COVID-19: A Different Approach
notebook
CAMPUS
notes from around the green
Notes from an omicron winter.
CLASS OF 2026
530
Early-decision applicants admitted, an acceptance rate of 20 percent
FINANCIAL AID
$40 Million
Anonymous donation made in January to support need-blind admissions for international students
HOUSING
60
Percentage of residence halls that could be renovated during the next 10 years, according to campus planners
“We’re not going back to the way we did things last year,” interim Provost David Kotz told The Dartmouth in early January. As other schools, including Yale and Cornell, delayed the start of the 2022 winter term or held classes remotely because of the omicron variant of Covid-19, Dartmouth forged ahead. The term started on time with in-person classes and policies that included an open gym—it was crowded—and library.
Kotz’s declaration came in part because of the negative reaction to 2021 campus Covid measures, which some students viewed as a “lockdown police state.” This year, Dartmouth required full vaccination and booster shots (by January 31) and had a mask mandate. Some restrictions on dining and gatherings were enforced in hopes of maintaining “in-person classroom learning and laboratory research and to keep campus as open as possible while also supporting the physical and mental health of our community,” Kotz added.
As temperatures plummeted in January, campus Covid cases rose—nearly 1,200 new positives were tallied in one week. But with more than 97 percent of the campus population fully vaccinated, no one reported severe symptoms or required hospitalization. Students who tested positive isolated themselves in dorms and off-campus housing. “We can have cases without adverse outcomes,” noted Dr. Lisa Adams, DMS’90, a professor at the Geisel School of Medicine and former co-chair of the College Covid task force. Adams says the high Covid numbers reflected the College’s mandatory, regular testing.
Many professors offered hybrid courses for students in isolation, which some students say makes sense for whatever the future holds. “Creating a strong hybrid optionavailable for those who are sick, no matter what illness they may have—has value in both a pandemic and post-pandemic world,” wrote The Dartmouth editorial board.
As the calendar turned to February, workers erected a skating rink on the Green, fire pits kept students warm outside Collis, and fresh snow made for good sledding and cross-country skiing on the former golf course. Hopes remained high for a full-fledged 112th Winter Carnival, which last year was spread out across several weeks to avoid crowds. Organizers for the February 10-13 weekend planned to build a snow sculpture on the Green and hold the annual polar bear swim at Occom Pond, among other traditional events. This year’s theme: “Mission: Winter CarnivalLicense to Chill.”
FROM THE ARCHIVES
“The Travel Club announces that 60 undergraduates have applied for jobs as cattlemen on ships bound for Europe this summer
-REPORT FROM THE JUNE 1923 ISSUE OF DAM
