In response to the recent global news reports regarding the spread of novel (new) coronavirus (named “2019-nCoV”) and confirmed cases of the respiratory illness in New York, St. Joseph’s College is closely monitoring the situation and following recommendations made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and New York State Department of Health.
Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is a strain of virus not previously found in humans that was first detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. There are thousands of confirmed cases in China, as well as cases being identified in a growing number of countries, including the United States. In an effort to protect the health and safety of the SJC community, we are sharing the following information.
Questions about Coronavirus
How is coronavirus spread?
Mainly from person-to-person, through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. There may also be instances of spreading when a person touches a surface or object that has the virus on it, and then touches their mouth, nose or eyes. The virus seems to be spreading easily and sustainably, according to the CDC.
How long after exposure does it take for symptoms to appear?
Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure, and may include:
Fever
Cough
Shortness of Breath
How prevalent is coronavirus in the United States?
Patients in a majority and growing number of states, including New York, have tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19). This includes imported cases as travelers, cases among close contacts of a known case and community-acquired cases where the infection source cannot be determined.
How can I minimize my chances of contracting and spreading the virus?
There are currently no vaccines available to protect against human coronavirus infection. To reduce your risk of infection:
Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
Stay home when you are sick.
Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe.
Follow CDC’s recommendations for using a facemask.
CDC does not recommend that people who are well wear a facemask to protect themselves from respiratory diseases, including COVID-19.
Facemasks should be used by people who show symptoms of COVID-19 to help prevent the spread of the disease to others. The use of facemasks is also crucial for health workers and people who are taking care of someone in close settings (at home or in a health care facility).
Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.
If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. Always wash hands with soap and water if hands are visibly dirty.
What is social distancing?
As per CDC recommendations, social distancing means remaining out of congregate settings, avoiding mass gatherings and maintaining distance (approximately six feet or two meters) from others when possible. The objective of social distancing is to reduce the probability of contact between persons carrying an infection, and others who are not infected, so as to minimize disease transmission.
Is there a vaccine or cure for the coronavirus?
There is no vaccine to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
How can I prevent social stigma?
Fear and anxiety about a new disease can lead to social stigma toward infected individuals, persons released from quarantine or groups of people associated with the disease or the region from which it is perceived to have originated. With COVID-19, travelers, health care professionals and persons of specific descent have experienced increased stigma.
Social stigma can lead people suffering with COVID-19 to hide their illness and prevent them from seeking treatment. We encourage everyone in our College community to be sensitive and thoughtful when communicating on social media and other communication platforms, to show empathy for those affected, and to demonstrate supportive behaviors when addressing issues involving the virus.
St. Joseph’s College is closely monitoring travel warnings by the New York State Department of Health, the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Due to the ongoing global pandemic, all SJC-sponsored study abroad trips are suspended for the spring 2021 semester.
Additional Travel Notifications
All institutional travel is suspended unless authorized in writing by the president, provost and CFO.
All SJC Brooklyn and SJC Long Island athletic events for the remainder of the winter season have been cancelled.
The Skyline Conference, in which most of St. Joseph’s College’s athletic teams compete, announced the cancellation of the remainder of the winter athletics season, including all competitions and championships.
This decision comes from a desire to protect the health of all student-athletes and the health of their loved ones.
Please note that the NCAA has said it will approve blanket waivers for sport sponsorships and seasons of eligibility for affected student-athletes.
Student-athletes can check here for further information:
The College has established a website called Carry On to provide the Community with resources to support Faculty, Students and Staff to maintain continuity of teaching, learning and campus operations.
Faculty and Staff Resources
Carry On Advising
Carry OnAdvising provides information to support the remote advisement processes, recommended best practices and a variety of multimedia resources highlighting everything you need to know to successfully counsel and support your advisees during the registration process. Advisement on both the Long Island and Brooklyn campuses is fully addressed.
