January 13, 2022 – COVID Forms and Campus Dining Operations
Dear Whitman students,
We look forward to having you all back on campus soon. Here is some important information for you.
COVID Forms to Complete
Please remember that there are two essential items that you must complete by January 15 as part of your return to campus:
- Pre-return testing: all students must take a COVID-19 test 24 to 72 hours before beginning travel to Walla Walla and complete the Spring 2022 Pre-Arrival COVID Test form.
- Provide proof of COVID-19 Booster through the the COVID-19 Vaccination Booster - Completed form. If you are not yet eligible to get the booster or have been unable to get it in your area, please fill out the COVID-19 Vaccination Booster - Pending form so that we can follow up with you.
On-Campus Dining Operations
We want to provide you with more details about how campus dining will operate with food-to-go at the beginning of the semester. As a reminder, we will start with no sit-down dining in Cleveland Commons, Jewett Cafe or Reid Market. After the baseline testing period we will reevaluate on-campus dining options.
Hours of Operation
Cleveland Commons and Reid Market will open for their regular hours beginning Sunday, January 16 and Jewett Cafe opens Monday, January 17. The busiest times are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. so we encourage you to get your food outside of that time if possible to help prevent overcrowding and long waits.
Food Choices
As in the fall, students will have a variety of meal choices. The cafes and stations will be set up as they were during the fall, including the build-your-own stations. Bon Appetit is preparing to add a turbochef to Reid Market, which will also allow them to provide hot food to go there as well as at Cleveland and Jewett. The daily menus will be available on the Bon Appetit website and in the Transact mobile ordering app (download the app for iOS or Android).
There will not be any self serve items apart from the fountain drink machines, which will be sanitized after every meal service.
Mobile App Ordering
You can use the Transact mobile ordering app to place orders from Reid Market and Cleveland Commons, which allows you to select your food and a specific time to pick it up, allowing you to skip the process of waiting in line. Learn more about using the app and download it on Bon Appetit’s website. This is also a way that you can order food from Cleveland for delivery when you are in isolation in Marcus House.
COVID Precautions
At the order stations and concepts, students will receive their food in to-go boxes and/or bowls that they may then take to their rooms or another private space where they can safely remove their masks while eating. Masks must be worn at all times while queueing, ordering and waiting for food.
Areas will be marked to encourage three feet of distancing between individuals as they wait in line.
Students will be allowed to study in Cleveland Commons, Jewett Cafe and Reid Campus Center as long as they remain masked. There will be no eating or drinking while studying in these spaces.
We do not currently intend these changes to be permanent for the semester and will re-evaluate these activities once we have the results of baseline testing. If you have any questions about on-campus dining, please reach out to Bon Appetit manager Shannon Null at shannon.null@cafebonappetit.com. We look forward to having you back on campus soon.
Be safe,
Kazi
Kazi Joshua
Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students