Coronavirus Updates

Updates and information about Biola University's continued preparedness, action and response to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Below is a running log of updates and information about Biola University's response to COVID-19. The updates will be time stamped with the most recent appearing at the top. 

If you have any questions, please call (562) 903-6000.

Dear Biola students,

It is with gratitude that we announce that starting tomorrow, Friday, March 4, masks will no longer be required indoors for anyone regardless of vaccination status except in a few situations as noted below.

The County of Los Angeles and Cal-OSHA modified their indoor mask mandates — they are now strongly encouraging indoor masking, but not requiring it. Masks will be optional for all faculty, staff and students, regardless of vaccination status, except when visiting the Student Health Center and when two or more people are occupying a Biola-provided vehicle such as Campus Safety vehicles, the Biola shuttle and mail services vehicles. All other COVID-19 protocols for special groups remain in place until further notice.

Students, faculty and staff can wear a mask based on their personal preference, comfort level and personal level of risk. Campus Safety will continue to provide masks for those who want to wear them.

The Omicron surge did not leave our community unscathed — many contracted COVID-19 over the past few months and some have long-term effects of the virus. The low case rates on campus, in the county, the state and across the nation are signs of hope of moving into an endemic phase and out of a pandemic. As of March 2, the Department of Public Health reported a 1.2% positivity rate in Los Angeles County, and on campus, we currently have 4 active cases.

Surveillance testing will continue for unvaccinated residential students through the end of March to help identify infection post-travel from spring break. Testing symptomatic students will continue to be provided at the Student Health Center and quarantine and isolation practices will remain for those who test positive. In addition, masking is still required for those who exit isolation or quarantine early by providing a negative test.

We encourage our community to remain vigilant since COVID-19 has not been eradicated and the virus can continue to mutate into new variants. We will continue to monitor infection rates on campus and ask our community to practice good hygiene by staying home when sick, using hand sanitizer after touching shared surfaces and washing your hands regularly. In the case of an outbreak, indoor masking may be reinstated.

Let us be a community of grace and understanding as we transition to a new normal without mask mandates and physical distancing, which we haven’t experienced on campus since March 2020. We appreciate the community’s resilience and steadfastness throughout the pandemic.

If you have any questions, please email internal.communications@biola.edu.

Blessings,

André Stephens
Vice President of Student Development

Dear students,

We hope you had a restful time at home and are excited to return back to campus for another great semester.

Since January 3, the Biola Health Center has tested a total of 952 students, faculty and staff and of them 94 have tested positive. With a positivity rate of just under 10% currently at Biola, making this variant highly transmissible at this time, we want to remind you of important health protocols and new temporary measures as you prepare to return to in-person classes next week. Our desire is to continue to facilitate a healthy and safe environment and need your help in doing so. A major factor in keeping our campus healthy is for you to self-monitor your symptoms when you begin to feel sick and take the necessary steps when you are potentially exposed to someone with COVID-19. We ask that you carefully review the following and implement these health precautions when these situations arise.

What to do before returning to campus for classes next week

1. Upload a negative COVID-19 test to the secure, confidential Medicat portal prior to returning to campus. The test needs to be taken as close as possible within 72 hours of returning to campus and uploaded 24-48 hours prior to coming to campus. The Health Center is working diligently to process test results within 24-48 hours. You will only be notified by the Health Center if there is a problem with your test results.

2. If you upload a negative test result, assume you are clear to return to campus unless you hear otherwise from the Health Center.

3. If you have not received your test results by the time you are scheduled to go to class, please go to the Health Center to be tested before your class starts, if possible. If not possible, go immediately after your class is over. If you do not get your results by the time your class starts, you are allowed to go to class, but limit your contacts and physical distance.

4. If you tested positive for COVID in the past 90 days, you need to upload documentation of your positive test results or a doctor’s note and contact the Health Center for clearance.

5. If you have already uploaded a negative test before moving into campus housing and you have been cleared, you do not need to submit another test.

In order to prepare for students to return next week, we ask you to fill out this brief form by Sunday, January 17 at 10 p.m. to indicate if you will be getting a test on or off campus.

What to do if you are feeling sick

1. Do not go to class and stay in your room or home.

2. Call the Health Center at 562-903-4841 during business hours and Campus Safety after hours at 562-903-6000. They will give you instructions on next steps.

3. Contact your professors about missing class due to illness and make arrangements for class lectures/assignments.

When a residential student tests positive for COVID, the Student Health Center notifies Housing and Residence Life of the need to isolate the student. If a residential student lives within driving distance of campus, they will be given the option to isolate at home. Non-residential students who test positive will get isolation instructions from the Student Health Center. The Student Health Center also notifies Rapid-Trace to follow up with the student for contact tracing.

If you test positive for COVID-19, you will need to follow the Isolation Process as outlined online. 

What to do if you have been exposed to someone with COVID-19

1. If you are exposed to COVID-19, please contact the Health Center immediately at 562-903-4841. They will give you further instructions on next steps.

2. If an exposure happens in a classroom or anywhere on campus and you are named as a close contact, you will be contacted by Rapid Trace, our third party contact tracing company. They will give you instructions on next steps.

The university will follow all quarantine guidelines for vaccinated students and unvaccinated students issued by the CDC and Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. As it currently stands, if you come into contact with anyone with COVID-19, and are unvaccinated or you have been vaccinated but not yet boosted, you will need to be quarantined for 5 days. After the quarantine period, you must provide a negative COVID-19 test and wear a mask for the remaining 5 days whenever you come into contact with other people indoors and outdoors. If you have received your vaccine and booster, then you do not need to be quarantined but should wear a mask for the 10 day period post exposure. The county updated its quarantine guidelines yesterday to include some exceptions. We are reviewing the updated guidelines and will update the community next week.

Isolation/Quarantine

The Health Center will determine where a student will need to be isolated depending on many factors. It might be their dorm room or a different room. If a residential student lives within driving distance of campus, they will be given the option to isolate at home. Non-residential students will isolate at their home. 

Events and Chapels

We are asking all university sponsored events (e.g. all-halls) to be postponed, relocated outside with physical distancing or moved to a virtual environment through the month of January. Intramural sports and small student gatherings with less than 25 people can continue. Chapel will be making the necessary adjustments. An update will be available at biola.edu/chapel and shared with students next week.

Masks

We strongly encourage students to wear medical grade masks — surgical, N95 or KN95 during this Omicron surge. We have a supply of surgical and KN95 masks at the Campus Safety Office and front desks of academic buildings for students to pick up.

Weekly Testing

We will start surveillance weekly testing of unvaccinated residential students in February. Students who need to do testing will be notified by the Health Center.

Thank you for being patient and flexible with the temporary measures that have been implemented for the spring. We trust that students will do their part in monitoring symptoms, isolating, and reporting symptoms in order to ensure we maintain a healthy campus this semester.

If you have any questions, please contact internal.communications@biola.edu.

Sincerely,

André Stephens
Vice President, Student Development

Sarah Templeton
Director of the Student Health Center

Dear Biola students,

Happy New Year! We are preparing for you and excited for your return to campus. Before the start of the spring semester we want to provide some clarification on a number of topics. 

Testing Information

Students need to get a COVID-19 test within 72 hours of their return to campus whether it’s to move back or to start their classes in person. The negative test result needs to be uploaded no less than 24 hours prior to a student’s return to campus via the confidential, secure Medicat portal.

Below is some additional testing information.

• Tests can be a saliva based or nasal swab PCR, or a rapid antigen test.

• PCR tests should be taken as close to 72 hours prior to returning to campus as possible because the results usually take 1-2 days and the results must be uploaded no less than 24 hours prior to returning to campus. This gives time for the Health Center to process the results and approve access.

• Since rapid antigen test results are most often returned within 15 minutes, that test can be taken one day prior to your return. However, there may still be an issue with scheduling a time so plan ahead to make sure you can obtain a test time that allows for you to upload the results to Medicat no less than 24 hours prior to returning to campus.

• Test results uploaded to Medicat will be processed during the weekend before Jan. 18.

• Testing centers in Los Angeles County can be found here. There are free testing sites, but some locations charge for tests.

• Residential students who are waiting for test results and are moving back to campus over the weekend are welcome to return to their residence halls. They will need to email Campus Safety at campus.safety@biola.edu on the Friday prior to their arrival. In the email, please let them know the date of your test and when you are planning to move back over the weekend. Students should limit their contacts on campus until they get their results back and uploaded. If their results come back positive, they need to call 562-903-6000 immediately for next steps. If their results come back negative, they just need to upload their results via the confidential portal Medicat.

• Students who fail to upload their results will lose access to campus starting on January 14. After January 14, students will be approved for campus access by the Health Center after they process a student’s negative test results.

With the rise in cases and testing demand, it has become more and more difficult to schedule a testing appointment. We ask students to try their best to secure a testing appointment from their doctor or one of the free or paid testing sites available to them in their hometown or near Biola. For those students who are unable to schedule an appointment within the required timeframe, the Biola Health Center will be providing nasal swab antigen tests on Tuesday-Thursday January 18-20 from 8:00 a.m. - 12 p.m. and 1-4:00 p.m. for $30. No appointment necessary. Limited tests are available. Faculty will be given priority for testing at the Health Center on January 18 since they must return to teach their in-person classes.

Starting the week of January 18 not January 10, unvaccinated residential students will start their weekly surveillance testing for the semester. The Health Center will email those students testing details.

Symptomatic or Previous COVID-19 Infection

• Students who tested positive through a lab, not an at-home test, during the Christmas break need to upload their positive test results to the confidential, secure Medicat portal and email the Health Center at health.center@biola.edu for further instructions on clearance to return to campus.

• Students who have tested positive in the 90 days prior to the Christmas break need to upload documentation of their positive test result via Medicat before returning to campus.

• Students who test positive within 10 days prior to returning to campus need to stay home and notify the Health Center immediately at 562-903-4841. 

Mask Mandate

The County of Los Angeles is still requiring masks be worn indoors at all times unless someone is actively eating or drinking. They do encourage people to wear surgical grade masks, N95 or KN95 masks instead of cloth face coverings, but it’s not required for students.

Toward the end of last semester students were not as diligent with wearing their masks indoors, especially in places such as the library and the Fitness Center. As a reminder, Student Development, Campus Safety staff and other university personnel will be enforcing the standards that are outlined on the COVID-19 Student Handbook Policy. Please remember that if you choose not to adhere to the standards and guidelines outlined for the health and safety of our community during this season, disciplinary action will be taken.

First Offense - Verbal warning and formal documentation. Potential for follow up with Student Development or Campus Safety staff.

Second offense - $100 Fine and formal documentation. Potential for follow up with Student Development or Campus Safety staff.

Third offense - Further violations of this nature are handled on a case-by-case basis, but students are subject to further disciplinary actions, which may include being banned from campus or suspension from the university.

Chapels

Chapels will begin in person on Wednesday, January 19 with Convocation Chapel in Sutherland Auditorium. No chapels will be offered during the first week of remote learning (January 10-17). Each student will receive two chapel credits which will show up in your MyAccount by January 19.

With the new indoor event protocols in LA County that limit large gatherings to 500, and to accommodate the large number of students who enjoy Singspiration, Singspiration will be offered twice on Sunday evenings in Sutherland Auditorium (not Chase Gym) beginning Jan 23. The first session will be from 7-8 p.m., and the second from 8:30-9:30 p.m. - students will only be allowed to earn one credit per evening.

All other chapels - Mon/Wed morning chapels, Tues./Thurs. Fives, Wed AfterDark, Friday Biola Hour - will be hosted at their regular times in Sutherland and streamed into Calvary once the 500 person capacity is reached. Tuesday Talbot chapels will remain in Calvary. Please check out biola.edu/chapel for more information.

We appreciate your continued support, partnership and resiliency during this ever-evolving COVID-19 situation. As we move forward together, we will continue to prioritize our community’s health and safety. Please email internal.communications@biola.edu if you have any questions or feedback that are not addressed on the FAQs online. The team is trying to respond to emails within 24 hours.

Sincerely,

André Stephens
Vice President for Student Development

Dear Biola students,

We trust you had a sacred celebration of Christmas and are enjoying some rest before we start 2022 and with it the Spring Semester.

We have been in contact with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health as well as other private colleges and universities in-state as well as nationally regarding some adjustments as we begin the Spring Semester. We trust you will be supportive and encouraged by this.

With the increased spread of the Omicron variant among vaccinated and unvaccinated and the high cases in Los Angeles County, we want to be sure to keep our community safe and do so by making some reasonable decisions for a successful start to the new year. We need to make sure we maintain ongoing campus operations and do not overwhelm our ability to quarantine if there are positive cases, related COVID spread and contact tracing. Unlike the CDC’s new one-week quarantine period, LA County Department of Public Health will maintain its two-week quarantine until further notice.

As we have been working in communication with county health officials and others on ways to mitigate the spread of the virus after the holiday break — with the increase of social gatherings — we want you to be aware of what to expect on campus. Given these emerging realities, we will be implementing the few measures below for the start of the Spring Semester.

• Though the Spring 2022 Semester will begin as scheduled on Monday, January 10, the first week of classes will be conducted remotely. In-person instruction will resume Tuesday, January 18, after the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. This will allow a reasonable two weeks from the holiday gatherings and possible virus incubation period. We believe it’s the least disruptive approach for our students and faculty as they start the Spring Semester.
• Check Canvas for communication from your faculty and a link for the first week of classes. If your class is not updated on Canvas by the middle of next week, please contact your faculty.
• All faculty, staff, and students, regardless of vaccination status, will need to upload a negative antigen or PCR test performed by a third party vendor (i.e. CVS, Walgreens, etc.) within 72 hours of returning to campus. For those who have had COVID within the last 90 days, documentation from a physician will be sufficient. Home-based or over-the-counter tests will not be acceptable. Please obtain your COVID test prior to arriving on campus. Preferably, get tested in your hometown as testing locations are limited in La Mirada. The Health Center has a limited supply of tests for a $30 fee. Testing ahead will give you instant access to campus. Please upload your negative test or physician’s documentation on the secure, confidential portal, biola.medicatconnect.com. Login with NetID and password and select upload test and attach file. Students will gain campus card access once the negative test is uploaded and processed. Students will not have card access until the Biola Health Center receives the negative test. Please allow time between uploading the test and returning to campus. This measure is to screen everyone before we return to gathering as a college community. You can find a list of COVID testing sites near Biola on the coronavirus website under the FAQs.
• Residential students have the option of returning to campus at any time between their scheduled move-in date (Jan. 6 for new students, Jan. 8 for continuing students) and the start of in person classes on January 18.
• More information will be emailed early next week to incoming students with regards to New Student Orientation programs as most sessions will move to an online platform.
• Biola will resume operations as scheduled on January 3 after the holiday break, but the majority of staff and faculty will be working remotely. If you have any questions for service departments, please call or email them. They will be available to help.
• All other previously scheduled university in-person events will continue as planned on January 18 and be conducted in full compliance with LA County Department of Public Health guidelines. Details about the first week of chapels will be emailed next week.
• All faculty, staff and students are strongly encouraged to get the COVID vaccine or booster, as soon as they are eligible.
• We encourage students to avoid and limit the number of contacts and their time in crowded indoors spaces a week before returning to campus.

We remain committed to keeping our campus safe and continuing in-person instruction this spring. If you have any questions, please email internal.communications@biola.edu or call 562-903-6000.

Please enjoy the rest of the break and stay tuned for updates next week.

Andre Stephens
Vice President for Student Development

Dear Biola students,

As we near the end of the fall semester, we want to express our appreciation to our community for everything done to maintain a healthy and safe campus, resulting in consistently having an average of 7 positive cases over the past several weeks. We have been able to operate in person because of faculty, staff and students’ commitment to follow Covid-19 safety protocols.

Below are a few health protocols to remember for the Spring 2022 semester.

• Masks will be required indoors until further notice. The L.A. County Department of Public Health does not have plans to lift the mandate for the spring semester.

• COVID-19 vaccinations are not required for students except for those traveling abroad or whose clinical or other academic situations require them.

• As of now, international students returning to the United States for the spring semester do not need to be quarantined because the government requires all foreign, non-citizen, non-immigrant, national travelers to the United States to be fully vaccinated (some exceptions are available).

• Residential unvaccinated students are required to take a COVID-19 test 72 hours prior to arriving on campus. The negative PCR or antigen test MUST be uploaded in Medicat prior to occupying student housing. For those students who have been diagnosed with COVID within the last 90 days prior to arrival on campus, documentation from a physician of COVID illness within that time frame uploaded into Medicat prior to occupying housing will also be acceptable. Test results will not be collected at residence halls. If a student fails to upload the required proof before moving into housing, they will lose campus access until the information is provided. Please plan accordingly to ensure you have full access to campus when you return.

• Weekly testing will continue for unvaccinated residential students during the spring semester. Testing will begin the first week of classes. The tests will be an anterior self-administered nasal swab and free to students. The Health Center will email those students who need to test prior to the first week of testing.

• Incoming residential students will need to check in with the Health Center upon arrival to campus to get cleared prior to obtaining access to their residence halls.

We hope that everyone has a fun, safe and restful winter break and comes back ready for another great semester on campus. If you have any questions about the spring semester now or during the break, please email internal.communications@biola.edu or call 562-903-6000.

We want to update you on changes to the temporary protocols, quarantine guidelines from the county and COVID protocols for the spring semester as we know them today.

Changes to Temporary Health Protocols

For the past three weeks we have had less than 10 cases per week. We appreciate the community’s diligent efforts in following the temporary health protocols. Since the cases have remained low, consistently over time, below are updated protocols.

• The Cafe will return to having 8 people per round table. Furniture should not be moved in the Cafe.
• On campus events and meetings are allowed to have buffets with proper hand sanitizing stations and have 8 people per round table.

Updated Quarantine Guidelines

• The county has updated the quarantine guidelines for vaccinated students and those students who are not fully vaccinated. Read the updated quarantine guidelines online.
• International students returning to the United States for the spring semester will not need to quarantine. As of November 8, 2021, the government will require all foreign, non-citizen, non-immigrant, national travelers to the United States to be fully vaccinated, this includes international students (some exceptions are available). 

Health Protocols for Spring 2022

• Masks will be required indoors. On a recent L.A. County Department of Public Health tele-briefing, county officials communicated that it does not have any plans to lift the mandate soon. They are concerned over a possible increase in positive cases during flu season and after the Christmas holiday, as well as an increase of indoor activities during the colder months. We will update the community as we head into the spring semester if and when that particular protocol changes.
• COVID-19 vaccinations will not be required for students other than for those whose clinical situations mandate them or those wishing to participate in a travel abroad program.
• Like the fall semester, unvaccinated residential students will be required to provide a negative test upon arrival to campus after the winter break.
• Weekly testing will be required for unvaccinated residential students.

If you have any questions, email internal.communications@biola.edu.

Dear students,

We are grateful to report that the COVID-19 cases have declined on campus over the past two weeks. Due to a number of factors, including the de-densification efforts in the classroom and across campus, we are seeing a lower transmission rate and correspondingly lower quarantine rates. At our peak, we had 83 active student cases. As of today, we are down to four active student cases. 

The Biola University Reopening Team (BURT) assessed the current health of our community as it relates to transmission and current student cases and decided all classes can resume to their originally scheduled locations and method of delivery starting October 18. Faculty are, however, still being asked to attempt to accommodate 6 feet of physical distance in their classrooms as much as possible in order to prevent the spread of COVID and reduce the amount of students needing to quarantine due to being in close contact when cases occur. Masking indoors and at outdoor Biola sponsored events will remain in place.

Going remote, hybrid or moving outdoors was a temporary, short-term measure. Classes will be expected to return to their original classroom spaces beginning the week of October 18, since many of the larger spaces are reserved throughout the semester for other events and meetings. Therefore, all classes will need to return to the original classroom locations and in-person format. All faculty should be communicating to their students where their class will be meeting and on which date the change, if applicable, will take place. If you have questions about your classroom location, please contact your professor.

In addition, chapels will return to their indoor locations starting on Monday, October 18. Also, the Caf will continue to offer free "to-go" boxes to students Monday through Friday for lunch and dinner for the time being.

We ask the Biola community to remain vigilant the rest of the semester for three reasons.

1. We are approaching the flu season.
2. We have confirmed 59% of our student population has reported being vaccinated.
3. Some students travelled out of town during the Torrey Conference or are planning to travel out of town over Thanksgiving break.

We ask the student community to continue to do their part to slow the spread of the virus. Stay home if you are feeling sick for any reason and contact the Health Center. Continue to wear masks indoors and practice physical distancing when possible.

As Biola continues to implement mitigation strategies to slow the spread of COVID-19 and de-densify indoor gatherings, chapels have been temporarily moved outside starting Monday, September 27. It is important that we continue to gather and worship together as a community.

All chapels are being held on Lot F, which is across from Fluor fountain, at their scheduled times. To create the safest environment and continue following the university COVID protocols, students are required to wear a face covering during chapels, including while standing in line. For chapels with larger attendance (e.g. After Dark and Singspo), there will be multiple times to attend. Wednesday’s AfterDark will be held at 7:40 p.m. and 9:10 p.m., and Sunday’s Singspiration will be held at 7:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Students will only receive credit for attending one of each, and not two credits for attending two in the same night. In order to stay informed, check the Chapel Schedule for updates.

In addition, the Torrey Conference will also be moving outdoors and face coverings will be required. Full-time students, taking 12 plus units, will be required to get three credits instead of the traditional five credits. Part-time students, taking 11 units or less are encouraged, but not required to attend the Torrey Conference. There are two credits offered on Wednesday, three credits offered on Thursday and one credit offered on Friday. All sessions will be main sessions and there will be no break out sessions this year.

For more information and to view the entire Torrey Conference schedule, visit the website.

As shared on the town hall, the number of COVID cases are increasing among our student community. On Friday, September 10, we reported 41 student positive cases, and on Wednesday, September 15, we reached 79 student positive cases. The COVID case numbers are updated on the dashboard online every Friday afternoon.

We did experience a COVID-19 “outbreak” on campus, which the county defines as “a cluster of three or more cases that have an epidemiological link (e.g., same dorm floor, team, class, etc.).” Based on our investigation, we are reasonably certain the transmission occurred in an outdoor residence hall floor event where students were unmasked. Those involved with this incident have been identified, isolated or quarantined. This outbreak prompted the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) to visit Biola’s campus on Friday, Sept. 17 to review the situation with us and evaluate our mitigation efforts. They found no major issues nor did they issue any citations.