Carry On Teaching
Carry On Teaching provides information to support faculty in transitioning their class meetings to an online delivery. As our campus prepares for the disruptions to college operations and instructional delivery caused by COVID-19, representatives from our Office of Information Technology Services are available to meet with academic departments and units to provide remote workshops and training on features in Canvas that support the following:
Conducting live classes, meetings and office hours using Canvas Conferences
Communicating with students, and securely collecting assignments and issuing grades using Canvas
Recording videos for course content to securely share it with students using Kaltura
Carry On Working
Carry On Working provides resources to support Employees should they need to work from off campus:
The SJC Libraries are open to current students, faculty and staff presenting a valid SJC ID card upon entry. Hours of access are posted on the library calendar. To enable contactless returns of borrowed material, bins are located at the entrance to the library and in front of the circulation desk. Print reserve materials do not circulate but students may request scans of chapters by completing the Callahan Library Student Scanning Request Form or the McEntegart Library Student Scanning Request Form. Group study rooms are closed and archive appointments are suspended until further notice. Interlibrary loan requests for journal articles and book chapters are being processed. However, due to restrictions in place at most academic libraries, it is not possible to request books at this time. Information about remote access is located on the SJC Libraries Remote Services & Support page.
Remote Title IX Operations
Amid concerns related to COVID-19, the College's Title IX Office will operate remotely until further notice, but will continue to provide support, resources and services to the SJC community via email, telephone and virtual meetings.
Our existing policy is extended to include online and virtual activities, including, but not limited to, cyber harassment, cyberbullying and cyberstalking. Anyone impacted by discrimination or harassment/sexual misconduct is encouraged to contact the Title IX Office by email or phone to make a report. As a reminder, we are all mandatory reporters. If you have knowledge of incidents involving this type of activity, you should bring it forward.
Contact D'adra Crump, Title IX Coordinator [email protected]
718.940.5869
Anthony Costagliola, Deputy Title IX Coordinator [email protected]
631.687.4513
Student Resources
Carry On Learning
Carry On Learning provides resources to support Students to successfully participate in their courses:
Clear communications
Internet and device access
Knowledge of Canvas
Familiarity with cloud resources
Commitment to spend time in your online classes daily.
Carry On Advising
Carry OnAdvising for students provides information to stay up-to-date on advisement and registration dates, changes and expectations for remote academic advising. Contact information, instructions for Student Planning, and other helpful support materials are also provided in case you have questions or concerns.
Bookstore/Textbooks (SJC Long Island and Online Only)
Many textbook publishers have joined to provide commonly-used texts as free rentals online providing instant downloads for students who are now engaging in online learning.
The following is the fastest, easiest and most efficient way to have your textbooks for the rest of the semester. Please set up an account with your SJC email with VitalSource. Click on the "Explore" tab in the upper left hand corner of the screen. Once there, you can enter an ISBN or title with authors last name to search for your textbooks. When you find the textbook, click on the tile and a tab will come up with the option to "borrow." This will add the book to your digital library and you will see a counter at the bottom of the screen showing how many titles have been borrowed. You may borrow up to seven titles.
The Office of Career Preparation and Professional Development continues to offer its services without requiring students to come to campus. Use the links below to learn more about these services.
SJC Brooklyn’s Office of Counseling and Wellness is providing services to students via email, telephone and other online modalities, including confidential counseling through a virtual counseling clinic for students. If you have questions or need assistance, please email [email protected] or schedule an appointment.
You may also follow the Office of Counseling and Wellness on Instagram @sjcbkwellness to access online programming. In the upcoming weeks, programs offered will include:
Breathing With SJC – In these times of unrest, the SJC community will benefit from calming and soothing activities. Join us for mindfulness and meditation, and anxiety reduction techniques on Instagram Live.
In With The New – Students can adjust to remote learning with support to manage change and develop new habits. Join us on Instagram Live for techniques to manage time, develop routines and encourage physical movement.
Please email [email protected] or visit Instagram (@sjcbkwellness) to access online programming.
