Sweeping Changes to RC Role Come After Conflict with ResLife and COVID-19

The position of resident counselors (RCs), now called community advisors (CAs), has been redefined this year due to both Covid safety needs and the organizing work of disenchanted RCs who met with the Office of Residential Life (ResLife) last semester to address occupational grievances. The new position increases supervisory support, as well as increased compensation. While some CAs are pleased with the changes, others believe the job is more burdensome with Covid guidelines and still deserves g

Faculty Hiring Disrupted by COVID-19

Among other changes to the college’s daily operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the college’s academic departments have announced hiring freezes for the 2020-2021 academic year. The move comes amid the college’s economic difficulties as a result of the pandemic as well as the inability to properly conduct faculty searches as usual. Most departments were not planning to hire new professors for the 2020-2021 academic year or had completed their faculty hires before the onset of the vir

“No Identified Risk” From Possible Coronavirus Cases at Smith

Two students at Smith College were put into isolation as a precaution after potentially coming into contact with the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). According to a statement from Smith, the first student is currently symptom-free and out of isolation, while the second student is not yet cleared and remains in isolation. There are currently no confirmed cases of coronavirus at Smith or in the five colleges. The coronavirus epidemic, which originated from Wuhan, China, has claimed the lives of ov