Due to the high transmission rate on campus among students and more residential students occupying the limited quarantine rooms, we are taking extra steps of caution to try to slow the spread of COVID on campus. The following new temporary health and safety measures are effective immediately unless otherwise noted below and will remain in effect until we see a consistent slow in the rate of transmission in our community.

New Mitigation Efforts

Physical Distancing in Classes and Indoor Activities

• School deans and chairs will be working with faculty this week to discuss options to achieve more physical distancing for their classes and the best format given their class learning outcomes. This does not mean all of Biola’s classes are going fully remote, at this time. This is in an effort to mitigate transmission and reduce the number of students classified as “close contacts” (within 6 feet for more than 15 minutes) who need to quarantine because the county requires unvaccinated “close contacts” to quarantine for 7-10 days from exposure (and a modified quarantine for students who are vaccinated). This is a temporary measure to make changes to classes if the spaces in which they meet do not allow for adequate physical distancing. In other words, some classes may continue to meet in their current location or change locations, others may go hybrid and some may be remote if determined by the faculty and school chair. The situation will be reassessed in three weeks.
• Each faculty member will inform their students during the week of September 27 if changes will be made to their classroom location. Students, continue to attend your classes as scheduled unless you hear from your faculty that the location has changed.
• In addition, physical distancing of 6 feet is required at all indoor events and activities, when possible (e.g. club meetings and social gatherings).

Masking Outdoors

• Students and employees are required to wear masks outdoors when in line for class, chapel, café, etc.
• At the discretion of the event planner, event attendees will be asked to wear masks outdoors at Biola events when students are not maintaining a safe physical distance. Students will be expected to bring a mask to all events and follow the directives of the event planner.

Chapels & Torrey Conference

• Chapel staff are working on making space accommodation for chapels. Chapel requirements remain as is for the fall semester.
• The Torrey Conference will resume as scheduled. Visit the website to stay updated and get conference details and schedule.

Café Changes

In an effort to reduce the number of people in the cafe at one time and provide adequate space for physical distancing, the Cafe will implement the following mitigation measures:

• Students with meal plans can and are encouraged to take Grab-n-go meals at no extra charge, Monday through Friday for lunch and dinner only.
• Students and employees will not be able to bring in their own lunch into the Cafe. They are encouraged to eat at any of the outdoor eating areas.
• Only 5 people will be allowed to sit at the large round tables. Chairs will be adjusted to accommodate the change. Furniture should not be moved in the Cafe.

Athletics

• No visiting team spectators will be permitted at any on-campus venue (Al Barbour Field, Chase Gymnasium). Visiting fans can watch the live broadcast of all Biola events free of charge.
• Capacity at each on-campus facility will now be limited. Only spectators on the official “admission list” will be permitted into each event. Student-athletes and athletic staff may request up to five people be added to the “admission list.”
• Walk-up admission for current students, faculty and staff may be available on a first-come, first-served basis if student-athlete requests do not fill the facility's capacity for an event. Once the facility reaches its limited capacity between the admission list and walk-up admissions, no one else will be allowed to enter the facility.

Other Important Information

Quarantine Process and Care

• Students, parents and employees can read more about the quarantine process for students and how they are cared for during their quarantine on Biola’s coronavirus website under the Health & Safety section. If parents want to drop off care packages to their students, they should coordinate with the Covid Coordinator by emailing covidcarecoordinator@biola.edu.
• We are asking students who live within 200 miles of campus to isolate or quarantine at home in order to reserve the limited rooms on campus for students who cannot go home.

Health Reminders

• It’s the student’s responsibility to communicate with their professor if they have tested positive or have been placed in quarantine and cannot attend class. This is because faculty members are not provided with the names of their students who have tested positive.
• In general, people are contagious two days before they know they’re sick. For this reason, taking extra precautions when you are interacting with others is important.

Vaccination Status Form

• Based on our records, 25% of our undergraduate students have not submitted the Acknowledgement of Risk and Vaccination Status Form.
• Every student (except fully online bachelor’s degree students) is required to submit the form. Please submit your form, if you haven’t already done so, by Friday, September 24, 2021.
• This data will help the Health Center make informed recommendations on mitigation strategies to reduce the spread of the virus on campus.

Events

• Events can continue as scheduled in the months of September and October as long as event planners are following the previous and new health protocols.

These changes will remain in effect until further notice. As cases decline on campus and the transmission rate reduces, we will remove some of the restrictions. The FAQs have been updated on the coronavirus website. If you have any questions not reflected on that page, please email internal.communications@biola.edu or call 562-903-6000.

Biola hosted a town hall for students and parents on Sept. 9. Here is the link to watch the recording.

Biola leaders reminded the Biola student community of our commitment to keeping our community safe by following the required protocols and new recommended measures. President Corey put minds at ease by emphasizing that Biola is not going remote, and all classes will remain in-person. However, the need for following the safety protocols on campus is urgent, as COVID cases are starting to rise among students, and we want to prevent from going hybrid.

Dr. Sarah Templeton, Director of the Student Health Center, disclosed that the current COVID case count on campus is 43 as of the morning of Sept. 10, with 89% of those cases being those who are unvaccinated. She shared that masking indoors at all times except for when you are eating and drinking, is of utmost importance. This includes in the residence halls anytime students are not in their own room or the bathroom. Masks will not necessarily keep one from getting COVID, but masks will help to reduce the amount of infected droplets within the Biola community.

Below are current and new recommended mitigation protocols for Biola’s community:

• If a student is required to quarantine because they were exposed or isolated because they are sick, they should not go outside of their room to hang out with friends. Students will need to stay in their room for the designated time.
• Biola encourages everyone to wear masks at outdoor group gatherings/events and strongly recommends that unvaccinated students wear a mask at Biola outdoor sanctioned events. This is due to Biola’s current stats that 89% of cases are among unvaccinated students.
• Biola strongly recommends that students check their symptoms before they leave their rooms or home. A significant portion of our uptick in cases has been due to non-compliance, such as students going to class while sick and exposing their peers in the classroom. If a student has any symptoms, such as a cough, sneezing, or even allergy-type symptoms, they should not go to class and contact the Health Center for next steps.
• While students are at the Caf, they are recommended to limit their time eating and drinking without their masks on. Also, students are required to wear their mask when they are not eating or drinking and they are walking around in the Caf.

Biola has approximately 100 spaces for residential students to quarantine on campus. Students are moved to a quarantine room if they are not already in a room by themselves. Biola is encouraging students who live within a 200 mile radius to quarantine at home if it is possible.

A 24/7 Student Care Support Team will provide general care and time sensitive emergency response. Below is the quarantine process and care students receive.

• Once a student has been identified by the Health Center as needing to be quarantined our process is initiated.
• Meal delivery service which is handled by the Cafe in close conjunction with the COVID Care Coordinator.
• A 24/7 Student Care Support Team that will provide general care and time sensitive emergency response. This team is composed of the Resident Directors and Campus Safety personnel. Both areas will have vital confidential information such as the student’s room and status.
• Daily medical check-ins will be conducted by the team from our Health Center. The purpose of this team is to monitor the student’s progress and address any current or emerging health issues.
• Students need to work directly with their professors to manage your academic needs. Please do not go to class sick due to fear of getting a lower grade. Faculty will work with students who have any symptoms.
• The Biola Counseling Center will be available to walk-alongside students as needed.
• Finally, the Pastoral Care Team will be in touch with students to encourage and pray with them.

It is critical that students comply with any quarantine/isolation directives given to them by Campus Safety, Student Development, or the Health Center. Unvaccinated residential students must comply with surveillance testing expectations that have been given to them.

If a student’s behaviors or choices on or off campus are putting Biola’s campus community at risk, we will also respond appropriately, and their access to campus could be denied. Students should also know that there may be times that egregious and irresponsible behavior may lead to an initial fine, immediate loss of campus access, or even suspension from the university, regardless of whether they had a prior violation. Information on holding students accountable including the list of possible violations is available online.

As things emerge, Biola may have to consider other measures to help stop the spread of COVID-19 on our campus. For example, suspending residence halls open hours for a time or restricting access to other residential buildings.

We know that so many of you have committed to adhering to the COVID-19 Community Safety standards and we are grateful for those of you who are striving to keep yourself and those around you safe. In the past 10 days, however, we have had over 230 documented violations of our COVID-19 Community Safety Standards that we are following up on. These violations seriously impact our ability to keep the Biola community safe and healthy.

Biola is committed to doing its part to stop the spread of COVID in the Biola community and beyond, and is asking all students, faculty and staff to work together and follow the mitigation protocols to help do so.

Dear Biola students,

We are ready for you and are excited to welcome new and returning students back to Biola! Some of you have already moved on campus and others are preparing to move in this week or preparing to arrive on the first day of class.

We want to make sure you have the information you need for the fall semester.

Health and Safety on Campus:

Face Covering Reminder for All

Everyone, students and families visiting during move-in are required to wear a mask when indoors on campus, regardless of vaccination status, including in classrooms, residence halls, eateries (except when you are eating or drinking), chapels, etc. Please bring a mask with you to campus - this includes students, parents, family members, etc.

Reduce the Spread of COVID-19

Students are expected to know and understand the COVID requirements as they return to campus and classrooms. Biola is committed to doing its part to mitigate the spread of COVID. Every student enrolled in the Fall 2021 semester will be required to complete and submit the Acknowledgement of Risk and Vaccination Status Form to the Student Health Center by the start of classes on Monday, August 30, 2021. In addition, unvaccinated residential students will be required to participate in weekly testing with the Health Center. The tests will be an anterior self-administered nasal swab and free to students. The Health Center will email those students who need to test.

Accountability

Because we are a community seeking to keep each other safe and healthy, we expect that you follow health protocols Biola is implementing this semester and honor university standards including the Community Safety Standards both on and off campus.

Please know that if you choose not to adhere to the standards and guidelines outlined for the health and safety of our community during this season, disciplinary action will be taken. Please visit the Student Handbook page on accountability.

All residential students must review and agree to the COVID-19 and Public Health-Informed Housing Policies. These policies can be reviewed and signed via MyHousing Self-Service.

Self Health-Checks

We expect all students to continue assessing their health daily before coming to campus or leaving their room and to monitor for any COVID symptoms. If you are experiencing COVID symptoms, which can range from minor cold and flu symptoms to more significant respiratory symptoms, stay at home, rest, and contact the Student Health Center or your local primary care provider. Parents, families and guests participating in Welcome Week activities on campus are asked to administer a self-symptom check prior to arriving on campus. If any of your guests have any symptoms, we ask that they please stay home.

Move In

All residential students will be required to go through Health Center Clearance at Lot C (off Biola Ave) during operation hours. In order to be cleared, students should bring a printed paper copy of their vaccine card, a negative PCR or antigen test dated within 72 hours, or documentation from a physician of COVID illness within the last 90 days from date of arrival to campus. For students in need of testing, please obtain your COVID test prior to arriving on campus. Preferably, get tested in your hometown as testing locations are limited in La Mirada. The Health Center has a limited supply of tests and testing ahead will improve the efficiency of your check-in.

Once students are cleared, they will be able to proceed to their Residence Hall for housing and orientation check-in. For complete details on moving onto campus and other options for times to move in other than the ones listed below, please visit the Arriving On Campus page.

Incoming Fall 2021 Students:

• Check-in Thursday, August 26 between 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. Begin by going through Health Center Clearance at Lot C (off Biola Ave).

Fall 2020/Spring 2021 Students:

• Check-in Friday, August 27 between 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.

Continuing Students:

• Please visit the most recent update on moving back on campus to view the process of health clearance based upon your arrival date and time.

Non-Residential Students

Non-residential students do not need to go through the Health Center Clearance and proceed directly to the New Student Orientation Check-In located at the Fluor Fountain.

Incoming Students Living Off Campus:

• Students should arrive on campus before 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 26, 2021 in order to have sufficient time for Orientation check-in.

Fall 2020/Spring 2021 Admitted Students Living Off Campus:

• Students participating in New Student Orientation activities for Fall 2020/Spring 2021 students can check-in for New Student Orientation at Flour Fountain from 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Continuing students living off campus do not need to do a health center clearance nor check in at the orientation area. Come to campus on your first day of in-person class, ready to learn!

Campus Access

We encourage you to download your digital Eagle ID at least 48 hours prior to arriving on campus so the ID Card office has sufficient time to approve your photo. It’s important that you do so because Campus Safety is implementing some new security measures at campus entrances and some buildings.

Campus Entrance:

• At the campus entrances, please use the right lane to swipe your Digital Eagle ID or Biola ID at the card reader to access campus. Visitors will use the left lane to check-in at the gatehouse. You may also use your ID at Lot A and C gates. If your student ID card has not yet been activated, use the visitor lane to access campus.

Building Access:

• You will need to use your ID to access many of the buildings on campus beginning on Monday, August 30. Card access to academic and administrative buildings has been added to student cards.

We look forward to seeing you during move-in or at Convocation Chapel on Monday, August 30 at 9:30 a.m. on Metzger Lawn. If you have questions, please email internal.communications@biola.edu.

Sincerely,

André Stephens
Vice President for Student Development

As students prepare to return to campus for the fall semester, we want to make sure they have all the information they need about moving into campus housing and health requirements. Below are important dates and information.

Important Dates

August 13-25:

• Early Arrival Groups (pre-approved through Housing & Residence Life)

August 26:

• Incoming Student Move-In & Start to New Student Orientation

August 27:

• Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 Admitted Student Move-In (8:00 am - 12:00 pm)
• Continuing Student Move-In

August 28-29:

• Continuing Student Move-In

August 30:

• Convocation Chapel required of all students

Arriving on Campus

Fall 2021 New Students Living on Campus:

• All students and family members should plan on wearing a mask whenever they are indoors, including moving into the Residence Halls and throughout Orientation.
• Parents, families and guests helping students move in, are asked to administer a self-symptom check prior to arriving on campus. If any of your guests have any symptoms, we ask that they stay home.
• Students should arrive on campus between 8:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. on August 26, 2021 in order to have sufficient time to proceed through Health Center Clearance and Orientation and Residence Hall check-in.
• Incoming students will begin their arrival process with Health Center Clearance through Entrance #5 (Lot C) off Biola Ave.
• Students should bring a printed paper copy of their vaccine card, a negative PCR or antigen test dated within 72 hours, or documentation from a physician of COVID illness within the last 90 days from date of arrival to campus.
  • For students in need of testing, please obtain your COVID test prior to arriving on campus. Preferably, get tested in your hometown as testing locations are limited in La Mirada. The Health Center has a limited supply of tests and testing ahead will improve the efficiency of your check-in.
• Students and families will remain in their car and be able to quickly show their appropriate documentation in order to be cleared by the Health Center to check into their Residence Hall.
• Follow signs to direct you toward your assigned Residence Hall.
• Once at your Residence Hall, park in a parking lot near your Residence Hall and head to the main entrance of your hall.
• Orientation Leaders will help you check in for orientation.
• Resident Advisors will check you into your room, and show you to your new home for this year. Please bring your Eagle ID, which can be downloaded to your phone in advance of arrival on campus.
• Student leaders from across campus will be available to help you move your belongings into your new room.

Fall 2020/Spring 2021 Admitted Students Moving to Campus:

• All students and family members should plan on wearing a mask whenever they are indoors, including moving into the Residence Halls and throughout Orientation.
• Parents, families and guests helping students move in, are asked to administer a self-symptom check prior to arriving on campus. If any of your guests have any symptoms, we ask that they stay home.
• Students should arrive on campus between 8:00 am and 11:30 pm on August 27, 2021 in order to have sufficient time to proceed through Health Center Clearance and Orientation and Residence Hall check-in.
  • Note: arriving during this window is optional for Fall 20/Spring 21 admitted students. Should students choose to arrive during a later window, please review the processes for continuing students to ensure you follow all appropriate steps upon arrival!
• Fall 2020/Spring 2021 admitted students will begin their arrival process with Health Center Clearance through Entrance #5 (Lot C) off Biola Ave.
• Students should bring a printed paper copy of their vaccine card, a negative PCR or antigen test dated within 72 hours, or documentation from a physician of COVID illness within the last 90 days from date of arrival to campus.
• Students and families will remain in their car and be able to quickly show their appropriate documentation in order to be cleared by the Health Center to check into their Residence Hall.
• Follow signs to direct you toward your assigned Residence Hall.
• Once at your Residence Hall, park in a parking lot near your Residence Hall and head to the main entrance for your hall.
• Orientation Leaders will help you check in for orientation.
• Resident Advisors will check you into your room, and show you to your new home for this year. Please bring your Eagle ID, which can be downloaded to your phone in advance of arrival on campus.
• Student leaders from across campus will be available to help you move your belongings into your new room.

Continuing Students Living on Campus:

Please note, we strongly encourage you to arrive during the day Friday-Sunday, as that will enable you to be cleared by the Health Center prior to checking-in. If you arrive outside of those hours, you will be required to quarantine overnight.

• All students and family members should plan on wearing a mask whenever they are indoors, including moving into the Residence Halls and throughout Orientation.
• Parents, families and guests helping students move in, are asked to administer a self-symptom check prior to arriving on campus. If any of your guests have any symptoms, we ask that they stay home.
• Continuing students can check-in during the following times:
  • Friday, August 27: 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm; 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
  • Saturday, August 28: 9:30 am - 12:00 pm; 2:00 pm - 4:30 pm; 8:00 pm - 11:00 pm
  • Sunday, August 29: 12:30 pm - 5:00 pm, 9:00 pm - 11:00 pm
• Students should bring a printed paper copy of their vaccine card, a negative PCR or antigen test dated within 72 hours, or documentation from a physician of COVID illness within the last 90 days from date of arrival to campus.
• For students checking in Friday afternoon (1:00 pm to 5:00pm) begin arrival process with Health Center Clearance through Entrance #5 (Lot C) off Biola Ave. After receiving your clearance, you can check-in at the Residence Hall or Student Services if you are living in an apartment.
• For students checking in Saturday, or Sunday during the day:
  • Proceed straight to the Health Center for clearance. After receiving your clearance ticket, you can check in at the Residence Hall.
• If you check in during the evening hours (6-8:00 pm on Friday, 8:00 pm - 11:00 pm Saturday or 9:00 pm - 11:00 pm Sunday):
  • Head straight to your Residence Hall to check in for housing. Since you will not be able to be cleared by the Health Center during this window of time, you will need to quarantine in your room after moving in until the Health Center is open. RAs in your building will communicate with you when you can expect to be cleared.

Students Living Off Campus:

• Fall 2021 New Students Living Off Campus:
  • All students and family members should plan on wearing a mask whenever they are indoors on campus.
  • Parents, families and guests participating in Welcome Week activities on campus are asked to administer a self-symptom check prior to arriving on campus. If any of your guests have any symptoms, we ask that they stay home.
  • Students should arrive on campus before 1:00 p.m. on August 26, 2021 in order to have sufficient time for Orientation check-in.
  • Non-residential students do not need to go through Health Center Clearance, and can proceed directly to New Student Orientation Check-In located at the Fluor Fountain.
  • Proceed to campus using the Biola Ave entrance, and follow signs to parking lots.
  • Signs will direct you toward the Fluor Fountain, where you can check-in for New Student Orientation.

• Fall 2020/Spring 2021 Admitted Students Living Off Campus:
  • All students and family members should plan on wearing a mask whenever they are indoors on campus.
  • Non-residential students do not need to go through Health Center Clearance. Students participating in New Student Orientation activities for Fall 2020/Spring 2021 students can check-in for New Student Orientation at the Flour Fountain from 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
  • Parents, families and guests participating in Welcome Week activities on campus are asked to administer a self-symptom check prior to arriving on campus. If any of your guests have any symptoms, we ask that they stay home.

• Continuing Students Living off Campus:
  • All students should plan on wearing a mask whenever they are indoors.
  • Come to campus on your first day of in-person class, ready to learn!

Dear Biola students, 

We are less than 30 days away from welcoming you back to Biola’s campus. We look forward to our reunion after a year of most of the Biola community learning and working remotely. 

As you have seen in the news, we are not past the pandemic. There has been an increase in COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles County and across the country due to the Delta variant. Although the more serious symptoms are typically among those who are unvaccinated, there has been a rise in COVID breakthrough cases. As a result, the LA County Department of Health has mandated the use of face coverings indoors for all, regardless of vaccination status, and recently the CDC also made the same recommendation. All students, employees and visitors are required to wear face coverings indoors unless they are eating or drinking and/or students are in their dorm room with their roommate and in their suite with suitemates. 

All students will be required to wear face coverings in campus buildings and community spaces in the residence halls (e.g. lobbies). We expect our students to comply with the indoor mask mandate just as they follow all student conduct standards. 

The good news is we will still be able to hold classes in person as currently scheduled with the first day of traditional classes on August 30. If you haven’t completed your enrollment yet, please do so by August 17, 2021. 

Vaccination Status 

Consistent with other higher education institutional practices, we are adding measures to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in our community. Some of those measures include requiring all students to provide their vaccination status, review and acknowledge the risks associated with COVID-19 and its variants and agree to abide by all required safety measures. This must be done by completing and submitting the Acknowledgement of Risk and Vaccination Status Form to the Student Health Center no later than August 15, 2021. If we do not receive your completed form by August 15, we will assume you are unvaccinated. 

Students who have already uploaded their vaccination cards during registration will still need to complete the form. It’s essential that all students complete the form in order to help Biola’s leadership make decisions surrounding quarantine and other safety measures should that become necessary.

Unvaccinated residential students will be required to do weekly surveillance testing and isolate if they test positive for COVID. All other unvaccinated students will be required to comply with quarantine guidelines if they are exposed to COVID or an outbreak occurs. At this time vaccinated students do not have to quarantine following an exposure to COVID-19 if they are symptom free. They will need to follow CDC guidelines for vaccinated individuals. Similarly, vaccinated residential students will be excluded from weekly surveillance testing.  

As we have previously announced, Biola University is strongly recommending the COVID-19 vaccine, but we are NOT requiring it of most students and employees. Clinical nursing students and nursing faculty will be required to obtain one of the COVID-19 vaccines in order to participate in their clinical rotations as required by the various hospital agencies. They will receive more details early next week from the Nursing Department. Also, students who are participating in international study abroad programs during the fall will be required to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine.  

Required Testing

At this time, Biola is requiring all undergraduate and graduate residential students who are not fully vaccinated to bring printed proof of a negative PCR or antigen test upon checking into their residence hall for the fall semester. According to the CDC, people are considered fully vaccinated 2 weeks after their second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or 2 weeks after a single-dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. 

