based on-campus diagnostic testing program will be offered under the name SHIELD Illinois through a partnership with the University of Illinois. The College will cover the cost of providing the testing program for faculty and staff who plan to physically come to campus for any reason or any length of time; students attending in-person classes; and all students living on campus, including those who are taking only online courses.

Exemptions will be available to those who have tested positive for COVID-19 in the previous 90 days and to those who have an approved medical reason for an exemption.

We wish to express our gratitude to the College’s COVID-19 Institutional Response Team (IRT), which has been working tirelessly this fall to evaluate, plan, prepare, and implement this testing protocol for the health and safety of the campus community.

Later this week the IRT’s co-chairs, Dr. Peter Barger and Mike Hudson, will be sharing a more detailed message regarding testing logistics, protocols, and expectations. The IRT will also publish a series of updated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) related to the new testing program. Please continue to monitor your North Central College email account and the College’s COVID website for these updates.

We wish you all a wonderful holiday season and look forward to seeing you in January for the spring semester!

Troy D. Hammond
President
Professor of Physics

Abiódún Gòkè-Pariolá
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Professor of English