You may also follow the Office of Counseling and Wellness on Instagram @sjcliwellness to access online programming. In the upcoming weeks, programs offered will include:
Breathing With SJC – In these times of unrest, the SJC community will benefit from calming and soothing activities. Join us for mindfulness and meditation, and anxiety reduction techniques on Instagram Live.
In With The New – Students can adjust to remote learning with support to manage change and develop new habits. Join us on Instagram Live for techniques to manage time, develop routines and encourage physical movement.
Please email [email protected] or visit Instagram (@sjcliwellness) to access online programming.
Food Insecurity Resources
SJC Brooklyn
Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens: 718.722.6000 or 718.722.6001 (M-F 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.). Walk-In Centers: 191 Joralemon St., Brooklyn (M, T, W, F 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.); 91-14 Merrick Blvd., Jamaica. Please note that changes are happening daily.
Center for Family Life in Sunset Park Food pantry: 718.492.3585, 443 39th St., Brooklyn
SJC Long Island
For any SJC Long Island students struggling with food scarcity issues, visit the Island Harvest Website to search for a food bank near you.
Internships and Service Learning
St. Joseph’s College is committed to providing our students with quality experiential learning opportunities through internships (applied learning) and service learning courses. It is preferred that these courses either fully or partially take place outside of the classroom in real-world environments. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of our spring 2020 face-to-face internships and experiential learning courses transitioned to virtual modalities. As the College prepares for the fall 2020 semester, it is our preference that we move back to providing face-to-face internships and experiential learning opportunities. Courses that will either continue to be offered or need to be transitioned to virtual modalities at any point during the semester, where applicable, will follow the criteria set forth by the respective disciplines’ accreditation association, or the College’s guidelines as posted on the experiential learning portal page.
The SJC Libraries are open to current students, faculty and staff presenting a valid SJC ID card upon entry. Hours of access are posted on the library calendar. To enable contactless returns of borrowed material, bins are located at the entrance to the library and in front of the circulation desk. Print reserve materials do not circulate but students may request scans of chapters by completing the Callahan Library Student Scanning Request Form or the McEntegart Library Student Scanning Request Form. Group study rooms are closed and archive appointments are suspended until further notice. Interlibrary loan requests for journal articles and book chapters are being processed. However, due to restrictions in place at most academic libraries, it is not possible to request books at this time. Information about remote access is located on the SJC Libraries Remote Services & Support page.
Off-Campus Housing (SJC Brooklyn Only)
Move In Date
In order to provide ample time for students to adjust to living within the residence halls and to allow for proper social distancing during check in, please see the appropriate check-in information below:
Check-in times will be between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. More information about scheduling a check-in time will be available in the near future.
Please be advised that there will be a limit to two people to assist with moving in. Each individual will have to complete our visitor health questionnaire.
For students who currently reside on states listed on New York State’s Travel Advisory quarantine list or outside of the U.S., your move-in date is Wednesday, January 20. Students arriving from these states will be required to submit to COVID-19 testing, as well as self-quarantine within the residence hall upon their arrival.
If you are a student who does not reside in a state on the New York State Travel Advisory list, your move-in date is Wednesday, January 27.
Should you have an extenuating circumstance regarding your check-in date, please contact [email protected].
Students have virtual tutoring and testing via FaceTime; Skype; and Google calendar, hangout, classroom and docs. These platforms allow specialists and students to work on the same document simultaneously for visual and audio learning.
The staff has every students’ cell phone number and email to communicate.
Specialists will provide written feedback to the director, with the student's name, the time they worked with them, what was accomplished in the session and what is pending.
The Director will continue to communicate with faculty remotely.
All students are expected to alert the Director of test dates.
All testing will continue to be one-to-one.
All students must confirm receipt of the virtual PASS code of conduct.
Specialists already have access to syllabi and are on top of due dates.
The director will meet with parents remotely, as long as the student is present.
Student Accessibility Services
SJC Brooklyn
SAS accommodations and testing: If you are a student and have not yet given your professor your accommodation letter, faculty can verify your accommodation via [email protected] or [email protected].