Unvaccinated residential students must:

• Bring printed proof of a negative PCR or antigen test, taken within 72 hours prior to your campus arrival, when you check into your residence hall OR documentation from your physician validating your diagnosis and dates of your illness if you have had COVID within the last three months. People can continue to test positive on a PCR test for several weeks following a COVID-19 infection. Students without proper documentation will be directed to the Student Health Center for testing. 
• Stay home to quarantine if you test positive for COVID and consult with your physician for further evaluation, treatment and a return to campus plan that includes a satisfactory completion of required isolation. Also, contact Biola’s Housing and Residence Life, undergrad.housing@biola.edu, to inform them of your delay. 

COVID tests are available through CVS, Walgreens, local urgent care clinics and possibly through primary care providers. Costs range from $30 - $125 or it might be covered through your health insurance. 

Another risk mitigation effort is that we will also require, until further notice, all unvaccinated residential students to undergo weekly surveillance testing until case numbers improve. This is true even if you are unable to receive the vaccine due to health issues. At this time, unvaccinated non-residential students will NOT be required to participate in surveillance testing except for students in certain student groups such as student-athletes and some CMA students. Those of you in these groups will receive further details in the coming weeks. If cases continue to increase over the next few weeks, we might need to make adjustments to our mitigation plans.

Quarantine Guidelines

Biola will follow the CDC quarantine guidelines for vaccinated and unvaccinated people if a student tests positive for COVID or they are exposed to the virus. Students that meet criteria for isolation (i.e., active infection) or quarantine (i.e., close contact exposure to COVID-19) will be required to comply with this necessary disease mitigation strategy. Students within driving distance may be able to safely isolate or quarantine at home. Others will be offered spaces on campus. For the duration of on-campus quarantine or isolation, students will have access to ongoing medical care, spiritual/mental healthcare and meal delivery. The completion of coursework can be discussed with professors as is the case during other illnesses.

Domestic and International Travel 

At this time, the CDC nor the county requires students traveling from other states to quarantine. However, the CDC does have recommendations for unvaccinated domestic travelers. Students who are traveling from outside of the United States in August and planning to live in campus housing should complete the following form by August 15, 2021. Global students who are not planning to live in campus housing and have questions about health requirements, please email globalstudentservices@biola.edu. 

We are hoping that as cases decline and more people become vaccinated, we will be able to lift some or all of these preventive measures. These steps are in an effort to reduce the risk of illness or a campus breakout and protect the Biola community. We will continue to monitor the situation and update our community. 

If you have questions that are not answered on the FAQs online, please call 562-903-6000 or email internal.communications@biola.edu.

We are pleased to announce the following changes to our safety protocols based on the state of California removing most restrictions related to COVID-19 and the LA County Department of Public Health’s subsequent updated protocols.

Campus Capacity

All physical distancing restrictions have been lifted effective immediately. This means indoor and outdoor community spaces will reopen without any distancing restrictions.

Eateries and the Library will return to normal operations effective immediately. The Caf will reopen its self-serve stations over the next couple of weeks.

Capacity limits in all campus buildings have been removed. To allow our Facilities Management team to refresh all spaces, we anticipate these spaces will be fully ready for use by June 28. Over the next few weeks, the team will work to replace furniture in the remaining community areas, make drinking fountains operational, and return the campus to a fully operational status. This means students in summer school may begin to use lobbies, kitchen areas and all spaces in the residence halls once these spaces are reconfigured.

Offices will resume in-person operations on August 2. Offices that serve students, such as Admissions, Registrar and Financial Aid, will open for in-person indoor operations on August 2. Until then, these student services will continue to be available remotely.

All events and conferences under 5,000 guests will resume with in-person programming. We are excited to resume Biola’s traditional student events in the fall semester and explore new event opportunities. Biola will be ready to welcome back students with a full schedule of events during Welcome Week. Chapels will resume in person and indoors in the fall semester.

Mask Wearing

Effective immediately, masks are not required for anyone outdoors. Face masks are not required to be worn by anyone when outdoors.

As it relates to mask wearing for non-employees indoors, the County is expected to release its best practices guide next week. In the interim, students and visitors will still be required to wear face masks indoors.

According to the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH), better known as Cal/OSHA, which issues regulations and guidance for employees in the state, fully vaccinated faculty and staff are not required to wear masks — they are optional. Unvaccinated faculty and staff are required to wear face masks indoors (unless they are alone in a fully enclosed office). We will share updates on mask wearing when we receive best practices for higher education from the County.

In our commitment to the health and safety of our community, we will continue to ask students and employees to self-monitor for COVID symptoms and stay home if they are feeling sick. Biola will continue enhanced cleaning and sanitization practices throughout campus.

Returning and incoming students and families are invited to a Town Hall before the fall semester on July 13 at 5:30 p.m. via Biola’s YouTube to hear updates from President Corey and other Biola leaders and answer questions about the fall. Students and families are welcome to submit their questions using this form by Friday, July 9 at 5 p.m.

We are grateful to God for his faithfulness in this new season of transitions and our return to a fully operational campus in the fall. We look forward to uniting as a Biola community on the first day of classes and Convocation Chapel on Monday, August 30, 2021.

In the middle of May, the federal government announced they were releasing a third round of stimulus funds to colleges and universities.

This third round of funding is from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund III (HEERF III) by the American Rescue Plan (ARP). The ARP requires that institutions prioritize students with exceptional financial need (e.g. students who receive Pell Grants or Cal Grants) in awarding grants to students. The grants are intended to help Biola students respond to the financial burden caused by the COVID-19 crisis and assist with the costs of attending college.

We are grateful to share that Biola has received $5,297,833 in federal relief funds to be distributed to Biola students. Over $4.5 million will be distributed via a block grant to students with exceptional need who meet the criteria below. The remainder will be distributed to students who have exceptional need based on significant loss of income due to COVID or significant additional expenses related to COVID.

Using the 2020-21 FAFSA students have on file, we have identified eligible students based on their financial aid profiles. We acknowledge that every student has been affected in one way or another by the pandemic. However, Biola is required and committed to using the HEERF III funds to help those students with exceptional need while providing financial support to as many students as possible.

The “block grant” will be allocated to all full-time and part-time students who meet the following criteria as of May 25, 2021:

• Students must have been enrolled (e.g. undergraduate, graduate, post-traditional, online students) as of the end of the spring 2021 semester.
• Students filed a 2020-21 FAFSA and completed their file with Biola’s Office of Financial Aid.
• Students must have a 2020-21 Expected Family Contribution (EFC) less than or equal to $15,000 or were paid a Cal Grant in 2020-21
• Students must have unmet financial need (Cost of attendance less EFC less gift aid) greater than $5,000.
• Students must have net spring 2021 tuition charges greater than $2,500.

Students who qualify for the block grant and have additional significant loss of income due to COVID or significant additional expenses related to COVID may complete this questionnaire in order to qualify for additional aid.

Students who DO NOT qualify for the block grant and have exceptional need based on significant loss of income due to COVID or significant additional expenses related to COVID may complete this questionnaire to determine if they qualify for aid.

Eligible students who meet the criteria for block grants will receive communication by Tuesday, June 15, 2021 from the Office of Financial Aid including the amount of the grant, distribution timeline and an FAQ. Since these grants are automatic, eligible students need not apply to receive them. If students anticipate facing financial challenges with their Fall 2021 bill, we encourage them to opt in to applying their grant to their Biola account using this form. If students opt to apply all the grant to their university expenses, it will either pay down existing charges or be applied to Fall 2021 tuition as of July 1, 2021. If students choose not to apply the funds to their Biola account, the funds will be automatically deposited into the bank account they have designated as their refund account, if they have it set up, or a check will be mailed to their permanent mailing address on file.

Altogether, Biola will disburse block grants to about 1,800 eligible undergraduate, graduate and post-traditional students. Our goal is to have the grants disbursed via direct deposit by Tuesday, July 6, with checks going out by Wednesday, July 7 to those who do not have direct deposit set up. We hope this will help students pay for their university education at Biola as we want to do our best to help students with the resources and support they need to pursue their education, although students can spend the funds in any way that is most helpful to them.

Additional Relief Funds

If students do not meet the qualifications for the federal aid from HEERF III, there may be other emergency funding or institutional aid available to help them. Students are encouraged to fill out this questionnaire and the Office of Financial Aid will review the student’s information and assist them in identifying every option available to them to meet as much of their unmet need as possible.

We understand that students and families continue to contend with economic challenges brought about by COVID-19 and are slowly recovering from the impact of the pandemic. We hope this aid will provide you and your family with some relief as you plan to return to Biola in the fall. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Office of Financial Aid at financialaid@biola.edu.

Los Angeles County is now in the “yellow-tier” in the state’s reopening plan. As a result, the guidelines for Institutes of Higher Education (IHE) were updated on May 11, 2021 by the LA County Department of Public Health. One significant change that impacts our community is that those currently living on campus or accessing campus who are fully vaccinated are not required to wear a face mask when outdoors and not gathering with others.

The CDC defines fully vaccinated as 2 weeks after a person receives their second dose in a 2-dose series, such as the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or 2 weeks after a single-dose vaccine, such as Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine. If you don’t meet these requirements, regardless of your age, you are NOT fully vaccinated. Keep taking all precautions until you are fully vaccinated.

However, face masks are still required while indoors for all individuals (except in students' individual residence hall rooms and faculty and staff in fully enclosed offices). Both vaccinated and unvaccinated faculty and staff that work in cubicles must wear a mask at all times, even if physically distanced from others, unless eating or drinking. Also, unvaccinated individuals will still be required to wear face coverings when outdoors (and not eating or drinking).

The CDC’s announcement on May 14 did state that fully vaccinated people don’t need to wear a face mask during outdoor or indoor activities, large or small. However, Biola is bound by the county protocols of IHE. The county shared with BURT leaders in May that they are not changing their mask guidelines to align with the CDC, as of now. Therefore, for now, fully vaccinated people don’t need to wear face masks outdoors, but will need to wear indoors until further notice. Those who are not fully vaccinated are required to wear a mask outdoors and indoors.

We anticipate this guidance will change within the next month as the state of California plans to fully reopen and lift most of the state’s coronavirus restrictions on June 15 if the state’s coronavirus case numbers continue to improve.

It is the expectation that the Biola community will follow the current protocols for IHE outlined by the LA Department of Public Health. The BURT compliance team will continue to monitor this and all other COVID-related requirements and will update the community when new information is available.

After 12 long months of the majority of Biola students doing Biola at Home, we are excited to announce that Biola Returns for Fall 2021. Our students will be returning to living and learning on campus for the new academic year. We are hopeful for a strong return of students in the fall with a much more normal semester beginning August 30 with all in-person classes except those pre-designed for online delivery.

We intend to resume all campus operations, including on-campus eateries, co-curricular activities with appropriate health and safety protocols in place. With the increase of vaccination distribution across the state and cases dropping significantly, we are hopeful we will see robust in-person activities — the normal slate of collegiate athletics with fans, plays, lectures, concerts, art exhibits and the like.

Plans noted below for the fall have been drafted with the expectation that the county will move into the orange tier in the next couple of months, allowing for expanded on-campus activities. If the guidelines become even less restrictive, we will adjust our practices accordingly and send an update.

Housing

We currently expect our residential living will resume at our typical capacity with two students per bedroom. Please submit your fall housing application by the deadline in order to secure your spot. More details on Fall 2021 housing selection can be found on the Housing & Residence Life website.

In-person Learning

This fall, all classes will be delivered in-person with accommodations available for students who cannot travel to the United States or have other health conditions which prevent them from being on campus. Fully remote options will be available for the fall through the Learning Center for any student who is unable to attend in person.

International Students

Since there are current restrictions on international travel to the United States, we are uncertain as to what visa challenges our international students may or may not face. We are monitoring the situation and will update international students in the coming months.

Chapels

More than likely, chapels will be held indoors at a reduced capacity to accommodate for physical distancing. Students will have the opportunity to attend chapels in-person or watch asynchronously online.

On-campus Dining

All on-campus eateries will reopen at a reduced capacity with tables and chairs spaced out to accommodate for physical distancing guidelines. Outdoor dining will be strongly encouraged. All tables and chairs will be sanitized daily. All the stations at the Caf will be open with servers plating all the food options with the exception of the salad bar. The salad bar will not be self-serve. It will have grab n’ go side salad options.

On Campus Services

All on-campus services and offices will be open for students to access with appropriate physical distancing, and in some cases, at a reduced capacity.

The Library will be open at a reduced capacity of normal occupancy for students, faculty and staff. The occupancy will be announced during the summer since we expect LA County to move into the orange tier over the summer, allowing a higher occupancy than what is currently allowed.

The Biola Store will be open at a reduced capacity for the Biola community. The capacity and hours will be announced over the summer months in order to comply with the most recent county guidance. Students can continue to shop online at https://biola.slingshotedu.com/ and request to pick up your order in the store during business hours.

Health and Safety Practices

Our plans to return to campus this fall will be in compliance with public health guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control, the State of California and Los Angeles County. We will continue to put the health and wellbeing of every member of the Biola community as a top priority.

At this point, we are planning for all faculty, staff and students to follow physical distancing guidelines and wear a face covering at all times except while eating or drinking. Classroom furniture and occupancy will be adjusted to allow for physical distance between students and professors. Again, if county guidelines change and become less restrictive, we will adjust accordingly. Plexiglass shields are installed at tech podiums and lecterns around campus. All classroom touch surfaces will be cleaned and disinfected each weekday morning.

Classroom desks and other surfaces will be treated every 60 days with a microbiostatic coating to prevent microbes including viruses from being able to live on surfaces. Hand-sanitizer dispensers will be available in every classroom and throughout campus. Furniture in the indoor and outdoor common areas, such as patios and courtyards, will be adjusted to allow for required physical distance between individuals.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Students, faculty and staff are not required to get the COVID-19 vaccine in order to return to campus, but they are encouraged to get it. Students, faculty and staff who elect not to receive the vaccine will likely be required to undergo regular mandatory COVID-19 testing in order to return to in-person teaching, learning and working. There may also be other requirements for those not vaccinated such as mandatory quarantine in the event of an outbreak.

We hope that visitors are allowed to visit students in their residence halls and for social gatherings. However, we will know specifics about visitors, indoor events and social gatherings in the summer months.

We invite incoming and returning students and families to Biola Returns: Fall 2021 Town Hall next week on Tuesday, March 30 at 5:30 p.m. PDT. If you have specific questions, please fill out this form by Sunday, March 28 at 5 p.m. We will respond to your questions and provide as much information as we are able.

The Biola University Reopening Team will continue to work diligently to prepare Biola’s return. We are grateful to return in the fall — “All As One” Biola community.

Dear Biola students and families,

This week marks one year of remote learning and working caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our lives have been changed, losses have been unimaginable and the challenges have felt insurmountable, at times. We initially thought and hoped our campus closure would be temporary yet it became more permanent. We have journeyed a long road together All As One, Biola.

We are grateful to announce that we are turning a corner, gazing upon a bright horizon. Los Angeles County has moved into the red tier as a result of cases dropping significantly to under 10 new cases per day per 100,000 people and maintaining those numbers for two consecutive weeks. As a result, we are excited to share that after a challenging year, some restrictions are loosening as we move into the less restrictive red tier.

Below are the expanded permitted activities for the spring semester available to students in Phase 1, 2 and 3. In addition, students who are living locally and are not part of the three phases may access the following campus resources for academic purposes. The Health Module must be completed prior to accessing campus. Additionally, students who are not part of the three phases and wish to access campus will need to register via the Campus Access Registration form.

• The Library will reopen on Monday, March 22 at 50% capacity of normal occupancy with reduced hours for students, faculty and staff who have access to campus. This means there is a limit of approximately 488 persons in the Library at any one time. All entering the Library will be required to fill out an online health screening form in order to be cleared to access the library. Seating has been reduced and relocated so furniture should not be moved and study rooms will be limited to one person at a time. Students cannot use the rooms for study groups. The normal food policy is suspended until masks are no longer required. Use of outdoor spaces such as the Library Terrace, Heritage Cafe Patio, and the Giumarra Courtyard is strongly encouraged as each has wifi access.
• The Writing Center will have limited opportunities for in-person appointments which can be scheduled via their website.
• The Biola Store has reopened for the Biola community at 25% capacity with reduced hours. It is now open from 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday for educational purchases. You can also shop online at www.biolastore.com and request to pick your order up in the store during business hours.
• Experiential learning, vocational skill building (e.g. labs, studios, etc.) will be offered to students in Phase 1, 2 and 3 with no room limit but students will need to allow for physical distancing in the space students are using.
• Campus tours are allowed for small groups with physical distancing and will need to be pre-scheduled. As of April 5, in-person tours are only available for admitted students from the state of California and drive thru tours for visitors outside of California. If you are interested in scheduling a tour of campus please email admissions.reception@biola.edu or visit biola.edu/visit.

In addition, indoor dining is available to students in the three phases. Starting this week, indoor dining is available in the Caf for 100 people. It will be first come, first served. Outdoor dining is still strongly encouraged and ample seating is available. The Caf has reopened all the food stations including a grab n’ go salad station. All other eateries remain closed except for the Heritage Cafe.

We are not allowed to expand residential housing during the spring semester beyond those students currently living on campus. In addition, we will not be expanding the list of available in-person classes, and most student activities and gatherings will continue to be virtual.

Spring 2021 Commencement

We are excited to be able to celebrate our graduates with an in-person Commencement Ceremony with family/pod assigned seating over the course of three days — May 7, 8 and 10. The list of schools with their respective ceremony days are listed on the commencement website; however, the specific ceremony times are yet to be determined.

Summer Courses and Housing

The majority of our summer courses in session A and B will be offered online or remote, with a few exceptions. In-person options may expand as we near the start of summer session A if circumstances continue to change.

We are permitted to offer summer housing to more students who wish to live on campus. More details will be shared from Housing & Residence Life next week regarding who is eligible, the process for applying, summer dates and more.

Summer Conferences and Camps

We will be hosting outside organizations for their summer conferences and camps on campus during the months of June and July. The groups will be required to follow all of Biola’s health and safety protocols while they are staying on and visiting campus.

Biola students, faculty and staff on campus will continue to be required to practice health and safety precautions across campus including those who have been fully vaccinated. All must wear a mask at all times while on campus except for while eating and all must maintain physical distancing of 6 feet or more.

These changes reflect progress as we move toward fully reopening Biola’s campus. We will remain hopeful and continue to practice appropriate health and safety measures as we care for each other by limiting the spread of COVID-19.

Sincerely,

Office of University Communications

Dear students,

We understand that students and families have and continue to contend with economic challenges brought about by COVID-19. We want to do our best to help students with the resources and support they need to pursue their education at Biola. 

We are grateful to share that Biola has received an additional $1,961,114 in federal relief funds to be distributed to students who demonstrate exceptional financial need. This new round of funding is from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II (HEERF II) by the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA).

Unlike the CARES Act, which Biola received last year, the CRRSAA requires that institutions prioritize students with exceptional need (e.g. students who receive Pell Grants) in awarding financial aid grants to students. However, students do not need to be only Pell recipients or students who are eligible for Pell grants. The grants are intended to help Biola students deal with the financial burden caused by the COVID-19 crisis and assist with the costs of attending college. 

Congress has stated that these funds are to be granted to students with exceptional financial need. Therefore, using the 2020-21 FAFSA students have on file, we have identified students based on their financial aid profiles. We acknowledge that every student has been affected in one way or another by the pandemic. However, Biola is required and committed to using the HEERF II funds to help those students with exceptional need while providing financial support to as many students as possible.

The CRRSAA funds, in addition to the amount remaining from the first round of relief funds received last spring, will be allocated to all full-time and part-time students who meet the following criteria as of March 10, 2021.

• Students must be enrolled for the spring term at any level (e.g. undergraduate, graduate, PTUG, online students).
• Title IV eligible students with satisfactory academic progress.
• Students filed 20/21 FAFSA and completed their file with Biola’s Office of Financial Aid
• Students must have spring tuition charges greater than $2,000.
• Students must have a family’s Expected Family Contribution (EFC) less than $10,001.
• Students must have unmet need (COA-EFC-Gift Aid) greater than $5,000.

Eligible students who meet the criteria will receive communication on Monday, March 15 at 8 a.m. from the Office of Financial Aid including a distribution timeline and an FAQ. Since these grants are automatic, eligible students need not apply to receive them. Eligible students will automatically receive a grant of approximately $1,500 via ACH or a mailed check. Our goal is to have grants disbursed via ACH by March 24, with checks going out by March 24 to those who do not have direct deposit set up. Students can spend the funds in the ways most helpful to them. 

Altogether, Biola will disburse approximately $2.4 million in grant money evenly to about 1,600 eligible undergraduate, graduate and PTUG students.

Additional Relief Funds

If you do not meet the qualifications for the federal aid from HEERF, there may be other emergency funding or institutional aid available to help you. Please contact the Office of Financial Aid so we can assist you in identifying every option available to you to meet as much of your unmet need as possible.

We hope this is encouraging news and will be especially useful for you, our students and families in need, as the pain and challenges this pandemic has caused our community cannot be understated. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Office of Financial Aid at financialaid@biola.edu.

Sincerely,

Geoff Marsh
Senior Director of Financial Aid

Dear Biola students,

As a reminder, students who qualify to live on campus during Phase 3 must first submit a housing deposit before getting access to the housing application. Please review the steps to complete the application process. The deadline to submit the housing deposit and application is today, February 10 at 11:59 p.m. PST.

Update on LA County

Last week, the LA County investigators visited campus to evaluate Biola’s health and safety protocols in response to a campus “outbreak.” We are grateful to report that the visit went well. They were impressed with all the Biola teams have done to implement mitigation measures across campus. Biola did not receive any citations or violation notices.

Chapel Clarification

Students who are not living in Biola housing (i.e. commuters) during Phase 3 are not allowed to attend the in-person, outdoor chapels at this time. We will monitor county restrictions and provide an update if this changes.

Health Module Reminder

This is a reminder that if you have not done so already, please complete the COVID-19 Health Module on Canvas by Friday, February 26. All students are required to complete the Health Module, regardless of their intent to access campus. Students who do not sign the agreement embedded within the module will not be allowed to access campus. Even if you completed the health module in Fall 2020, you are required to complete the Spring 2021 module.

Please email internal.communications@biola.edu if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Office of University Communications

Dear student,

We in Spiritual Development are excited to welcome students back on campus as part of Phase 3. As announced on January 29, students who qualify to live on campus can return to campus as part of Phase 3 if they attend an in-person outdoor chapel service once a week as part of their housing requirement. We’re happy to have this opportunity to be back together again for chapels!

In-Person Chapel Details

• In-person chapels (required for Phase 3 students) will consist of two opportunities offered on Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m. and 7 p.m.
• Phase 3 students must attend one of these Wednesday services each week, either morning or evening. If you are unable to attend one of the chapel opportunities each week, you will be ineligible for on-campus housing. This requirement is connected to county health regulations, so exceptions cannot be made.
• Tentatively, these will be held outdoors in Lot C in the parking lot next to McNally Field. View the campus map to see this location.
• These will be physically distanced gatherings and all students will be required to wear a mask and practice physical distancing.
• No food or drinks are allowed because students must keep masks on for the whole service.
• Be sure to bring your Biola ID to each chapel.
• All chapels will be about 50 minutes long (the usual length for on-campus chapels). Morning chapels will include musical worship and preaching from God’s word, similar to the regular Monday and Wednesday morning chapels we had in the past. The evening chapel programs will rotate between Fives (guided prayer), Singspiration (all-musical worship) and AfterDark (student-led) chapels.
• The first in-person outdoor chapel will be held on Wednesday, March 10 and the last will be Wednesday, April 28.
• If rain is forecasted or apparent, students will be emailed a notice if chapels are canceled. We will also post this information on the Spiritual Development Instagram and the Biola App.

Important Details about Chapel Engagement Credit

• As a reminder, all students are required to engage in 14 chapel credits this semester. The official requirement is 20, but like the fall semester, we’ve given you 6 credits to begin with.
• In-person, weekly chapels will count toward your 14 credits, but will not completely satisfy your chapel requirement. You will still need to engage in chapels remotely through the Biola at Home Chapels site on Canvas to add to your weekly in-person attendance in order to obtain 14 chapel credits.
• A running total of your chapel credits will be reflected in My Account. Please be sure to check your chapel credits on My Account regularly. If you have any concerns about your chapel record, please contact chapel.accountability@biola.edu as soon as possible.
• Students attending in-person chapel must arrive at chapel on time and be able to stay for the entirety in order to receive chapel credit.
• ID scanning will begin 10 minutes before chapel begins and will end 5 minutes after chapel begins.
• Even if you have met your chapel engagement requirement of 14 at some point during the semester, you will still be required to attend and scan-in for weekly in-person chapels for the rest of the term as part of your on-campus housing agreement.

Additional Information

• Even though graduating seniors are typically not required to attend chapel during their graduating semester, all graduating seniors returning to campus in Phase 3 are still required to attend the in-person chapels as part of their housing agreement.
• You may have friends who moved onto campus in late January and mid-February as part of Phase 1 and 2 of Biola’s repopulation plan. These students are not required to attend in-person chapels because, according to LA County, their in-person classes allow them to live on campus. Therefore, students living on campus as part of Phase 1 and 2 are not required to attend in-person chapels as part of their housing requirement, but instead can fulfill their entire chapel engagement requirement remotely as they did last semester. However, if they choose to attend an in-person chapel, it will count toward their requirement.
• At this time, only students who are either 1) living on campus or 2) commuting to campus to attend an in-person Phase 2 eligible course are able to attend in-person outdoor chapel, according to LA County Health guidelines. We hope this may change in the future.

Please continue to check the Phase 3 FAQ site which is updated regularly. And please reach out to chapel.accountability@biola.edu if you have any questions or difficulties. We hope chapels continue to be a place of worship, guidance and comfort for you in these times.

In Christ,

Todd Pickett
Dean of Spiritual Development

Mike Ahn
Assistant Dean of Chapels and Worship

Good Evening,

We are so excited and ready to welcome you to campus in just a couple days! Below are a couple key reminders and updates regarding your move in, testing, and quarantine when you arrive.

Reminders for Arriving on Campus

• Please arrive at your check in appointment within the Student Services building alone; anyone helping you move in should wait in the car.
• Bring your SID, either a physical card or digital Eagle ID.

Los Angeles County Travel 10-Day Quarantine

We wanted to remind students traveling from outside the Southern California Region of the LA County Travel 10-Day Quarantine. In a previous communication shared on January 3, the Health Center communicated that “Those returning to live on campus who have been outside the So Cal region and are not exempt must stay in their rooms and not leave campus for 10 days, leaving only for meal pick up at the cafe or urgent/emergent medical care.”

We had hoped that the Southern California Travel Quarantine would be lifted by this time. Unfortunately, it has not. Therefore, if you are traveling to campus from outside the Southern California Region, (defined as the counties of: Imperial, Inyo, Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura), you will need to quarantine for 10 days from the date you enter the Southern California Region. Your faculty has been informed of this possibility and will be gracious with you should this affect your ability to attend in person classes starting the week of Feb. 15. You will be able to leave your room for meal pick up at the cafe once your baseline isolation is complete.

We understand that this may not have been clear to you before. If you have questions regarding the 10-day travel quarantine, please contact 562-906-6000. You can also review the LA County Travel Quarantine FAQ.

Baseline Isolation

• Your COVID-19 testing window is 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. on Friday, February 5. You should receive results within 48 hours of your test. Prior to your test window, please do your best to limit contact with others present on campus. You must quarantine in your room after taking the test and until the results return (approximately 48 hours). Meals and student support will be available during this time.
• Should you be cleared from your baseline test, you will need to complete your 10 day travel quarantine from the day you arrived in the Southern California Region.
• Complete your meal request as soon as possible if you would like any meals delivered during your baseline quarantine, if you haven’t done so already. Meals will only be delivered during your baseline testing window; after this point you may get your own meals from the Cafe.

As a reminder, if you have been exposed to COVID-19, or are feeling any symptoms, please do not come to campus, but instead contact the Health Center at 562-903-4841. We will happily coordinate a later move in time.

My staff and I are looking forward to welcoming you back to campus this weekend. Should you need anything before or after you arrive, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Natalie Berger
Director of Housing & Residence Life

Dear Biola students,

Happy first week of classes! I hope your transition back to remote learning has gone well. Students are dearly missed on campus, but we believe that this semester we are seeing hopeful signs and making progress toward what you have longed for in the Biola experience.

I am writing to give you an update on the current plan for our Phase 3 repopulation. We expect we will be able to implement this plan, but you should know that we have recently experienced what the county defines as a COVID-19 outbreak. In light of this, there will be a campus visit with the county outbreak investigator next Thursday, February 4. We will notify the community of any changes to our plan the week of Feb. 8.

As you recall, we shared with you in December that we have been working diligently to explore every reasonable option to allow as many students who want to have an on-campus experience to return by March 1. We remain committed to this phased-in plan and we want you to be well-informed about what you can expect, as well as what we cannot guarantee due to current government restrictions and the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, at this point government restrictions still prevent us from having indoor lecture classes. We don’t know when these restrictions will be lifted. This means we need to offer students the option of remote or — when permissible — in-person classes, technology will not enable us to simultaneously deliver online and outdoor classes. Unless yours is a class that is part of Phase 2 that we previously announced as being in person (such as a lab or a studio class in the essential workforce categories), all courses will remain remote until state or county orders change. Will this happen by March 1? We still do not know and may not know for weeks.

However, government orders allow us to offer in-person worship activity given the religious identity of Biola and recent judicial decisions supporting constitutional protections. In our biblically centered university, educating students in mind and character to impact the world for Christ is our mission and is at the core of what we do. It is essential to the Biola student experience. As many of us have experienced, being separated from church and spiritual community has made COVID-19 a very difficult time.

Beginning in mid-February, we will offer in-person chapel services. Initially, these chapel services will be available to all students who reside in on-campus housing, and further information on this can be found in the FAQs. We hope circumstances will change soon so that any student who wants to worship in person can come to campus to do so, and we will certainly keep you updated on our progress in making that happen.

For Phase 3 students, if you wish to return to campus to participate in our chapel services, and you have no other housing available to you as required by the county (e.g., you live outside of the state or more than 25 miles from campus), you may live in single-occupancy housing on campus. If you choose this option, please know that in-person chapel attendance is required as a condition for living on campus.

Students who live on campus should expect a very different experience than what they hoped for or are used to. We have policies in place requiring strict adherence to safety protocols such as usage of face coverings, testing, contact tracing, isolation, quarantining, distancing and sanitization. These policies apply to our residential students as well as those commuter students who will be coming to campus to access classes as part of Phase 2. We also are still under restrictions for eating venues, services such as the library and indoor fitness facilities, and all gatherings except for physically distanced outdoor worship.

As of today, the campus remains closed for outside visitors, and the majority of campus services are closed for in-person operations but continue to serve our student community remotely. Campus services open to students are the Caf and Heritage Cafe. The Bookstore and the Library are open for curbside pick up. Based on the downward trend in cases in LA County and the distribution of the vaccine underway, we are hopeful things will improve so we can open more campus services in March and April.

While we can’t wait to see you in person, the well-being of all, those in and outside of our community, has to be paramount. I so wish we could offer more than this, but I see us moving in the right direction this spring semester and preparing for a strong in-person start to the fall semester. Again, some of what we hoped we might be able to do come March is currently not advisable either from a health standpoint or under the state restrictions yet to be lifted. We continue to actively advocate to LA County and the State of California to be able to safely provide you more on-campus Biola experiences March 1, so please know we are working hard to help students who so desire to return to campus soon.

If you are interested in living on campus, please read more details on Biola’s coronavirus website about your return during Phase 3. If you have questions about Phase 3, I invite you to attend the virtual town hall on Tuesday, February 2 at 5:30 p.m. via this Zoom Webinar link.

We are grateful to welcome more students on campus and to offer, at a minimum, in-person chapel services for the spring semester. I look forward to seeing more of you on campus in the coming months.

Blessing in Christ,

Barry H. Corey

Students who want to move onto campus must meet all the criteria below to be allowed back onto campus for Phase 3 repopulation. 

1. Student is committed to attending one in-person chapel each week and
2. Student does not have any other feasible housing alternative (e.g. student lives further than 25 miles from campus)

Students who meet the above qualifications should review the Student Handbook and the important information below.

Housing Details

If you meet the Phase 3 criteria above and would like to apply for housing, please follow the steps to complete the application process by February 10 at 11:59 p.m. PST:

1. Submit a $100 housing deposit via your Student Account
   1. To pay:
      1. Click the “Deposits” tab at the top of the screen
      2. Select “Spring 2021” from the term dropdown menu
      3. A “Select Deposit” box will then appear and you will click “Undergrad Housing Deposit” and follow the prompts from there
   2. Note: there will be a delay of one business day between your deposit submission and the housing application appearing on your self-service.
2. Apply for housing on MyHousing Self Service.
   1. Under the Forms & Applications tab, the application is labeled “Spring 2021 Housing Application.”
   2. You will receive a confirmation email of your application.
3. Read thoroughly and sign the COVID-19 Health Informed Housing Policies before moving onto campus.
   1. Found on MyHousing Self Service under the Forms & Applications tab.
   2. This must be signed prior to check in.

Students approved to move onto campus will receive their placements by February 22, 2021. Details regarding the check in process will be included with your placement. Please note, while we will ask for your housing preferences on the application, our options are limited due to the continued need to appropriately space students so preferences cannot be guaranteed. Students will not be sharing rooms due to county and state guidance.

Housing and meal plan rates will be prorated based on a March 1 move-in date. Should you choose to cancel your housing assignment, you have until February 28 to do so without paying cancellation fees.

Chapel Information

Students living on campus are required, according to the county, to participate in one in-person chapel service each week. In-person chapels will take place on Wednesday mornings and evenings. All other chapel requirements can be completed remotely on Canvas.

The county requires any students living on campus to be engaged in a permitted campus activity. Chapel is one of those permitted activities. Students living on campus are required to participate in one in-person chapel service each week. In-person outdoor chapels will take place on Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. Details about the in-person chapel days and times will be sent out the week of February 1. All other chapel requirements can be completed remotely on Canvas.

Below is information about the chapel requirement for the spring semester for residential students in Phase 3.

• Chapel services will be held outdoors, to adhere to county guidelines until further notice.
• Students will need to have availability on Wednesdays, 9:30-10:30 a.m. or Wednesdays, 7-8 p.m., when two chapel services will be held.
• Students attending chapel in person will be required to adhere to 6 feet physical distancing and mask wearing at all times.
• Graduating seniors confirmed to graduate in May 2021 do not have regular chapel requirements during the Spring 2021 semester. However, if they wish to live on campus, they will be required to attend in-person chapel once a week.
• Students in Phase 3 who live on campus and fail to meet the weekly chapel attendance requirement will be reported to the Biola Reopening Compliance Task Force who will determine appropriate consequences including possibly requiring the student to move off campus.

As a reminder, all full-time, undergraduate students enrolled in the spring semester, including those who are fully remote, still must engage in 14 chapels this term (six have already been gifted to help students to reach the usual total of 20). Please see the Canvas Chapel page for these requirements and how to successfully attend chapels remotely.

Students in Phase 1 and 2 who are already living on campus have the option to attend in-person chapels, but are not required to. Phase 1 and 2 students can fulfill their required chapels remotely through the Canvas chapel site.

International Students

Students who are currently outside of the U.S. and require a Biola I-20 to enter the U.S. must receive clear guidance from their international/immigration advisor(s) at Biola before entry to the USA. For more information, please email international.coordinator@biola.edu.

COVID-19 Testing

Initial campus entry and routine surveillance testing will be required for all students and faculty involved in in-person classes or living on campus. Upon return to campus, residential students will be required to take a COVID-19 saliva based PCR test prior to check-in, and quarantine in their room until the results return (approximately 48 hours). Meals and student support will be available during this time. Students and faculty living on or accessing campus will be required to take a COVID-19 test twice a month. COVID-19 surveillance testing will be free of charge when students and faculty make their scheduled time as assigned by the Health Center. Students moving to campus in Phase 3 will receive their baseline testing window with the housing placement and check-in information.

Required COVID-19 Health Module

Regardless of your intent to access campus, every student enrolled in the spring semester is required to complete the Spring 2021 COVID-19 Health Module on Canvas. This module includes watching a brief health video, reading the COVID-19 Student Handbook Policy, and reading and signing an Agreement to Abide by Safety Standards, Acknowledgement and Assumption of Risk and Release/Waiver of Liability. Students who do not sign the Agreement will not be allowed to access campus. Students who completed the Fall 2020 health module are required to also complete the Spring 2021 Health Module as there are some updates and changes.

Enroll in the Canvas Health Module

Once you enroll in the course with the link above, the course will appear on your Canvas dashboard. Please complete the course by February 15, 2021.

Parking Permits

Students accessing campus for Phase 3 who plan to have a car on campus are required to purchase a parking permit. Please visit My Account to purchase your parking permit prior to accessing campus in March.

Dear Biola community,

This past week, we experienced a COVID-19 “outbreak” on campus. The county defines outbreak as, “a cluster of three or more cases that have an epidemiological link (i.e., same dorm floor, team, class, etc.).” Based on our investigation, we are reasonably certain the transmissions occured in off-campus settings. Our protocols related to COVID-19 management were immediately executed, including contact tracing. Those involved with this incident have been identified, isolated or quarantined and tested when indicated.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) becomes involved with further assessment when an outbreak occurs. As such, you may notice LACDPH signs across campus advising of the outbreak and location. The county will also be visiting the campus next week to review the situation with us and evaluate our mitigation efforts.

Biola University has prepared well by implementing important health and safety mitigation strategies (i.e., physical distancing, cloth face coverings, handwashing, staying home when ill) intended to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 on campus. Strict sanitization procedures are also in place for commonly utilized areas several times a day. It is essential that each of us remain committed to these efforts, including during off-campus activities. We need your help in our ongoing efforts to prioritize the health of our entire Biola community.

Sincerely,

Sarah Templeton
Director, Student Health Center

Dear Students,

On December 30, the “Safer at Home” order was extended by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health in response to the widespread transmission of COVID-19 within our county, state, and nation. During the last week, Los Angeles County has experienced a daily average of 14,614 new COVID-19 cases each day. The surge is negatively affecting hospital capacity and is expected to continue through at least the end of January. For this reason, a new quarantine requirement is in place for anyone who has engaged in non-essential travel outside of the county of Los Angeles. Anyone who has travelled outside of Southern California (defined as the counties of Imperial, Inyo, Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara or Ventura) must quarantine for 10 days upon arrival to the Los Angeles County area.

The county has made exemptions for student athletes, clinical nursing students and speech pathology students. They do not need to quarantine for 10 days. However, all persons exempt from mandatory quarantine requirements must still monitor themselves daily for COVID-19 symptoms for 14 days after arrival.

Those returning to live on campus who have been outside the So Cal region and are not exempt must stay in their rooms and not leave campus for 10 days, leaving only for meal pick up at the cafe or urgent/emergent medical care.

As we head into the Spring semester, it is crucial that we care deeply for our Biola community as well as our larger community of La Mirada. While it’s possible you may not be affected severely by COVID-19, many in our local community can suffer serious effects from this illness. To prevent widespread infections, all students, faculty and staff must play a role and take these measures seriously.

We need your cooperation with the following guidelines:

1. Students with COVID-19 symptoms should not report to campus while ill. Please contact the Student Health Center at 562-903-4841 beginning January 4, 2021 at 8 a.m. for symptom evaluation and clearance to move on to campus. For after hours help, please call the Campus Safety line at 562-777-4000 and they will put you in touch with a staff member from the Health Center.
2. Avoid non-essential travel until the County’s Mandatory Directive on Travel has been lifted. If you have traveled outside of the Southern California region you are directed to follow the County’s required 10-day quarantine period and may not come to work or attend class unless you are exempt as outlined above.
3. Please do not attend gatherings with others outside of your household.
4. Students and faculty with on-campus engagements are required to come to their assigned COVID-19 surveillance testing window, including those following the 10-day quarantine.

Thank you in advance for coming together as a strong community focused on the health and care of our larger community. Each of us has the opportunity to contribute to the success of our campus health. If you have further questions please contact the Student Health Center at health.center@biola.edu.

Sarah Templeton
Director of the Health Center

We are excited to share that we are aggressively advocating for all students who so desire to be able to return to campus by March 1 in Phase 3 of our campus repopulation plan.

If you are receiving this email, you are in Phase 3 and were not eligible for return in Phase I and are not enrolled in eligible courses under Phase 2 that will commence in person on Feb. 15. We expect to implement this third phase based on our anticipation that by March 1, we will be relieved of the more restrictive county protocols that have prevented a more significant re-population. As that occurs, we will also continue with our strong support of remote learning for those who choose not to return to campus.

With some faculty needing to remain remote in their teaching because of personal circumstances, and with classroom density limits imposed by authorities, we cannot guarantee the number of course sessions our students will have in person after March 1. Some classes may be delivered remotely and others may be in person.

Campus Health and Safety Measures

In order to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission and to protect vulnerable populations, on campus students, faculty and staff will work together to protect the Biola community by abiding by the following health and safety protocols as well as any others that may need to be implemented at that time:

• Testing – Initial campus entry and routine surveillance testing will be required for all students and faculty involved in in-person classes or living on campus. Upon return to campus, residential students will be required to take a COVID-19 saliva based PCR test prior to check-in, and quarantine in their room until the results return (approximately 36 hours). Meals and student support will be available during this time. Commuters and faculty will need to report for testing two days before the week of Feb. 15. Students and faculty living on or accessing campus will be required to take a COVID test twice a month. COVID-19 surveillance testing will be free of charge when students and faculty make their scheduled time as assigned by the Health Center.

• Vaccine Requirements – As a regular practice at Biola University and at other colleges and universities, vaccines are required, particularly for those residing in campus housing. Students are required to provide proof of the following vaccines given at the appropriate intervals: two doses of Measles, Mumps & Rubella, a Meningitis ACWY (for residential students only), and a 20-21 flu vaccine (for all students accessing campus for any reason during the spring semester). Please upload a complete vaccine record by logging on with your NETID and password at biola.medicatconnect.com. Students may apply for a medical or religious exemption from these vaccines by contacting health.center@biola.edu. Application does not guarantee approval and exemptions will only be granted if the reason for the waiver meets the medical or religious criteria.

• Monitoring Symptoms – All students must monitor their own health symptoms daily before leaving their dorm room or home and coming to campus. If you are sick, STAY HOME! COVID-19 symptoms can be very mild in healthy college students. Please call the Student Health Center for a telehealth appointment or contact your personal physician to evaluate your symptoms before returning to campus or leaving your dorm room.

• Cloth Face Coverings – Students are required to wear cloth face coverings at all times while on campus except for while eating and when students are in their room. Violations for not wearing a mask may result in a $100 citation from Campus Safety and possible removal of campus/housing privileges.

• Physical Distancing – Students, faculty and staff are required to maintain at least 6 feet of physical distance between each other to reduce droplet transmission of COVID-19.

• Routine Hand Washing – Students will be expected to be diligent about washing their hands as doing so with warm water and soap helps to reduce the spread of infected droplets that may be on the hands. If soap and water aren’t available, a gel based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol may be used.

• Routine Cleaning of Surfaces – Furniture and other frequently utilized spaces in students’ rooms will need to be cleaned often.

• Quarantine and Isolation – Quarantine and isolation protocols will be followed closely to reduce the spread of COVID-19 on campus. Students are expected to respond to daily electronic health symptom screeners. These screeners assist healthcare providers with monitoring student health. Student care, such as meal delivery and emotional/spiritual support, will be offered to students for the duration of their quarantine or isolation period.

All enrolled students who are permitted to be on campus can access the Health Center for their healthcare needs. Students may see a healthcare provider at the Student Health Center free of charge, regardless of insurance. Services such as COVID-19 testing, other lab work, immunizations and medications are available for a fee.

Housing and Dining Services Details

In order to have an idea of how many rooms will be available to students returning on March 1, we are waiting to get final numbers of those students returning to residential living on Feb. 15. Once we have those numbers, we will inform students in Phase 3 of their potential housing options. In the meantime, we would like to assess students’ interest in living on campus starting on March 1 so, in the event we can repopulate campus with more students on March 1, please fill out this form to express your interest.

Heritage Cafe will be open with regular hours throughout the Spring semester. The Cafe will also be open during the Spring Semester for grab and go meals during the following hours:
Breakfast — Monday-Friday, 7:30-9:30 a.m. and Sundays 7:30-8:30 a.m.

Lunch — Monday-Friday, 11:30-2:00 p.m., Saturdays 11-1 p.m. and Sundays 12-2 p.m.