If the professor is giving an exam online, faculty should incorporate the following for both PASS and SAS students:
Extended time for a timed assessment
In the event that the student needs a reader, the test should be available for 24 hours to log in (a family member can assist).
The scribe accommodation can be done with the speech-to-text smartphone feature.
Accessibility Students may need accommodation adaptations for their online classes. For example, a student may decide they no longer need a note taking accommodation as they can now replay Kaltura lectures, or another student may need more time on tests formatted to the online platform. If you have questions or concerns, please reach out as soon as possible to [email protected].
SJC Long Island
Virtual Registration for SAS Protocol
Students must reach out to the Director of Student Accessibility Services (SAS) to register for accommodations.
The student must scan medical documentation (psych evaluation, 504 plan, doctor's note - we do not accept Rx pads) to [email protected].
On the documentation, the accommodations need to be clearly stipulated (Example: Extended time on testing 2.0). We cannot give accommodations if we do not know what they are.
We will review the documentation to see which accommodations are applicable.
We will issue the digital accommodations letters (see below for the protocol).
SAS Accommodations and Testing
If you are already registered with the office and have not picked up your letters yet, we have a master list of students with their accommodations to verify/issue accommodation emails to faculty remotely.
Virtual Testing Protocol for SAS
If there is an exam, please make sure you do the following:
Provide the digital accommodation letter to the faculty in order to receive extended time for timed assessments.
Reach out to Kathleen Blumenthal at [email protected] for the Academic Center to coordinate testing.
In the event that the student needs a reader, a screen reading program will be utilized.
The scribe accommodation can be done with the speech-to-text smartphone feature. This way the student does not need to rely on psychomotor skills.
Virtual Accommodations Protocol for SAS
Students must reach out to the Director of Student Accessibility Services (SAS) for accommodations.
In the event that they disclose to the professor without previously providing documentation (in-class) and/or an email with a CC to the Director ([email protected]), please urge the student to reach out. The faculty can also forward the student's email to the Director for verification.
The student must email the Director of SAS a copy of their schedule with the class and professor.
If we do not have this information, we cannot issue/email an accommodation letter.
We email the student with the accommodations letters. They then forward that email to the professor, while CCing the Director.
If the faculty do not see a CC, then the student must resend with the CC.
The faculty put in accommodations with the timed assessments.
Remote Title IX Operations
Amid concerns related to COVID-19, the College's Title IX Office will operate remotely until further notice, but will continue to provide support, resources and services to the SJC community via email, telephone and virtual meetings.
Our existing policy is extended to include online and virtual activities, including, but not limited to, cyber harassment, cyberbullying and cyberstalking. Anyone impacted by discrimination or harassment/sexual misconduct is encouraged to contact the Title IX Office by email or phone to make a report. As a reminder, we are all mandatory reporters. If you have knowledge of incidents involving this type of activity, you should bring it forward.
Contact D'adra Crump, Title IX Coordinator [email protected]
718.940.5869
Anthony Costaglioa, Deputy Title IX Coordinator [email protected]
631.687.4513
Visitor Resources
Visitor Health Questionnaire
In order to maintain the health and safety of the St. Joseph’s College Community, we are asking all visitors to complete the following questionnaire.
The COVID-19 Student Emergency Assistance Fund at SJC will help those students who have been most affected by COVID-19 and its impact on SJC campuses and programs. Donations will be used to provide critical resources to directly assist students, as well as some SJC offices and other departments, to meet immediate and emergency needs to ensure students academic continuity and success.
Resources will be used to meet various needs including:
Technology and equipment to provide connectivity and support remote learning
In response to the recent global news reports regarding the spread of novel (new) coronavirus (named “2019-nCoV”) and confirmed cases of the respiratory illness in New York, St. Joseph’s College is closely monitoring the situation and following recommendations made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and New York State Department of Health.
In order to maintain the health and safety of the St. Joseph’s College Community, we are asking all visitors to complete the following questionnaire.
Get social with SJC
Get social with SJC