Dinner — Monday-Thursday, 4:30-7:30 p.m. and Friday-Sunday, 5-6:30 p.m.

Meal plans and housing rates will be prorated based on a student’s move-in date. Visit the coronavirus website to review the housing and meal plan costs.

We encourage you to watch this story from students who experienced living on campus this fall. We hope this video will give you a sense of what living on campus in Spring 2021 may be like.

Campus Services

Currently, we are unsure which campus buildings and services will be open for students to access. There are some campus services that will remain closed if we remain in the purple tier of the state system. For example, the Fitness Center will be closed as indoor workouts and conditioning is prohibited. There are other services that may open (if county restrictions are lifted) but with reduced capacity such as the Library and Bookstore. Students will be updated in early February as to what facilities and services are available and at what capacity.

Students will be expected to purchase parking permits for the spring semester at a prorated amount for those in Phase 3 if they return to campus. Students will receive further information on how to get their parking permits prior to the start of the semester.

We understand some students were waiting to get more details about Phase 2 and 3 in order to finish their enrollment tasks. If you have not finished your enrollment tasks, please do so this week by visiting My Account.

Students in Phase 3 will receive follow up communication in late January or early February with information on a required health module and an acknowledgment of risk/waiver form students will need to sign. We also appreciate that some students, regardless of what courses we are able to offer in-person, desire to continue their education remotely for the spring semester. We will be asking those students to let us know their intent as part of that communication as well. If you have any questions, please email internal.communications@biola.edu.

Sincerely,

Office of University Communications

Dear Biola Students and Families,

We are one day away from the end of the fall semester. Congratulations students. You made it! As you conclude the fall semester remotely, I want to share some exciting and hopeful news about Biola’s spring semester.

On Tuesday of this week the Board of Trustees met to discuss a plan put forth by Biola’s administration, a plan developed in consultation with representatives from across the university and based on lessons learned from those outside of Biola’s community. In its meeting, the Board approved a motion to begin a safe return to campus in the spring 2021 semester.

Board chair Michael Maples said after the meeting, “The Board of Trustees of Biola University firmly believes that a residential on-campus experience is essential for most students' spiritual formation and education. Therefore, the board unanimously agreed that our campus has been closed for too long and adopted a resolution for the university to make every possible effort to safely reopen our campus to all students by March 1.”

Let me acknowledge that we all are well aware that cases of COVID-19 are high and rising in many parts of the nation, including California and Los Angeles County. This global pandemic has been among the more turbulent health calamities in our history. But it is not just virus-related illnesses that are defining the crisis. The emotional and mental distresses, loss of spiritual community, financial setbacks, the deferring of health check-ups — all of these and more have contributed to the deep suffering in our nation. On top of this, many students have for the last nine months forfeited their on-campus education to the detriment of their college dreams.

We understand the hardships and hindrances many students have experienced. We want to assure you and your families that our faculty and staff are doing our diligence in taking all reasonable steps to keep the campus safe and preparing to welcome students back to campus in phases. We will begin our semester as planned on January 25 with the majority of classes delivered remotely and then phase in return to campus as follows:

• Phase one - In early January, intercollegiate athletes (based on NCAA guidelines) and students already approved to live on campus in the spring will move onto campus.
• Phase two - In the days leading up to Feb. 15, students who are enrolled in specifically designated courses in programs such as CMA, journalism, health sciences, etc. (based on the categories of students being educated for jobs comprising the “essential workforce” as delineated by the State of California) AND whose courses, based on the learning outcomes of those courses, cannot be taught without access to specialized equipment or campus facilities (e.g., labs, studios, etc.) will be able to return to campus. Also, international students and students who have no other feasible residential option that allows them the appropriate educational benefits, will have the option to apply for a housing exception. If approved, they will be able to move onto campus in the days leading up to Feb. 15.
• Phase three - In the days leading up to March 1, all other students who wish to live on campus, as well as commuter students, will be welcomed back. We expect to implement this third phase based on our anticipation that by that time, we will be relieved of the more significant county restrictions. We will continue with our strong support of remote learning for those who choose not to return to campus.

This phased-in approach will allow us to bring students back to campus in stages, helping us prepare for a safe campus and legal repopulation as well as assisting faculty in the complexities of their course preparation.

This current fall semester has allowed us to learn from other colleges and universities across the country that have opened their campuses with ample preparation, implementation of safety measures and committed community compliance. Though the stories are widespread of the occasional college with COVID-19 case surges or a university that opened only to require students return home weeks later, these are the exception and not the norm. Many more college campuses have welcomed students and remained open, managing their environments safely without compromising their educational quality. We recognize that the restrictions on our campus by the LA County Department of Public Health have been greater than those in other counties, and even seemingly arbitrary based on what we now know. We therefore expect that by March 1, compliance with the current state guidelines will be appropriate, which will allow us to assist our students who have for too long been in a remote learning environment.

Though the campus will feel different in some ways, we will be doing all we can to make students’ Biola experience socially, academically, spiritually and emotionally fulfilling. In many ways it will feel familiar as students re-engage in life on campus and the vibrancy that comes with on-campus living and learning. At the same time we acknowledge that because of COVID the campus will feel different for those who are returning. Protecting our individual and collective well-being will require the commitment and cooperation of everyone who returns to campus in the spring. This compliance includes mask wearing, physical distancing throughout campus and meticulous disinfecting. In addition, students will be required to be tested upon arrival to campus and surveillance testing will take place throughout the semester.

Though the risk of serious illness and death is very, very low in younger people, we will be abundantly cautious in our protocols though we will not be unreasonably repressive. We have those in our community and beyond whose age or health conditions warrant prudent measures of safety. We will be working with our faculty and staff to minimize their exposure and protect them, their families and others they may encounter. We believe what we have observed this fall in other colleges and universities are workable blueprints for opening our campus with a strong adherence to safety measures throughout the community, mitigating risk of exposure and spread. Some of the factors that have been problematic at other colleges are less of a factor at Biola. For instance, we are a smaller community, we do not allow Greek life and we are known widely as a college without a reputation for reckless partying.

With some faculty needing to remain remote in their teaching because of personal circumstances, and with classroom density limits imposed by authorities, we cannot guarantee the number of course sessions our students will have in person. Some classes may be delivered remotely and others may be in person. Yet with our campus in Southern California, outdoor opportunities for students throughout the year present us far more options than other parts of the nation, especially in these early months of the year. This spring semester, we will safely provide our students not only a first-rate education, but socially supportive communities, encouraging counselors, healthcare access, faculty who mentor them, spiritual formation, times of worship (as allowed), and healthy meals.

Details about housing options, information on deadlines, prorated room and board fees and move-in processes will be communicated early next week. Also, we will waive the tuition late fee for those students who sign up for housing after the posted Dec. 15 deadline. For those moving onto campus in the spring, and to assist with their educational progress, students taking courses in either summer session A or B will be allowed to continue to live in our residences during those enrolled summer sessions at no charge for housing.

We know our students and families will have questions. Some answers can be found on Biola’s coronavirus website and other questions will be addressed at the Spring 2021 Town Hall on Wednesday, Dec. 16 at 5:30 p.m. In addition, students who are enrolled in the courses returning by Feb. 15 will receive a follow up email with further housing information and health requirements early next week. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please call 562-903-6000.

A little over a week ago, CDC Director Robert Redfield — amidst the growing case counts — noted that university and college campuses have largely avoided campus outbreaks through a strategic use of surveillance testing as well as prevention measures like mask wearing. “I used to think that the most difficult group that we were going to have to help contain this was basically college students,” he said. “But what happened over the summer and the fall, is many of the colleges and universities really stepped up to developing comprehensive mitigation steps.”

Given our long-planned precautions as well as the hardship students have gone through over the last nine months, our intention is to begin repopulating the campus in the spring semester based on this phased-in approach. We know that situations could change and there are no guarantees, but we are firmly committed to work at every level for the wellbeing of our community and advancement of our mission, not just in our campus preparation but also in addressing every legal, political and public relations impediment we might face. The Board of Trustees and the leadership of the university are committed to extending every reasonable resource toward our safe and legal campus reopening. We look forward to seeing students returning to campus in the spring.

I want to express my gratitude to all Biola students, families, faculty and staff for their patience and resilience as we navigated the special challenges of this year. I have a special gratitude for those who worked tirelessly to support our remote instructional delivery.

We look forward to welcoming students safely back to campus. We encourage students and their families to prayerfully consider which option is best for them for the coming semester. We will support our students however they choose to continue their studies in the spring.

Blessings in Christ,

Barry H. Corey

President Corey and the president of Pomona College as designated higher education leaders in Los Angeles County met with representatives from the LA County Department of Public Health (LADPH) last week to discuss campus repopulation options for the county’s colleges and universities. Unfortunately, the LADPH had still not settled on its revised guidelines for the spring. In light of this, the President’s Cabinet with other experts met this week to discuss our intentions to phase students back to campus in the spring term. This week and next, the President’s Cabinet together with the Board of Trustees plan to reach some major decisions and will update the Biola community on December 10.

Credit/No Credit Grading Policy

Some students have asked if Biola will offer the grading option of Credit/No Credit (CR/NC) for the Fall 2020 semester. Biola’s position has not changed from its announcement to students at the start of the fall semester that the CR/NC option would not be offered. A CR/NC grading policy has limited benefit to students. The temporary policy of CR/NC offered in Spring 2020 was available due to students needing to pivot quickly and assist students who suffered academically due to the sudden change; however, minimal students opted for the CR/NC grade. Faculty redesigned their courses and assignments for remote delivery this fall and likely would have designed their courses differently for a CR/NC approach. Biola encourages students to communicate with their professor to determine if it’s possible to work toward improving their class grade if possible prior to the end of the semester if needed. Students who are struggling to complete the semester have the option to request an Incomplete (IN) grade or appeal a grade in a class.

Class Schedule Start Dates

As shared on October 29, there are some classes that will start the spring semester on Jan. 11 with the majority of traditional and graduate classes starting on January 25. All classes have been updated to reflect the correct start date. Please review your class schedule for their corresponding start date on My Account.

If you have any questions, please contact internal.communications@biola.edu.

Office of University Communications

Biola’s leadership has been waiting to hear back from LA County on its request to repopulate the campus for the spring semester.

President Corey has heard from the LA County’s Board of Supervisors officials this week with an invitation to meet with the directors of Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on Monday, November 23. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss campus repopulation options for Los Angeles County colleges and universities. This is in response to a petitioning letter Dr. Corey and Pomona College president, Gabrielle Star, co-wrote to the County Board of Supervisors.

If President Corey receives any pertinent news in his meeting on Monday, Biola’s Cabinet will process that information as it relates to the spring semester. With next week being a short week due to the Thanksgiving holiday, administrative offices will be closed November 25 through November 27. As a result, we may not have a further update for students until December 1, if we know any new information at that time.

We invite the Biola community to continue to pray for Dr. Corey and the key meeting taking place next week with the county officials. 

  

Office of University Communications

Dear Biola students,

As we approach the end of the fall semester, we would like to provide a few updates to you about the spring semester.

Advocacy Efforts for Reopening Campus

In the last month President Corey and Pomona College’s president co-led an advocacy effort to petition LA County to allow colleges and universities in the county to repopulate their campuses for the spring semester. Twenty-four college and university presidents and leaders in LA County co-signed this letter, including those presidents from Claremont-McKenna, Cal Tech, LMU, Occidental, Pepperdine, Scripps and Harvey Mudd, to name a few.

Last week, President Corey and others met with teams from several members of the LA County Board of Supervisors to make two requests:

1. Allow colleges and universities to gradually reopen campuses in the spring by following the state tiered guidelines without additional restrictions imposed by LA County.
2. Notify colleges in the month of November of what is permitted for the spring semester in order to give colleges time to prepare our campuses, notify our students and assist our faculty in their hyflex teaching model.

After these meetings, the LA County Board of Supervisors voted last Tuesday to request the Department of Public Health — which is under the Supervisors’ purview — to provide feedback by today on any rationale for additional restrictions for colleges over and above the state’s existing guidelines. We hope to receive an update from the county on this closed meeting by the end of the week. We will send an update to the Biola community on Friday, Nov. 20 with what we learned, if anything, from the county and how it impacts Biola’s spring plans.

Spring 2020 Wellness Days

As shared by President Corey in his October 29 letter, spring break 2021 will be replaced with five wellness days throughout the semester. We understand the importance for students to take time for mental health and wellness during the semester. For this reason, traditional students will observe February 8, March 2-3, April 22-23 as the five wellness days in which classes will not meet. In addition, Biola will be closed for Good Friday on April 2.

Flu Vaccine

A friendly reminder that the flu vaccine is an LA County requirement for all students accessing campus to help reduce the burden of the flu season in the midst of COVID-19. Students are required to submit vaccine records by December 15, 2020 online. If students want to apply for one of the two waivers — medical or religious — that are available, please visit the coronavirus website for details.

Lastly, Biola’s leadership continues to work toward resuming in-person classes using a hyflex model in the spring semester, which will allow students to take classes remotely.

We expect to have more students on campus in the spring. However, based on current virus trends and positive cases in LA County we will have a capacity lower than 100%, which is still to be determined. We will work to accommodate students who prefer to take their spring semester courses remotely.

We appreciate the Biola community’s patience and forbearing through this uncertain season when things are always changing. We will provide updates in the Student Life newsletter sent to undergraduate students on Mondays and to the rest of the community via the mobile app.

Please continue to pray for Biola’s leadership, slowing the spread of the virus and the county’s leadership.

Office of University Communications

Dear Biola students,

Let me start by saying how much we miss you on campus. You are now more than half-way through the fall semester! I want to tell you how proud I am of you for your stamina, even though I know some dimensions of remote learning are hard. You represent one of the most resilient groups of students we’ve ever had at Biola, and I encourage you to keep persevering through this challenging season with your digital classes. Be encouraged! We will get through this.

This letter is to update you on the evolving plans for the Spring 2021 Semester.

Much work has taken place over the past few weeks in order to assess different scenarios for the beginning of 2021. For the remainder of this semester, as you know, county health restrictions prevent us from resuming any on-campus activities. We have been informed by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health that they are anticipating college campuses will have some level of repopulating for the Spring Semester. We are communicating regularly with our local health officials and the LA County Board of Supervisors to advocate for a flexible and phased plan to bring students back in January as we continue our plans to resume in-person living and learning. As chair of the L.A. Education Sector Reopening Work Team, I have been working with other college and university presidents speaking up for campus reopenings. Based on what we have been told by the LA County Department of Public Health, we intend to share with you by the middle of November a more specific set of guidelines for the spring. In the meantime, we’d like to share what we know to date and the decisions we have made.

Changes to the Spring Semester

First, the official start of the Spring Semester will be on January 25 for the majority of students taking traditional and graduate classes, which is two weeks later than originally scheduled. This will provide a two-week window during the flu season, and it will afford faculty and staff the additional weeks to prepare for their Spring Semester classes. It will also allow time for a staged move-in process. There are some exceptions of classes (e.g. some online programs, session A classes) that will begin on January 11. Students in those classes will receive follow up communication next week. Students from the approved on-campus programs this fall (e.g. clinical nursing) will also receive further information next week about their start date. Classes will end as scheduled on May 8, 2021, with the final exam week May 3–7. Spring Commencement is planned for May 7–8, subject to health requirements. View more key semester dates.

Second, in order to minimize the risk of the virus spreading due to extended travel, there will be no spring break. We know, however, it’s important for our students and faculty to have time for mental health and wellness during the semester, so we created five wellness days to replace spring break. More details about the dates will be released mid-November.

Third, our 91st Annual Missions Conference (March 17-19) will not be delivered in its traditional 3-day format. We know this will be disappointing to many students because of the rich connections students make with mission organizations and they get to hear our heart and soul for the Great Commission. The days for Missions Conference will need to be used instead for instructional days. The Student Missionary Union is working to create conference content that will be delivered through Canvas for students to watch throughout the week.

Fourth, in light of the financial challenges students and families are facing due to the pandemic, Biola is providing an additional COVID-19 Tuition Relief Grant to students, ranging from $150 to $1,000, based on their spring enrollment status and program level. There are some exceptions for those students whose tuition is already covered or will be fully covered by institutional aid and/or other tuition-based scholarships. Visit the COVID-19 tuition and financial aid page for more details.

Academics

We are moving forward with our Spring Semester plans to phase in a more robust on-campus experience and expect to offer more in-person classes, house more residential students and provide campus co-curricular activities. As we experienced in the summer, it is difficult to say with certainty what will happen in the weeks and months ahead. Our plans will remain flexible to meet the unpredictability of the pandemic. For students returning to campus, they may experience that some of their classes will be in-person and some delivered virtually. This will depend on state guidance and county orders on classroom occupancy levels as well as faculty teaching decisions and other relevant factors. For students who may prefer to take their Spring Semester courses remotely, we will work to accommodate them. You will be hearing more on the classes that will be offered remotely for the Spring Semester by mid-November. In the meantime, please initiate your registration process based on your assigned time on or after Monday, November 2. (Please note that start dates on the class schedule are still being revised to reflect the correct start dates for all classes.)

Health Requirements

The success of our opening and staying open throughout the spring semester will be a direct result of the community’s adherence to Biola’s health and safety measures, which are required by local and state authorities. We care about the health, safety and well-being of our community to foster a caring community, putting the health of others first by wearing face coverings and physically distancing. In addition, in compliance with county requirements, the flu vaccine is mandatory for all students accessing campus to help reduce the burden of the flu season in the midst of COVID-19. Students will be required to submit vaccine records by December 15, 2020. You can read more on the coronavirus website.

In the coming weeks, students will receive updates from various departments including housing. We will continue to be guided by health and safety measures as we prepare to provide in-person classes in the spring. We hope and pray that 2021 will be better than 2020, but regardless of the outcome God is still sovereign and we will get through it together as one community. May God’s grace be with us all.

Blessings in Christ,

Barry H. Corey

At this time, the university is intending to resume in-person classes for the spring semester. We remain hopeful that the conditions will continue to improve so that the county provides the clearances for colleges and universities to welcome students for in-person classes in spring 2021.

Additional information will be provided later this semester.

Last month, President Corey shared that the existing Los Angeles County health order for colleges and universities would be in place for up to six weeks. At that time the county would assess local health conditions and determine if modifications would be made to its orders. We have now received an update from Public Health Director, Dr. Barbara Ferrer, on health orders for the county’s colleges and universities.

Dr. Ferrer shared that the number of cases has decreased in Los Angeles County compared to early August. This is good news and heading in the right direction. The transmission rate among college aged students, however, has remained elevated. In light of that data point and the influenza season, the county has decided not to review or modify orders for colleges until after Thanksgiving. For the balance of this semester Biola will not be able to welcome back any more students on campus or make modifications to on-campus services. We are obviously disappointed by this news, as we had hoped to phase students on campus this semester.

With the exception of students approved to be on campus and essential employees reporting to campus, Biola’s physical campus remains partially closed. The university’s leadership will continue to stay in regular contact with the county for ongoing updates and will keep you informed. As Biola continues to remain remote for the fall semester, all offices will continue to be fully operational and available remotely. Above all, we are committed to serving our students and families with excellence during this remote season.

At this time, the university is intending to resume in-person classes for the spring semester. We remain hopeful that the conditions will continue to improve so that the county provides the clearances for colleges and universities to welcome students for in-person classes in spring 2021.

In an effort to be transparent with our community, we will publish a dashboard on biola.edu/coronavirus next week with information about any positive COVID-19 cases among faculty, staff or students who are accessing or living on campus. At this time, we do not have any positive cases among our residential students. We encourage our community to visit the dashboard once it is available for the most up-to-date information. 

We are grateful for the Biola community’s patience and understanding during this unprecedented time. If you have any questions, please email internal.communications@biola.edu.

Biola’s leadership has been preparing since April for a number of fall semester reopening scenarios in light of COVID-19. In the absence of state guidelines, on July 27 we announced five decisions regarding the fall semester which included allowing students in two programs to return to campus even though we hoped it could be more. The state on August 7 finally released guidance for colleges and universities, instructing us to confer with local county health departments. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health issued its Order of the Health Officer and Protocols for Institutes of Higher Education on August 12. Biola’s leadership thoroughly reviewed the order and protocols, and Friday afternoon LA County’s higher education leaders received further clarification from public health authorities. The LA County order states:

• "Colleges and universities in Los Angeles County will not be able to resume all in-person academic instruction, at this time. Institutions may continue to offer in-person training and instruction for essential workforce for required activities that cannot be accomplished through virtual learning. All other academic instruction must continue to be done via distance-learning."

We worked hard to examine the language of the order and the clarifying comments made by the county to see if there were ways we could invite a larger group of students back to campus, but the expressed words from the county did not permit us or other colleges and universities in the county to do so. This was abundantly clear. Outside of rare exceptions, the county’s institutions of higher education must begin the semester remotely and limit significantly any housing density on campus.

Exceptions have been granted by the county on a limited basis for “activities required for training of essential workforce…that cannot be carried out via distance learning” if that activity “entails coursework or training that is essential for completing certification, licensure, or educational requirements” for those programs. In other words, for a course to be eligible for in-person instruction, it must meet three requirements: 1) it must support a major that is considered training for essential workforce, 2) the course must be one that cannot be delivered remotely, and 3) the course must be part of a student’s program required to finish a degree or certification.

The “essential workforce” language was defined by the governor in March to allow exceptions to his stay-at-home order for those in certain “essential” infrastructure sectors who were needed to maintain operations during the shut-down. The purpose of this was to ensure continuity of functions critical to public health and safety.

Given the parameters of the county’s order and what constitutes essential workforce, we have expanded our initial list of programs eligible for in-person instruction (clinical nursing and doctoral psychology) to also include undergraduate seniors enrolled in clinical practicum in the communication sciences and disorders program and all students in the master’s in speech pathology program. Students in these programs will also be able to live on campus if they have no other viable local housing options. These students will be emailed further housing information later today. 

As it relates to housing for students outside the four programs eligible for in-person instruction, we are able to provide on-campus housing to students who either have an unsafe home environment or who are homeless. The state and county have also specifically stated that student athletes engaged in intercollegiate sports may be offered on-campus housing. Students who are currently living on campus based on earlier exemptions are allowed to remain as well. Students who fit these categories are encouraged to fill out the “Request to Live on Campus” form, found on MyHousing Self Service, by 6 p.m. Thursday, August 20. Those students will be informed by 12 p.m. Saturday, August 22 if their request has been approved or not. If you have already been approved for an exception to live on campus, you do not need to complete any additional steps. 

Students living on campus will take the majority of their courses remotely with the exception of those labs or courses that cannot be taught at a distance, as described above. 

In addition, the county’s order for its colleges and universities includes clear restrictions on campus activities and residence life for those who are eligible to live on campus based on the criteria above. All public spaces such as kitchens, lobbies and study areas will be closed. Access to residential buildings will be limited to residents only. No campus events or gatherings will be allowed until further notice. Dining will be “grab and go.” With rare exceptions, the county’s campuses will be closed to all visitors coming from outside the county with the exception of curbside services. For Biola, curbside services include pick-ups from the library, bookstore and the CMA production center for film equipment. 

This county order will be in place for up to six weeks at which time the county will assess local health conditions and determine if modifications will be made to its order for colleges and universities. 

The county is concerned that the highest case rate of COVID-19 transmission in the county is among those who are between the ages of 18 and 25. County public health officials underscored that colleges don’t exist within their campuses alone. They are a part of larger communities with populations outside of the college-aged students, including faculty, staff, neighbors, families and others with whom they are in contact. Since community transmission in LA County is currently high, county officials do not at this time want to repopulate college campuses with large numbers of students and risk outbreaks in college communities. In fact, in recent days colleges around the country are experiencing these outbreaks, forcing some to send students home as they shift from in-person to remote learning. 

LA County is requiring its colleges and universities to keep on-campus numbers low in order to move forward in reopening sooner rather than later. 

Biola University continues to hold as a priority not only the highest levels of educational quality but also the ongoing health and safety of our community of students, faculty and staff. We are committed as well to honoring the authority of our state, county and local government leaders, and will seek to comply with their safety protocols and operational directives.

Dear Biola community,

I know the COVID-19 pandemic has created a long season of uncertainty, especially for new or returning students and for their families. Many have been waiting for news on how we will begin the fall 2020 semester in light of the recent surge in coronavirus cases in California. I am truly thankful for your patience during these past few weeks. I am also grateful for the fortitude of Biola’s own 1,000-member community of faculty and staff who for weeks have been working on a number of scenarios for the fall in case the state issued guidance with tighter restrictions than we expected or kept our existing prohibition from opening.

On April 30, I shared that absent any restrictions from California’s state or county authorities, we would be prepared to have on-campus instruction this fall. We have planned extensively with dozens of leaders covering with precision every imaginable detail for hyflex on-campus education. Our decision in April as well as our reopening plans in the intervening months were made with good data, a lot of input and with prayerful discernment. They were also always pending state and county guidance.

Unfortunately, we are still waiting as no updated guidance has been issued by the state, and we are not alone in waiting for it. The state has released guidelines for almost every type of business in California to reopen, but nothing on higher education.

Now, with the surge in COVID-19 cases in the state and L.A. County, the state has focused its efforts on mitigating the spread of the virus and rolling back reopening plans across the state. California is still in Stage 2 of its reopening plan, and higher education is allowed to reopen when we are into Stage 3. We don’t know when we’ll move to Stage 3, but I hope that comes soon.

In light of the fact there has been no further guidance issued by the governor for higher education, we need to make our decisions based on already-existing guidance. Because of this and with full support from the Cabinet and approval from the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees, I am announcing today the following decisions.

Our first decision: We will begin the fall semester August 31 remotely in all of our undergraduate and graduate programs with the high level of academic excellence and student support services distinctive of Biola University. For our continuing students, we recognize that the quick pivot to remote learning this last spring was challenging for all. We have focused considerable effort over the last few months in preparation to deliver an exceptional remote classroom experience this fall. Students will notice the difference!

Most of our courses will be taught from our Biola classrooms aided by the significant infrastructure investments we have made over the summer in new educational technologies. We are even launching new remote ways to walk with students through programs in spiritual formation, prayer and worship, academic advising, career guidance, faculty mentoring, specialized learning, internship networking, personal counseling, clubs and organizations and all of the other student services characteristic of Biola. We are also launching a brand new university mobile app during the fall to enhance the student experience at Biola. We have a wide array of plans underway that will support students until they come to campus.

Our second decision: If at some point we are granted permission by state and county authorities to reopen in the fall semester for on-campus learning and living — consistent with Biola’s high level of educational and safety standards — we will assess when and how to welcome students to return to campus. We will make our decisions based on government guidance at that time, county health authorities, healthcare experts, best practices in reducing risks and our own safety assurances. We will do so with an unwavering care for the health of our students, faculty, staff and neighbors. We wish we knew more about when we could do this, but again we will follow the guidance of the state and government for the go-ahead to return to campus this fall.

Our third decision: In the event we open our campus at any point in the semester for students to join for in-person living and learning, students will have the option to continue the semester in a remote learning mode. Maybe the digital learning option will suit some students for the fall. Maybe because of health, distance, job or comfort level, students would rather complete the semester remotely. That is perfectly fine. We will be flexible. We want to accommodate what works best for students, serving them and adapting our academic courses and co-curricular programs in a way that meets their needs during this COVID-19 disruption.

Our fourth decision: To provide students with a COVID-19 Tuition Relief Grant toward the fall semester. We know how difficult COVID-19 has been for so many. Some students have not been able to work this summer, or their families had to tighten their belts financially, or it’s just been a long season of hardships. To help a bit with these challenges, we are providing our students with a relief grant (with some exceptions for those students whose tuition is already covered or will be fully covered by institutional aid and/or other tuition-based scholarships).

Full-time students will receive a one-time Biola COVID-19 Tuition Relief Grant for the fall semester that is based on their program, in accordance with the table below. Part-time students will receive a prorated amount based on their program enrollment level.

Program (full-time status)	Grant Amount (to be applied to fall semester tuition)
Traditional Undergraduate	$2,000
Master’s	$450
Doctoral	$300
Teacher Certification	$450
Online Bachelor’s	$450

This will be in addition to the financial aid package students were given. (The Financial Aid office will follow up with students later this week.) Students will not have to pay this back. It’s not a loan, and they are not going to lose it when they return to campus. It’s meant to be a way of standing with them in the hardships they have faced, and I know there have been many. We want students here! And for prospective students who have not yet committed to Biola and are still interested in attending, they should connect with an admissions counselor. If admitted and they choose to enroll, we will offer these potential students this grant as well.

Finally, our fifth decision: Current state guidelines allow for limited exemptions based on students who are being educated to support the essential healthcare infrastructure. We are confident our clinical nursing and psychology doctoral students qualify for this exemption. They will be welcome to on-campus learning and living at the beginning of the fall semester. We are still waiting for further guidance as to whether students with extenuating circumstances who are not already living on campus will also be part of the exemption.

So those are our decisions.

1. We are planning to begin the semester August 31 with remote learning.
2. If we get the green light from the government, and consistent with Biola’s high level of educational and safety standards, we are open to welcoming students to campus during the fall semester.
3. We want students to feel no pressure to return if we open the campus, and they will still receive a quality education if they choose to remain remote for the semester.
4. To help students, we have set aside grant money as a way of standing with them financially.
5. The campus will be open for clinical nursing and psychology doctoral students to take program-specific courses and live in on-campus housing when we start the semester at the end of August, and this exemption may also extend to others.

I understand these decisions are certainly not what our students and their families--not to mention our faculty and staff--imagined when thinking of Biola this fall. And we all have had more than a few setbacks and hardships these past four months. This unanticipated pandemic seems to have altered all of our best-made plans, and yet we are fully committed to making this a worthwhile season for all at Biola. It is going to be a different semester for all of us, but it is going to be a strong semester.

We still believe that the quality education students will be experiencing remotely will be distinctively Biola, both in academics and co-curricular student services. Faculty members have been fine-tuning their courses for the fall. We are developing new ways through technology to connect with our students until they return, going above and beyond to make our educational experience truly transformative.

There could be no better time than during this COVID-19 pandemic to be part of Biola University where students are encouraged to live into their passions, to bolster their faith, to mature their biblical worldview, to examine current culture through the lens of Scripture and their academic discipline, to sharpen their minds and to learn to live for Christ. The world needs a generation of Jesus followers to emerge from this disturbing season of suffering in order to serve the church and society with new creativity, more courage and a heart of compassion for the world.

Students and their families will see that Biola is not compromising our mission one iota. Not at all. We are as committed as ever to provide a biblically centered education for our students to grow in mind and character in order to influence the world for the cause of Christ. This is why we are so confident that Biola University is a place where students develop, especially during this challenging season. This is what gets us up every morning, even during this temporary season of remote learning.

What a time for students to be stretched and grow into the incredibly mature, wise and godly person Christ is forming them to be. Throughout history, Christians — many of them young adults like our students — persevered and matured profoundly in the midst of tough times. This is why we are so confident in the strength of a Biola education.

Thank you for taking the time to read our decisions for the fall. We look forward to seeing students on the screen and then in person. I encourage you to reach out to let us know how we can help. Feel free to call the main Biola number at (562) 903-6000 if you have any questions about the fall. Visit Biola’s Coronavirus Response site for FAQs or to learn more about other financial support available for the fall semester.

In closing, we invite incoming and returning students and families to a town hall next week. Details will be forthcoming. If you have specific questions, please submit them via this form. We will respond to your questions and provide as much information as we can.

We are here for you. We are praying for you. We love you. Rise up with wings like eagles!

Sincerely,

Barry H. Corey
President

Good afternoon,

Thank you for your patience as our office diligently worked to add the Biola COVID-19 Tuition Relief Grant to every student’s financial aid package. We are happy to be able to serve our students in this way. We trust that the Biola COVID-19 Tuition Relief Grant along with cost savings from not living on campus will be a help to you as you finalize your financial plans for the fall.

The process of awarding the Biola COVID-19 Tuition Relief Grant has gone well and this grant should now be reflected in your financial aid package. Your student bill will reflect your financial aid, but may not reflect the credit for your room and board, if applicable, as that is still being processed. It will be processed next week.

Please note that if you are a continuing student, the grant will be added to your aid package once you have registered for classes.

Below are some important points to keep in mind as you plan for the Fall Semester.

• Students whose tuition is already or will be fully covered by institutional aid and/or other tuition-based scholarships may not be eligible for the Biola COVID-19 Tuition Relief Grant.
• The addition of the Biola COVID-19 Tuition Relief Grant and/or the adjustment of your federal cost-of-attendance budget may impact your federal loan and private loan eligibility. Any changes to these types of aid will be reflected in your financial aid package.
• If you have not yet completed your financial aid file, please do so as soon as possible. Any additional requirements needed to complete your financial aid file can be found on your MyAccount portal under the Student Financials tab.
• If you would like to reduce your loan because of your lower school bill, please select the applicable Loan Change form on our website.
• If your family has experienced financial difficulties due to COVID-19, you can complete the COVID-19 Financial Impact Questionnaire which will assist our office in determining if there is additional assistance available.
• If you need financial assistance to purchase a laptop, you can use federal and private loans, providing you meet their eligibility requirements. Note that the loans would have to create a credit balance on your bill to be able to be used. You may request credit balances beginning September 21.
• If you plan to take a gap semester, you can find more information under the Gap Year/Withdrawing heading on our Coronavirus FAQ page.
• If you are not enrolled at least half time for any term, you must request a leave of absence from the Cal Grant program. Details for how to request a leave of absence can be found on the California Student Aid Commission website.
• If you are not enrolled at least half time for more than six months, and have not already used up your grace period, your federal loans will enter repayment after the grace period the government provided due to COVID-19. For more information regarding your federal loans, please visit the Federal Student Aid website.

We understand that this is a challenging season while you change plans from being on campus to Biola at Home. We are here to serve you with your financial aid needs and questions. We hope that this final month of summer will be a good one for you as you prepare for the coming remote semester. If you have questions regarding any of this information, please contact us at finaid@biola.edu.

Sincerely,

Geoff Marsh
Senior Director of Financial Aid

Last Friday, California Governor Newsom gave guidance for K-12 schools on reopening this fall. He stated that K-12 schools in counties on the state’s “watch list” would most likely be required to start the year providing “distance learning only” until their COVID-19 metrics improve.

Though these guidelines were for K-12 schools, some are speculating that he might take a similar approach on reopening guidance for colleges and universities. We are awaiting the guidelines specifically for colleges and universities to make our decisions with more certainty. Though the expected release date for the state’s higher education reopening guidelines have been postponed, we have reason to believe the Governor will release them tomorrow, Friday, July 24. If he does, Biola's leadership will spend time reviewing the guidelines over the weekend, and we will announce early next week decisions on our fall plans.

If the Governor does not release the guidelines tomorrow, Biola’s leadership will still move forward on the same timeframe. For the planning purposes of our students, their families, our faculty and staff, we look forward to making an announcement in the coming days on Biola’s Fall Semester plans assuring our students we will provide them the highest possible educational quality and co-curricular experience.

Please visit Biola’s coronavirus website for the latest updates.

Due to the concerns arising from all the challenges surrounding COVID-19, the PacWest Executive Board voted unanimously Thursday to postpone intercollegiate competition in PacWest fall sports until after January 1, 2021.

PacWest fall sports include men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s soccer, and women’s volleyball. The action was taken due to rapidly changing information and guidelines from the NCAA, as well as the states, counties, and areas where the 11 PacWest institutions compete.

“We continue to be committed to the health and safety of all members of the Biola community,” said Dr. Bethany Miller, senior director of athletics. “This decision was made following careful consideration of several different options for fall sports. We are glad to be able to still have a competitive season for our fall sport student-athletes, albeit at a later date.”

While this decision postpones fall 2020 sports competition, institutions will still be allowed to conduct organized team activities at their own discretion, including workouts, practices, strength and conditioning, and access to their athletic training staff, as local, county, and state guidelines permit. Options for moving fall sport schedules into the winter/spring are being developed and reviewed.

“The health and safety of our student-athletes is our top priority. We remain committed to giving all of our student-athletes a positive competitive experience as much as possible,” PacWest Commissioner Bob Hogue said. “This was a very difficult, but well-thought-out decision and one that so many individuals worked together on over the past several weeks. We’re appreciative of everyone’s efforts and look forward to a time when we can all be safely out on the field of play again.”

A decision on the start of the 2020-21 winter sports season, as well as the non-championship segments of spring sports, is expected to be made by October 1.

Biola Athletics will host a virtual town hall with President Barry Corey, Vice President of Student Development Dr. Andre Stephens, Senior Director of Athletics Dr. Bethany Miller and the rest of the Athletics Leadership Team for student-athletes, families and supporters on our YouTube channel at 6 p.m. August 5. All student-athletes will receive communication with more information on the town hall and a link to a survey to submit questions prior to the livestream for our panel to answer live.

As more information becomes available it will be communicated as quickly as possible. For updates from the university, please continue monitor to this coronavirus response updates page.

Dear Biola students,

On Monday, July 6, the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) — a branch of the Department of Homeland Security — released updated guidance indicating that F-1 visa students who are attending a school operating entirely online this fall may not take a full online course load and remain in the United States. This Fall, Biola is planning to re-open with in-person classes through a hybrid model. This will make it possible for students studying on F-1 visas to remain in the country as long as the student is not taking an entirely online course load during the fall semester and that the student is taking the minimum number of online classes required to make normal progress in their degree program.

We are committed to the success and well-being of our students as we celebrate the richness of culture that international students bring to the Biola community. Our international students have always been and will continue to be an important and significant part of Biola.

Departments across the university including Biola’s Student Immigration Services and Global Student Programs & Development are working together to support and care for international students and advocating for them by communicating with our elected officials. We are staying apprised of the evolving situation and will update our international students as soon as more information is available.

If you are an international student and have questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to fitsum.mulat@biola.edu. Your ability to fulfill your dreams of earning a Biola degree is of utmost importance to us.

Sincerely,

André Stephens
Vice President for Student Development

May 29, 2020

Dear Biola community,

As I shared at the end of April, Biola is planning to be open for on-campus, in-person undergraduate and graduate studies for the Fall 2020 semester. I couldn’t be happier. From what I can tell, this has been met with relief and anticipation.

Our commitment throughout this entire COVID disruption has been to make our reopening decisions based on two criteria and two alone. First, we will assure you as students that we will provide the continued level of excellence Biola University is known for in our academic programs and student services. And second, we will do all we can to ensure the safety of those who study and work on our campus. These pledges have been at the heart of all our planning.

Today I want to share with you some additional details on decisions we have made since my April 30 announcement with research-based recommendations from the Biola University Reopening Team, which was made up of health professionals, faculty, campus safety leaders, administrators, and a student leader. The BURT team utilized both internal and external resources to develop strategies for addressing areas across campus, including reviewing the guidelines provided by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, World Health Organization and the American College Health Association.

Academic Calendar Changes

For students who will be living on campus, we will open our residence halls and apartments in August. Students, sometime in July you will be assigned the date and time you can move in, with first-year students arriving in one of the earlier groups. Move-in dates, orientation and student leader arrival dates will be staggered to allow for appropriate physical distancing. More details will be shared over summer.

On-campus courses will begin as planned on Monday, August 31 and continue through November 24. This means we will complete our on-campus instruction the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. The final two weeks of the semester will include a week of remote learning after Thanksgiving and then a week of remote final exams. The semester will officially conclude on December 11. In order to accomplish this, we will modify the Torrey Bible Conference in October to preserve and maximize the number of instructional days. December Commencement will most likely be rescheduled for some time in 2021.

The schedule I am communicating today will enable us to end on-ground instruction Thanksgiving, and most students leaving campus at that point with some exceptions made for certain academic majors and those with extenuating circumstances who will need to remain on campus past Thanksgiving. This schedule minimizes the challenge of students leaving for Thanksgiving break, possibly getting exposed to the virus, and returning to campus and possibly spreading it to others. Additionally, it minimizes the risks of COVID-19 symptoms being commingled with flu symptoms in what is already considered flu season.

Because of this modified on-campus schedule, we want to help students and families with an average 13 percent credit for room and board fees for the Fall semester. (Please note that in some cases the credit may impact loan eligibility and in rare instances other aid eligibility. The Financial Aid Office will notify you of any changes at the time the credit is processed.) For students who may be thinking about commuting from home, this might be a great semester for you to move on-campus. 

Our Fall schedule configured this way will result in less travel, less potential virus spread and will hedge against a second wave of the virus should that come later in the calendar year. We believe that this is a wise and prudent stewardship of the semester.

Instructional Model

When students return to campus in late August, the way in which they experience Biola will be different than what has been typical for us. For one, all of our classes will be offered in a hybrid-flexible model or hy/flex with the exception of our current fully online courses. In addition, post-traditional students will not be affected by the hy/flex model.

The hy/flex model means though students will experience the best of classroom learning, all of our courses will also be adaptable for students who cannot be present for some or all of the semester. This hy-flex option will be accommodating for a variety of students such as global students whose visas may not allow them to start the first of the semester or for students whose health situation may mandate a temporary on-campus quarantine. This added benefit of hy-flex gives all students options that suit their learning situations and schedules and will allow our professors to accommodate any number of situations posed by this COVID disruption.

Classes may include students who are simultaneously, in the classroom, connected via live web conference from their dorms and across the U.S. or abroad. Recordings may be utilized for student populations that experience significant time zone differences or limitations in accessing live web conference events. The faculty from the various academic programs will be working over the summer months to determine which classes will be offered in which format. As faculty prepare for fall classes using the hybrid/flex model they will be ready to pivot their courses away from in-person instruction to online or remote delivery if a resurgence of COVID-19 occurs during the semester. If we need to return to remote instruction and ask our residential students to move out of the residence halls, we will credit our students for housing and meals based on the time of the semester.

Health and Safety Measures

We will be taking extraordinary steps to assure Biola is safe and healthy across our campus. This will be evident in our policies, processes and systems I believe will be among the most thoughtful and safe in higher education.

Earlier this month I was asked by LA County to chair the County Work Team framing the best-practices for the County’s 80 colleges and universities to open for their nearly 700,000 students. In this role I have had a front row seat with County supervisors and public health administrators, participating in frequent conversations and planning meetings. Through this we have learned much about a safe and healthy reopening of Biola, though most of the work of our planning has taken place through an amazing internal Biola task force. Let me share with you a few things you can expect, and I want to thank our Biola University Reopening Team chaired by Dr. André Stephens and vice chaired by Dr. Tammy Anderson and Chief John Ojeisekhoba.

What will this look like here at Biola in the Fall?

• Everything we do will be within strict adherence to Los Angeles Department of Public Health guidelines, and we will report to LADPH as necessary.
• All faculty, staff and students will be given a thorough orientation to Biola’s COVID-19 culture of safety and health practices, behaviors and priorities.
• Residence halls will have rooms configured to maintain appropriate distances and rooms and community bathrooms will be sanitized frequently.
• We will be limiting residential room occupancy to no more than two students per room.
• All common and high-touch areas will be routinely disinfected by increased custodial support, and hand-sanitizing dispensers will be placed throughout campus.
• Dining venues will not offer self-served meals but will staff-serve our diners and will offer to-go service and honor dining density protocols in all eateries.
• Classrooms and other spaces such as the library and outdoor spaces are being reconfigured to meet physical distancing guidelines. There will be fewer students in classrooms. Even though the vast majority of our courses have fewer than 25 students, we will be ensuring that all classrooms maintain a six-foot distance between students.
• This physical distancing protocol will also be true for chapels, lectures and social gatherings.
• NCAA DII intercollegiate sporting events are still planned to take place, though spectators will be limited and most all competition will be accessible through live streaming.
• Highly trafficked pedestrian ways will be designated as one-way sidewalks to prevent over-exposure.
• On-campus COVID testing will be provided for symptomatic students in cooperation with CDC and LA County guidelines.
• Safety policies will be in place to accommodate high risk and vulnerable students and employees, including options to study or work remotely.
• Policies will be in effect for the wide use of cloth face coverings, and an ample supply of personal protection equipment (PPE) will be on hand for Biola’s medical professionals and those who are symptomatic. Every student will receive a cloth face covering.

• Students who exhibit COVID-like symptoms can be evaluated and tested by the Health Center.

• Residential students who exhibit COVID-like symptoms will be moved to on-campus quarantined rooms where they will receive support, including meals, remote coursework and health services.
• Processes and training programs will be set for contact tracing and a response team will be established to make sure we are limiting contagions.
• Access to campus will be monitored 24/7 to ensure safety and health protocols are known and followed.

These are the guidelines currently in place, and we will be adding to these and adjusting these over the summer months. As you can see, we are working hard and non-stop to make sure the Fall semester provides students all they expect from a Biola University education, and more. We will continue forming our students in all of our educational delivery to live into their calling and be the best at who God has called them to be. This will happen through faculty mentoring. This will happen in our co-curricular programs in leadership, in service, in the arts. We will do this through internships and intercollegiate athletics. We will continue to develop our students to be part of a learning community where conversations happen over meals and in residence halls. We will commit to nurture the life of the mind through academics and research opportunities. At Biola, vibrant worship will continue to happen and lifelong relationships will be fostered. And as we have for generations, we will do this in community.

And above all, this historic moment will enable us to see the sovereignty of God at work on our campus and in our world. And our students will rise up through this setback to live more courageously, lead more confidently, love more contagiously, and learn more collaboratively. And we do this in a biblically centered university equipping our students in mind and character to influence the world for the cause of Christ. No virus will rob Biola of these virtues.

I so look forward to seeing you in late August. Please keep in touch with us, as we are eager to help you. Visit our COVID-19 website. We are here for you, and stay tuned for additional virtual town halls throughout the summer when we will be updating you on more developments toward our August reopening. May the peace and joy of Christ fill your hearts today.

Blessings in Christ,

Barry H. Corey

Dear students,

We understand how difficult this semester has been with the disruption and uncertainty caused by COVID-19, especially when it comes to your finances. We want to help you by sharing important information about financial assistance available to you. Please read the following information on the financial support that is available to Biola University students.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act was approved by Congress in late March. Biola has submitted the necessary paperwork and is hoping to receive its funding by early June. Biola is committed to using the CARES Act funds, within the parameters set by the government, to help those students with the greatest needs while meeting the needs of as many students as possible.

If you have incurred expenses, beyond what you would have typically, as a result of the disruption of campus operations due to coronavirus, there may be funding available through the CARES Act if you are eligible for any type of federal Title IV (FAFSA) aid including federal loans.

To find out if you are potentially eligible for CARES Act funding, please do the following:

1. Determine if you are eligible for federal Title IV (FAFSA) aid, including federal loans, by:

• Reviewing your most recent official financial aid award notice (not an estimated notice) to see if you were awarded Federal Direct Loans or Pell Grant.
• Visiting the FAFSA website if you did not file a 19/20 or 20/21 FAFSA and reviewing the eligibility criteria.

1. If you are Title IV eligible according to the website, please submit your request for funds via the online form below by May 18, 2020.

Complete the CARES Act Application Form

Students who fill out the above form will be notified if they qualify. Students who have expenses covered by the CARES Act will be issued a payment which will be mailed to the address indicated on the application.

For additional details about the CARES Act and other financial resources, visit Biola’s Coronavirus Financial Resources website.

COVID-19 Financial Resources

If you or your family have experienced a loss of income that is impacting your ability to pay your school bill next year, please complete the COVID-19 Financial Impact Questionnaire. The Office of Financial Aid will review this information to determine if there are potentially other available resources to assist you.

Sincerely,

Geoff Marsh
Senior Director of Financial Aid

Dear Biola community,

I am announcing today that Biola University plans to open for on-campus, in-person undergraduate and graduate studies for the Fall 2020 semester. Adhering to commonsense health standards and permissions set by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and the State of California, the university is intending for new and returning students to begin classes in early September, preceded by New Student Orientation.

As Governor Newsom shared in his briefing on April 28, California is working on moving from the “stay at home” order to reopening with adaptations. Though no clear date has been set on when the “stay at home” orders will be modified, State authorities are monitoring six key indicators that will relax the current orders. As the state moves toward lifting the orders, we are now planning for the Fall semester.

To ensure a well-planned transition back to campus life, I have commissioned a Biola University Reopening Team of qualified academic, health, logistic, counseling, science, safety and communication leaders. This task force is currently underway planning in detail a multi-tiered process in preparation for students to join us on campus this Fall. Safety, flexibility and quality will be the hallmarks that define our reopening. Among the many priorities, our faculty and staff will be working on our academic offerings, campus security and safety, risk mitigation, cleanliness standards, distancing protocols and the protection of the health of each member of this community—physically, and emotionally. This is what we do as a Christ-centered and caring Christian educational community. These are the ways we love our neighbors on campus.

In making this decision, the Cabinet and I are committed, throughout the university, to follow prudent cautionary measures to protect our students, faculty, staff and neighbors as well as extended family members. We have not taken this charge lightly. Through this global disruption new challenges have arisen, challenges we will address with wisdom, timely data, creativity and innovation. Among the many precautions we are taking both to protect our community and to provide a life-enriching on-campus Biola experience, we will establish protocols on how we will gather together, monitor health, house students safely and prepare flexible course delivery options to be able to pivot seamlessly.

Though Biola University over recent years has developed and will continue to develop strong digital learning programs, we also know the value of a campus-based college education. As a New York Times op ed said Monday, “The reopening of college and university campuses in the fall should be a national priority.” I agree. Our students are formed to live into their calling through faculty mentoring, co-curricular programs in leadership and ministry, experiencing the arts, research in labs, the richness of our library, deep conversations over meals, residential housing, vibrant worship, intercollegiate sports and through building lifetime relationships fostered in community. These are virtues of Biola for which we have longed to return since transitioning abruptly to remote academic delivery six weeks ago.

For weeks now, university leaders charged with strengthening Biola through this unprecedented season have been meeting tirelessly. I have seen in them and throughout the university our already stellar faculty and staff rising to the occasion. From this extraordinary work, I believe we will emerge through this COVID-19 crisis as a better, stronger, more educationally effective, missionaly energized, more compassionate and collaborative Biola equipped for a greater and more faithful global influence.

What we offer at Biola is distinct and needed now more than ever. Through this season, I believe God is preparing us as never before for a renewal of our Kingdom mission to educate a rising generation called to be culture-shaping, gospel-loving, truth-telling, grace-exuding little Christs, as C.S. Lewis names them. Imagine the good these Biola graduates will offer with excellence to the world of healthcare, public policy, education, commerce, research, the arts, media and the Church. Imagine the strength these diverse students with a Biola degree will bring to non-profits, to families, to neighborhoods, to congregations and to cities across the nation and around the world.

For these reasons and absent any government restrictions indicating otherwise, we plan to be open for business come the fall semester with careful preparation to ensure health and safety. We look forward to experiencing again this life-giving dimension of our campus community.

Blessings in Christ, 

Barry H. Corey
President

All of us at Biola are thinking of you and praying for you as you near the end of the semester. As I think about you, it saddens me to realize this is not the end of the school year you were expecting when the semester started. I am inspired by your resilience and willingness to persevere during this time, and we want to do whatever we can do to care for you well and close out the semester. We can’t wait to have you back in the fall! Or, if you are graduating, we can’t wait to see what’s in store for you in the days and years ahead and see you at your commencement ceremony sometime in the future.

A few weeks ago on April 9, I sent communication about the temporary grading policy that provides students the option to change their grades to Credit/No Credit (CR/NC) this spring 2020. As a reminder, the decision to allow this temporary grading policy option for students was made in direct response to the unprecedented situation of COVID-19. Details of the policy are available on the coronavirus website. As we said in the communication, we have developed a series of FAQs for you as you consider the implications of your decision. You may receive more specific guidance from your academic program.

The CR/NC grade change form will be released in MyAccount on Wednesday, May 6 and you have until May 30 to submit the form for any course you wish to change to CR/NC. As in any other semester, faculty will submit course grades at the end of the spring 2020 semester. You will then be able to request to change one or more of your courses using that form. Please review the policy, guiding questions and answers, read any communication sent by your academic program, and consider consulting an advisor before you make a final decision about whether or not to change to a CR/NC grade. You will not be able to reverse the Credit/No Credit option once selected, so these decisions should be made carefully.

I’m hopeful that this option provides some breathing room for you. I’ve heard stories from many of your faculty members that you are pressing in and working hard up until the end. President Corey and I are establishing a regular opportunity for students and families to hear updates from us and answer your submitted questions. We invite you to a virtual town hall on Thursday, April 30 at 5:30 PST. Here are the details for how to submit your questions and a link to watch the virtual event.

I’m so grateful for your demonstrated commitment to your learning, our community, and Christ during this time.

With appreciation,

Deborah Taylor

Dear Biola students,

We know that you, students, have been burdened and overwhelmed by the disruption COVID-19 has caused. This second half of the semester has not been easy for you. We have heard your concerns related to your grades and we have made adjustments to support you during this time keeping in mind what’s best for your college career. In collaboration with different curricular and co-curricular departments across campus, two decisions have been made that will impact your academic experience.

First, a temporary grading policy option has been approved for students to choose, if they desire. Through our transition to remote delivery formats, we have been committed to providing remote education that maintains the highest quality instruction possible. We trust that you have fully engaged in your courses. However, we know that some students have faced extraordinary circumstances beyond their control during this transition, but more specifically with the circumstances created by the pandemic. In response to our students’ needs, we are providing you with a Credit/No Credit (CR/NC) option for Spring 2020. We encourage you to seek counsel from faculty and staff advisors on what is best for your college career in the short- and long-term.

This temporary policy provides an option for students to petition to convert one or more of their course grades for the spring 2020 semester to Credit/No Credit (CR/NC) after final grades have been submitted at the end of the spring semester. As in any other term, faculty will submit course grades at the end of the spring 2020 semester. Specific information outlining the temporary grading policy for Credit/No Credit is available on the coronavirus website. Details of the petition process for students will be emailed to students on or before April 24 and posted on the website.

Second, we have decided to move all campus-based courses to online and remote delivery for summer sessions A and B. This decision was made independent of decisions around summer conferences and events in June in order to give faculty who teach summer courses ample time to prepare to move their courses to remote delivery formats, if needed, and offer the best online experience. Currently, 70 percent of summer courses are already taught online. The remaining 30 percent of courses will move to remote delivery formats for Summer 2020. This decision does not affect any post-traditional programs that are already fully online.

If things improve and social distancing restrictions are lifted, the university could consider whether or not to allow a group of students to meet on campus for support activities. However, all courses will be taught online for the entire summer.

Finally, we want to provide clarity on the appropriate use of requesting Incompletes (INs) for Spring 2020. The Incomplete (IN) grade provision gives students 5 weeks beyond the

Friday of finals week to complete assignments. According to Student Handbook, the purpose of the Incomplete (IN) Grade process is to meet the needs of a student facing unforeseeable emergencies beyond his/her control and are serious enough to prevent completion of course assignments before the semester ends (e.g., extended illness, mental health crisis, critical family emergency). Our goal is to help students complete their coursework this semester and move forward to their next semester. However, Incompletes may be used in extreme circumstances and faculty will follow the stated policy if they determine a student’s situation warrants it. A quick reminder, graduate students will need to work with the Dean of the School and submit a Student Incomplete (IN) Grade Policy Form electronically to the dean’s office for processing. Undergraduate students will need to work with the Associate Provost office and submit the IN Grade form to associateprovostacademicadmin@biola.edu.

If you have any questions about Incompletes, registration for summer session or the temporary grading policy, please email internal.communications@biola.edu.

We know you are in different places in coping with this crisis and the impact it has had on your lives. We will continue to find ways to support you and make accommodations for the best interest of your educational careers. We will continue to pray for you as you navigate these challenging times.

Sincerely,

Deborah Taylor
Provost and Senior Vice President

In direct response to the unprecedented situation of COVID-19, the decision has been made to allow this temporary grading policy option for students. We are committed to providing remote education that maintains the highest quality instruction possible and we trust students to continue to fully engage in their courses. Advisors are ready to assist students in determining what is in their best interest in the short- and long-term regarding Credit/No Credit (CR/NC) decisions. The following information outlines the temporary grading policy regarding a Credit/No Credit option for Spring 2020.

1. This policy provides an option for students to petition to convert one or more of their course grades for the spring 2020 semester to Credit/No Credit (CR/NC) after final grades have been submitted at the end of the spring semester. As in any other term, faculty will submit course grades at the end of the spring 2020 semester.
2. Students will have until May 30, 2020, 10 business days after the date on which final grades are due from faculty, to move their courses to Credit/No Credit (CR/NC) grading if they so choose.
3. Any course in which an undergraduate student has earned a C- or above (B- or above for graduate students) is eligible to be converted to “CR” based on student petition (with the exception of courses outlined in item 6) [1]. A “CR” grade indicates a passing grade. The credit is earned, but has no effect on the student’s GPA.
4. Students who have earned a D or F may petition to convert their grade to No Credit “NC” who indicate extenuating circumstances due to COVID-19. An “NC” indicates that credit is not earned, and has no impact on the student’s GPA.
5. Students will not be able to revoke the Credit/No Credit option once selected, so this decision should be made carefully.
6. Certain program-specific course requirements may not be eligible due to external accreditation or degree requirements. More specific information will be published as details of the petition process are made available on or before April 24.
7. The policy for request for Incomplete grades is still in place, however, grades of Incomplete for Spring 2020 will not be eligible for conversion to Credit/No Credit.

Details of the submission process will be emailed to students on or before April 24 and made available on the coronavirus website.

Notes: 

[1] CR includes C-/B- grades only for spring 2020 due to the unprecedented circumstances of COVID-19.

In light of President Trump’s announcement on March 29, encouraging social distancing across the country through April 30, Biola will be extending the date for employees to work from home to May 8. Hence, Biola’s campus will remain closed through at least May 8 to visitors and anyone other than approved essential employees and students who were approved to live on campus.

Biola’s Chief Human Resources Officer Dave Grant shared on an employee call on Friday, April 3 that employees will be asked to work remotely through the end of the semester — May 8. All employees will continue to be paid through May 8 including those employees who currently are unable to do their jobs remotely. While organizations cannot guarantee employment during this time of COVID-19, Biola’s leadership is doing all they can to preserve jobs at Biola.

Yesterday, California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles County officials announced a “Safer at Home” ordinance for all residents to stay at home starting today and running through April 19 in an attempt to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Schools and colleges are exempt from this ordinance as they are considered essential businesses. In order to do our part in limiting the spread of COVID-19 in our community, however, Biola will comply with the order and suspend all on-campus operations with the exception of those who are needed for essential on-campus tasks that cannot be conducted remotely. This will be effective 11:59 p.m. on March 22, 2020 through at least April 19, 2020.

As local and state governments continue to respond rapidly to the virus, we continue to adjust our response efforts to do our part to slow the spread of COVID-19. Each government announcement brings new challenges for our campus community. We appreciate your flexibility and continued commitment these past couple of weeks to care for the health and well-being of our entire community and our neighbors.

During the next month, Biola will operate remotely with a limited number of staff working on campus. These staff members are those who either 1) need to deliver remotely the quality education our students deserve who cannot do so off-campus or 2) need to be on campus to operate basic functions and support our students staying in university-owned housing.

Although not an exhaustive list and not all personnel delivering these services will necessarily need to be on campus, the following is a list of the services we currently anticipate needing to be performed on campus:

• Health Center services and corresponding support
• Student housing and food services with delivery only
• Facilities management at reduced levels
• Campus Safety personnel
• Custodial services at reduced levels to care for the limited number of students remaining on campus and focused on sanitizing common areas
• IT services associated with onsite support and remote learning
• Human Resources and the Finance Department at reduced levels
• Faculty who are unable, either due to technical issues or because of the nature of the course, must be on campus to deliver their courses remotely.

In an effort to help guide you through the foreseeable future, the following is a summary of decisions from Biola’s administration. We expect faculty, staff and students to comply with these emergency measures. They include:

• Residential students are to vacate campus by Saturday, March 21 at 2 p.m. Only students who were approved to live on campus by the Housing and Residence Life department will be able to live on campus in the designated residence halls. Approved students are also permitted to utilize long-term parking.
• Biola’s campus will be closed through at least April 19. The gatehouse entrances at Biola Ave. and La Mirada Blvd. will be staffed 24/7, and the gate arms will be down. The gates at all other entrances to campus will be closed. Current students and employees will need to scan or show their Biola ID to enter campus. Visitors will need to check-in at a gatehouse prior to entering campus and will be strictly limited to guests of students residing on campus.
• Building access will be locked down. Academic and administrative buildings will be locked at all times and access will be limited to authorized individuals who need to access them for pre-approved work or study.
• All classes will be offered by remote delivery. Starting Monday, March 23, 2020 remote teaching and learning will resume and continue through the end of the spring semester. Professors will be communicating with their students about next week’s class schedule and expectations for the remainder of the semester.
• Do not come to campus if you have been asked to work remotely. Though some personnel assigned to the essential task functions noted earlier will likely need to continue coming to campus to work, we ask that they first seek approval from their supervisor.

We encourage you to visit Biola’s coronavirus website as updates are posted regularly and watch this video to learn more about misconceptions about COVID-19 from Biola’s Assistant Professor of Kinesiology and Health Science Danielle Walker. If you have further questions please contact the coronavirus hotline at (562) 906-4501.

Your understanding and cooperation during this challenging time is greatly appreciated as, together, we work to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Dear students,

In light of Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent executive order for California residents to stay home, the Department of Campus Safety is strongly recommending that students who were not granted permission to remain on campus leave campus for home by 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 21, 2020. Since this order will take effect tomorrow, Friday, March 20, we want to ensure students are able to get home safely as soon as possible.

Many of you have already moved out, but there are still nearly 800 students who remain on campus yet to check out. We are emailing all residential students so you can help spread the word that the deadline has moved up by a day.

If due to pre-arranged travel plans you are unable to leave on Saturday, we ask that you try to adjust your plans to leave as soon as possible. Many airlines are offering the opportunity to change flights at no additional cost.

Please complete the Express Check Out process by putting your key and Express Check Out sheet in a sealed envelope and leaving it under your RD’s office or at the Housing Services desk, and completing the final step form. It is critical that you fill out the Express Check Out Final Step form when you leave campus so that we can process your housing and meal plan costs and maintain an accurate headcount. If you have already left campus and didn’t complete the express check out, please contact undergrad.housing@biola.edu

We apologize for the inconvenience this change might cause you and your family. Unfortunately, the situation changes daily and we want to make sure students get home safely and quickly.

Sincerely,

André Stephens
Vice President for Student Development

Dear Biola students,

This is a different time for Biola and for you as you finish the remainder of the spring semester remotely. As you transition to remote delivery formats on Monday, March 23, 2020, departments across campus will be available to support you for the remainder of the semester. We want to share how Biola will support you through the next seven weeks.

Your success during this transition is our priority. We’ve put together a page on the coronavirus website that includes resources for remote learning to assist you during this time:

• Tips for Succeeding in Remote Learning
• A Feedback Process for Remote Learning
• Accessing the Library
• Rhetoric and Writing Center Resources
• Learning Center Support
• IT Support
• Accessing Student Financial Services and Financial Aid
• Academic Advising and Registration
• The Career Center

Our faculty and staff are still available to connect with you virtually. See this information to find out how to set up an online meeting or phone appointment with academic departments and services.

Continuing students are still required to complete academic advising in order to prepare for Fall 2020 registration, and will still need a PIN to register. Your academic advisor or program will be reaching out with more details!

Your overall well-being is most important to us during this time. If you are experiencing challenges financially, emotionally, physically or spiritually, there are resources to support you! Some examples include:

• Pastoral Care
• Biola Counseling Center
• Basic Needs
• How to access free internet
• Health Insurance

As we transition to remote learning formats, please remember that students are still expected to adhere to the Community Standards and the Title IX/Sexual Misconduct policy. In this unique season, our hope is that whether you are on campus or hundreds of miles away, you will be empowered, transformed and thriving. We ask that you continue to commit to living with integrity, accepting responsibility for your actions and words, living in reconciled relationships, submitting to biblical instruction and walking with the Holy Spirit.

In the midst of all of this, we continue to keep the Biola community in prayer. We invite you to visit the coronavirus website for a list of prayers written by Campus Pastor Todd Pickett. Join us in praying for each other.

Sincerely,

André Stephens
Vice President of Student Development

March 17, 2020

Dear Biola community,

This is a hard season for so many at Biola University, not to mention nationally and globally. I have heard stories from some of you about your anxiousness and heartaches. And as our nation and state continue to impose new guidelines and restrictions, the burdens seem heavier. We are people of faith and hope, yet we are also people who share in each other’s sorrows and bear each other’s burdens (Galatians 6:2). These struggles may go on for a while to come before the burdens lessen.

In this rapidly escalating COVID-19 environment, our desire is to stay ahead of where we see the situation moving. Our first priority is our campus community. We are receiving continuous information from county, state and federal officials. In light of this information, we are making decisions we believe are best for the university and the health of so many, especially those who are most vulnerable. As a result, each of us is being asked to step up in new ways and do things we haven’t done before for the good of the nation and world. Life has temporarily changed. I appreciate our community’s patience and vigilance as we all navigate these unprecedented times. As I shared with you last week, we remain committed to ongoing communication through our website, FAQs and messages from me.

In consultation with the good and thorough work of the COVID-19 University Response Team (C.U.R.T.), the President’s Cabinet has made a number of decisions. These decisions were fully supported last night by the Board of Trustees Executive Committee. As we considered the impact they would have on our community, our overriding desire was for the health and benefit of our students, faculty, staff and others. These decisions were made seriously, and please know that as a Cabinet we have prayed, are praying and will continue to pray for divine wisdom and Spirit-led discernment in all we do. The following are our decisions as of March 17:

• We are instructing students to vacate Biola’s residence halls and university-owned apartments, so that they may return home as soon as possible but no later than Sunday, March 22. We believe this is in students’ best interest as President Trump has hinted at restricting travel to and from California. We don’t know how federal and state regulations might ramp up in the coming days. We also understand that students may have real and significant reasons why they cannot return home. Students who believe they must stay on campus and continue meals here due to extenuating circumstances should fill out the form Request to Stay. As all students are now being asked to return home, students no longer need to complete the “Plans for the Rest of Spring 2020” form. For students moving home, Biola will fully credit their student accounts for housing and meals on a prorated basis. This supersedes previous communication regarding housing cancellation costs. Housing and Residential Life staff will follow up later today with residential students via email to provide additional details on the move-out process as well as to provide support to students who need to remain on campus.

• While there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 at Biola, we want to minimize the risk of members of the Biola community contracting the virus. Beginning tomorrow, with their supervisor’s approval, any faculty or staff with non-essential “on-campus” tasks will work remotely until at least April 3. Similarly, all business meetings should transition to an online environment, with additional support as needed from IT. We will continue to assess and update staff and faculty if this return date changes. Divisional vice presidents will determine who on their teams will need to be present on campus to continue serving the community. We are asking those employees who do come to work to practice strict hygiene, social distancing and health consideration protocols.

• The campus will be closed to outside visitors effective March 23 through at least April 3 with the possible exception of certain vendors and contractors. The university will no longer host in-person visits to campus, but instead campus visits will be managed virtually or by phone. This visitor restriction timeframe will be evaluated on a regular basis.

• Our 2020 Spring Commencement May 8-9 will be postponed with more information coming as contingency decisions are made. This honors the input of graduating students whose feedback we solicited. All other in-person campus events through the end of the spring semester are canceled or will be reconstituted virtually.

In the past 48 hours, we have learned of many new restrictions issued by L.A. County, the State of California, the White House and the CDC pertaining to COVID-19. In addition, the City of La Mirada reported two confirmed cases last night. They are not, however, connected to Biola. These have led to Biola’s stricter standard on housing and employment, resulting in the above decisions.

Let me reiterate again that Biola University is not closing. On Monday, March 23, classes and chapels will resume remotely for the remainder of the spring semester. Other student services will be available remotely such as academic advising, faculty office hours, library services, the Learning Center, pastoral care and counseling services, among others. Regardless of where our students reside, we remain committed to care for them through this unprecedented time of social distancing.

Biola’s faculty members are embracing this moment and delivering through creative and innovative ways their courses and student care. I am delighted and encouraged by the ways in which they continue to educate our students in their intellectual, professional and spiritual development. They do this out of love for their students. These hundreds of professors are receiving outstanding support from the Office of Digital Learning to serve our students and minimize the disruption to their academic experience.

As I said in the opening sentence, this is a hard season. Yet we refuse to live in fear or lead by fear. We are determined to live and lead as Christ has called us, and that is by love. As we care for our own wellbeing — which we all must do — we are also loving our neighbors. As we exercise these precautions, we are protecting the health of our community and those with whom we come in contact. In all we do, we continue to live into our Biola mission as a biblically centered university to educate men and women in mind and character to impact the world for the Lord Jesus Christ. This disruption will not change who we are and what we do.

I was reminded on a phone call this morning with a dear friend and Biola dad of God’s promise. This brother has assured me that we do best when we lead and live into Joshua 1:9. “Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

On behalf of the Cabinet, I want to thank you for your understanding and cooperation. We will continue to keep you posted on new developments all the way through until this COVID-19 challenge recedes. We serve a sovereign God who is more than capable of protecting and providing during this season.

God bless you.

With great appreciation and love,

Barry H. Corey
President

Following new reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and continued discussion with health officials and campus and department leadership, Biola University Athletics will cancel all remaining spring competition and team activity, effective immediately.

The school and PacWest Conference had announced previously a suspension to all athletic events through at least March 30. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to progress and expand, a full cancelation has been deemed most prudent.

This includes all team practices and strength training sessions, effective immediately.

“With the new recommendations from the CDC and health experts, we must use an abundance of precaution and cancel all athletics activities for the good of our students and our community,” said Dr. Bethany Miller, senior director of athletics. “This is heartbreaking, in particular for our spring season senior student-athletes, however, we are confident it is the right call.”

The PacWest Conference will have continued discussion on its official response to COVID-19 on Monday afternoon, but Biola is taking proactive steps to ensure the well-being of its student-athletes, staff and extended community.

For more information on Biola’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, view Biola’s Coronavirus webpage. This provides information and resources available to Biola’s campus community.

Dear students,

Last evening you were notified that at this time, Biola is intending to keep residence halls and university-owned housing open for the remainder of the spring semester and that students have the option to remain on campus or return home. The communication last night also stated that there would be no refunds for housing although there would be prorated refunds for meal plans.

We have been receiving questions from students and parents about a housing refund. After considering the input from these groups, we have decided to provide a refund in compliance with our housing handbook. We will provide refunds in the form of a credit to the student’s account. The amount of the refund will be the prorated room rate minus applicable cancellation fees (e.g. equal to one month’s housing charges). The terms of cancellation are found online. At this point in the semester, the approximate range of the housing refund per student would be $340 - $550 after cancellation fees.

If you choose to return home, complete the “Plans For the Rest of Spring 2020” form by Thursday, March 19, 2020 and complete the Express Check Out process no later than 5:00 p.m. Sunday, March 22, 2020.

If you have any questions regarding the Check Out process, contact Housing & Residence Life at undergrad.housing@biola.edu.

For questions related to the Contract Cancellation policy, please contact Beth Braley in Auxiliary Services beth.braley@biola.edu, 562-944-0351, x5813.

Sincerely,

André Stephens
Vice President for Student Development

March 12, 2020

Dear Biola community,

As was mentioned in President Corey’s briefing yesterday, the university is taking careful steps to best serve our community in these challenging days by moving towards a remote class environment in light of COVID-19. We have engaged in extensive conversations and sought expert advice and counsel in order to arrive at the best protective options possible. I would like to announce three important decisions and provide an update on housing, commencement and students taking part in international study programs.

First, we will transition to a remote delivery format for all “in person” classes for the remainder of the semester effective Monday, March 23, 2020. Students will be receiving communication from their professors or academic administrators by Friday, March 20. Faculty will continue to provide academic advising and hold office hours to support our students through the end of the semester. University living areas will continue to remain open and food services will be available through the end of the academic year.

Second, in order to adequately transition the university to remote delivery, classes will be suspended on Monday, March 16 and Tuesday, March 17 for all students. The campus will remain open on those days as the faculty and administration test and transition courses to remote delivery formats. This will include working on courses that are more suited for in-person instruction such as art, film, music, science and others. Our aim is to ensure that our remote courses are offered with the highest quality possible. We want to maintain academic continuity for our students and research activities to the greatest extent possible as we complete the spring semester.

Third, Missions Conference and chapels have been officially canceled for next week and conference credit will not be required this semester. We want to acknowledge the hard work and planning that has gone into this conference. We will instead be integrating the planned content of the conference into the streaming chapels this spring.

Chapels will begin streaming on Monday, March 23 (not March 16 as previously communicated) and continue through the rest of the semester. Two credits will be granted to all students automatically to make up for the lost week of chapels.

Housing

At this time, the Residence Halls will remain open. However, we do realize that with classes moving to remote delivery formats, students may want to return home to finish out the semester. We understand this may be a decision you and your family may make, and Biola’s Housing and Residence Life team are here to support students whether they choose to remain on campus or not. More information will be sent to residential students later today explaining the options available to them.

Graduating Seniors

Last night, Governor Gavin Newsom ordered Californians to cancel or postpone gatherings of 250 or more attendees statewide through the end of March to slow the spread of COVID-19. In light of his decision, we will continue to assess and evaluate the likelihood of Spring Commencement taking place in May as scheduled. We will communicate any changes to Commencement to graduates as soon as information becomes available.

International Study Programs

Students taking part in the CCCU Best Semester programs will be returning home to finish their courses online, as a result of the CCCU’s announcement today that their residential programs are closing. At this time, Living and Learning Ecuador is remaining open and students will have the option to stay in the program or return home.

We encourage our Biola community to stay healthy and follow these steps to protect yourself. Thank you for your partnership, patience, and understanding during this challenging time as we continue to support the success of our students and the well-being of the Biola community.

Sincerely,

Dr. Deborah Taylor
Provost and Sr. Vice President

Dear Students,

As you learned in Provost Taylor’s email earlier this evening, classes will be suspended next week and moving to remote delivery formats as of March 23, 2020. While classes will not be meeting in person, Residence Halls and Apartments will remain open and services will be available through the remainder of the semester. We will continue to evaluate as events unfold; students can remain updated by visiting biola.edu/coronavirus.

At this time, we invite students who would like to head home to complete our Express Check Out process, detailed below. So that we can plan and provide sufficient support, we also ask that all students complete the “Plans for the Rest of Spring 2020” form communicating your plans via My Housing Self Service by Thursday, March 19, 2020. Residence Halls are not closing and your assignment will remain in effect through the rest of the year whether you choose to remain on campus or return home. In addition, all policies will remain in effect during this time.

If you plan to remain on campus, please be sure to complete the “Plans for the Rest of Spring 2020” form so we can know how to best support you through the remainder of the semester.

If you would like to check out early, please complete the Express Check Out process:

• Collect your Express Check Out packet from the front desk of your Residence Hall during RA duty hours, or from your Graduate Assistant if you live in the Apartments.
  • Express Check Out packets will be available beginning at 4 p.m. tomorrow, Friday, March 13.
  • If you need to check out earlier than this, please contact your Resident Director or Graduate Assistant.
• Fill out all included forms and complete necessary cleaning to your residence.
• Drop your Express Check Out packet with forms, including your room key, in the designated location in your Residence Hall lobby.
• If you live in an apartment, you can drop your Express Check Out packet at the lock box located outside Student Services, or you can deliver your packet to the Housing Services desk during office hours.
• Students planning to check out need to complete their Express Check Out no later than 5:00 p.m. Sunday, March 22, 2020.

As a reminder, Housing Selection for Fall 2020 is underway. The Housing Selection process will proceed as scheduled; please watch your Biola email for updates regarding Apartment and Residence Hall Selection times.

We understand the significant impact the coronavirus situation has on you and the remainder of your Spring semester. We appreciate your patience and grace with us as we navigate these swiftly changing dynamics. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your Resident Director, or email undergrad.housing@biola.edu.

Thank you,

Natalie Berger, M.A.
Director of Housing & Residence Life
Division of Student Development
Biola University

As announced at 1:15 p.m. today, the NCAA President Mark Emmert and the NCAA Board of Governors announced that all winter and spring NCAA Championships have been canceled in an attempt to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 via NCAA sporting events.

“Today, NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors canceled the Division I men’s and women’s 2020 basketball tournaments, as well as all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships. This decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to the spread of the pandemic, and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities,’ as stated in the official communication from the NCAA.

As a result of this decision, the PacWest Conference announced the suspension of all spring competitions through March 30. At that time the situation will be re-assessed.

Effective immediately, all sports at Biola University, regardless of conference affiliation, will suspend play of spring competitions. This includes non-conference and conference contests for all 16 programs. Additional information will be provided as it becomes available.

“The health and safety of our community of student-athletes and staff is our top priority,” said Dr. Bethany Miller, senior director of athletics. “Currently, we are working with officials at the PacWest Conference and NCAA to ensure that we can make the best of this unprecedented situation.”

The PacWest Conference’s decision mirrors decisions made by the rest of the NCAA Division II West Region conferences (GNAC, CCAA).

For more information on Biola’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, view Biola’s Coronavirus webpage. This provides information and resources available to Biola’s campus community.

Dear Biola Bound Registrants,

We are writing to inform you that in light of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and increased risk of contracting the virus through air travel, we have made the decision to cancel the Biola Bound events taking place March 14-17, 2020 and April 18-21, 2020.

We are sorry that you will not be able to visit our campus as you had planned. Campus visits are such an important step in your college selection process. However, yesterday the university announced new air travel restrictions for its employees that go into effect this coming Monday and will be in place through April. We do not feel it is appropriate to restrict our employee’s travel yet ask you to fly to Southern California for Biola Bound. We apologize for the inconvenience this will cause, but believe it is in your best interest and the university.

We encourage you to contact your airline immediately and ask for a travel credit. Most airlines are waiving change fees and offering travel vouchers that can be used for a set period of time. We will also be working to refund your registration fee in the days to come.

Thank you again for your understanding. We are hopeful you will be able to come and visit our beautiful campus in the future when it is safer to travel. In the interim, be sure to visit our virtual tour online.

Please join us in praying for those directly impacted by the virus, and that God would protect and bring healing to our land. 

Sincerely,

Lee Wilhite
Vice President of Enrollment, Marketing and Communications

Dear Biola Community,

Since early January, we have been monitoring the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, preparing internally for how Biola would respond if the virus spreads to the U.S. With COVID-19 now established in the U.S. and an increase of its cases in California, we are intensifying our institutional response. We are responding in a way that is consistent with current COVID-19 guidelines established by the California Department of Public Health. Although there are no known cases of COVID-19 on Biola’s campus, like other colleges and universities in the state we are taking steps to help prevent community transmission. I know this is as important to you as it is to us as decision-makers, and we are grateful for your patience, understanding and flexibility.

As Biola parents, students, faculty and staff, you know this is a situation that affects all of us. It is natural to feel uncertain and anxious not only about the health implications but also the economic impact of this outbreak. While it is clear that disruptions to our community life are inevitable, we intend to continue the work of educating our students and maintaining their curricular and co-curricular opportunities to the greatest extent possible. At the same time, we are exercising caution to keep our community safe and protect the health of our students, faculty and staff as well as those beyond our campus with whom they interact.

The President’s Cabinet and I are grateful to the capable campus leaders whose advice, decisions and ongoing actions are aimed at minimizing the spread of this virus and protecting those who are vulnerable. We have leaned on counsel from the University Health Center, Office of University Travel Safety and Risk Mitigation, University Communications, Educational Technology, Legal Counsel, Spiritual Development, Information Technology and Facilities Management, among others.

I have commissioned a COVID-19 University Response Team (C.U.R.T.) under the leadership of Campus Safety Chief John Ojeisekhoba and Health Center Director Sarah Templeton (MSN, FNP) as co-chairs. They will be charged with monitoring our current measures, building contingencies for taking more serious and immediate action if necessary, recommending when to accelerate our measures and when eventually to relax them. C.U.R.T. will have some responsibilities and will also have direct recommendation authority to the President's Cabinet.

In addition, we are implementing the following new preventative protocols and “social distancing” measures effective immediately:

• The university is limiting the size of events to no more than 150 in attendance at a single location through the end of March, though the university will be reevaluating this limit and timeframe, making and posting adjustments as necessary. Events such as Missions Conference will be adapted and reconstituted to meet this criteria. Events scheduled to take place in April will be evaluated and determined in the next week whether they will continue as planned or need to be reconstituted. In the meantime, staff, faculty or students who are planning events in April or later should develop contingency plans such as utilizing streaming services across multiple venues.

• All chapel offerings will be canceled for the remainder of this week including AfterDark tonight. Beginning Monday, March 16, chapel offerings will transition from meeting in their on-campus locations and instead be streamed. Students will receive more on how to access chapel offerings and receive chapel credit during the scheduled streaming time.

• The university’s preventive health protocols will be posted on campus and on the university’s coronavirus website, and students, staff, faculty and visitors are expected to abide by these protocols and take standard precautions, especially as it relates to prudent social distancing. If people feel they may have come into contact with someone who has a confirmed case of COVID-19, they should contact the emergency hotline immediately at (562)777-4000.

• At this time, all Biola Athletics NCAA Division II events will continue as scheduled consistent with current NCAA practice. Spectators are encouraged to stream events instead of attending in person. However, if you do choose to attend the events, please exercise health and safety protocols (e.g. social distancing).

• Beginning March 16 all university-related air travel will be canceled through the end of April. The exception to this is athletic team travel as the governing body of NCAA has not canceled any games or competitions at this point. Faculty, staff and students are responsible for forwarding confirmations for all Biola-related flights, hotels, registrations and rental cars through the end of April to purchasing@biola.edu. The Purchasing department will make cancellations based on the date of the event and will update departments accordingly. Students, faculty and staff already scheduled for university-related air travel or group travel after April are “on hold” until further notice. A final decision regarding post-April university-related travel for students, faculty and staff will be made by April 1. All new travel requests submitted for travel after May 1 will be held by the Purchasing department until this decision is made.

• University leaders have been in contact with all students studying abroad and they are working with those students on a case-by-case basis to assess when to return back to the United States.

• In preparation for the campus to move toward fully remote courses, next week the university will be testing remote delivery formats. An update on the move to remote delivery and the start date will be provided next week.

• For the time being, symptom-free students will be expected to attend classes as scheduled. For the remainder of the semester, so long as courses continue to meet “in person,” professors will not be applying attendance-based criteria in their grading. However, the professor instead may choose to assign an alternative learning activity for the student who misses the class(es) beyond what is stated as acceptable absences in their syllabus.

• For those in our community who are experiencing emotional distress from the health or financial news surrounding the coronavirus, counseling is available through Biola Counseling Center and pastoral care through the Office of Spiritual Development.

• Staff are expected to continue to report to work each day. Human Resources is asking all staff who are mildly ill with flu-like symptoms to talk to their supervisor about taking sick time or working from home. All faculty who are mildly ill should connect with their chair or dean to determine implications for their course (the provost will be sending additional details tomorrow after conferring with the academic deans). This is in an effort to prevent the potential spread of an illness. Consistent with CDC guidelines, faculty or staff should not return to work until they are free of fever for at least 24 hours without fever-reducing medication. According to our current policy, faculty or staff who are out for more than 5 days will need to get a doctor's note clearing them to return to work.

• Many on our teams are working hard to sanitize our work, study and living environments. The custodial team at Biola has been extra diligent in disinfecting areas on campus where there is a likelihood of germ spread such as service counters, conference tables, classroom desks and door handles, and they continue to work above and beyond in sanitizing our campus.

• Bon Appetit, Biola’s food services provider, has closed all self-service stations in the eating venues out of an abundance of caution. A limited menu is available. All food is being served or pre-plated and portion control is being used for condiments. Bon Appetit is monitoring students’ feedback and making adjustments, as appropriate, in order to provide students with a good eating experience and maintaining preventive health measures. In addition, the Bon Appetit team is disinfecting all highly touched surfaces hourly, emphasizing and enforcing personal hygiene awareness and health-reporting policies to all staff.

• A regularly updated FAQ section is on the dedicated coronavirus website. This should be considered the “go-to site” for all up-to-date information on Biola’s response to COVID-19.

• Urgent questions should continue to be directed to the Biola University emergency line (562) 777-4000. All other questions can be funneled through the Biola coronavirus hotline at (562) 906-4501.

We will continue to post regular updates to students, parents and employees on Biola’s coronavirus website. We hope this information will be helpful to you in protecting the health and well-being of all who spend time on this campus.

I know that both the spread of COVID-19 nationally and our consequent protective decisions affect not only Biola’s programs and planning but the lives of our students, families and employees. For many of you, the steps we are taking to protect the health of the community may involve inconvenience and personal sacrifice. Please know that the decisions we have made may change as we monitor the campus affects daily, and there is a possibility we could step up our restrictions even more.

I am extremely grateful for your prayer and concern, not just for Biola but for the tensions this is creating globally. Biola has long been known as a praying community, an expression of the body of Christ defined by compassion, grace and respect. Let us continue to saturate this campus with prayer and work together, all as one.

“Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).

I’m grateful to the Biola teams for working relentlessly on this situation and continuing to protect our community.

Blessings in Christ.

Warmly,

Barry H. Corey
President

Dear students,

Chapels are a central part of the spiritual, educational and communal life at Biola. With that in mind, but also with the intent to create a safe and healthy environment for all, Biola Spiritual Development has made important changes to the chapel format in light of COVID-19. Please be assured that there are no cases of the coronavirus on Biola’s campus at this time, and according to the Department of Public Health there is no imminent threat to our campus. The changes to chapel are being made in an abundance of caution.

Starting Monday, March 16, 2020, chapel will move to a streaming format which will continue through the end of the semester, allowing students to satisfy this integral part of the Biola education. Due to guidelines for large gatherings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in-person chapel gatherings are suspended for the remainder of the semester, effective immediately. Tonight’s After Dark has been canceled. Chapel will move to a streaming format beginning Monday, March 16 at 9:30 a.m.

Streaming Chapel Format

Each chapel will now be streamed on Canvas and will be available to the entire student community. All chapels except AfterDark and Singspiration will be available for streaming. Since the central contributions of AfterDark as a student-run chapel and Singspiration as an all-worship/prayer chapel cannot be honorably replicated online, these two chapels regretfully will be suspended for the rest of the semester.

Streaming chapels will be hosted on Canvas. In order to view chapel, please enroll into the course on Canvas titled, “Enroll in the Chapel Canvas Course.”

M/T/W/F Morning Chapels and T/Th Fives have been selected for streaming. Chapel streaming opportunities will begin and end as follows:

• Monday: 9:30 - 10:15 a.m.
• Tuesday: 9:30 - 10:15 a.m. and 5 - 5:35 p.m.
• Wednesday: 9:30 - 10:15 a.m.
• Thursday: 5 - 5:35 p.m.
• Friday: 9:30 - 10:15 a.m.

How to Receive Chapel Credit

Receiving chapel credit will require quality engagement from the very beginning of the streaming until its end. The process for receiving chapel credits will be explained during each stream, and students are encouraged to attend as many as they can online. Since physical space is no longer a factor, attaining the required 20 credits is even more possible with the new format.

Students should be aware of the following:

• Credit will only be earned if you log into Canvas at the beginning of the streaming, stay logged in for the entire chapel, and complete feedback that will be explained at various times during the streaming.
• This streaming format does not mean chapel will be available on-demand. Students will only be able to attain credit during the designated times listed above.
• MyAccount will still be the place to track your chapel credits, and these will be updated within 48 hours after the completion of the chapel. If there are any issues, please contact chapel.accountability@biola.edu.
• If you do not have a computer, phone or access to the internet, or if you have any other questions, please contact spiritual.development@biola.edu immediately.

At this point, the above changes apply to chapels only. As the university continues to evaluate preventative measures due to COVID-19, more information about Missions Conference adjustments and conference credits will be sent to students by the end of the week. Please continue to check biola.edu/coronavirus for up-to-date information.

If you want to speak with a Campus Pastor about any concerns that are arising in regards to the coronavirus, please make an appointment on the Pastoral Care website.

We realize that for some these adjustments might be inconvenient and may disrupt the ways we’ve grown accustomed to worship together. Please know that these decisions were made with great care and a desire to keep your health and safety a priority, while still providing the spiritual nurture and rhythms of our chapel programs. We are grateful for your understanding, cooperation, and patience in these changes.

Sincerely,

Todd Pickett
Dean of Spiritual Development & Campus Pastor

Mike Ahn
Assistant Dean of Chapels & Worship

March 10, 2020

Dear Biola grandparents,

It is with deep regret that we write to inform you that we are canceling Biola University’s Grandparents Day this Friday, March 13, 2020.

This was not an easy decision to make because we know how much you love and care for your student at Biola. However, as the university has monitored the Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, and the CDC’s strong recommendation that “older adults and travelers with underlying health issues should avoid situations that put them at increased risk for more severe disease. This entails avoiding crowded places, avoiding non-essential travel such as long plane trips...” we determined it would be best to cancel the event altogether.

We have been wrestling with this decision the last few days as some grandparents have asked we not cancel it, and others have been surprised it was still scheduled. In the end, we do not want to put anyone at risk. And while there are no known cases of COVID-19 on Biola’s campus, we felt it was best to exercise an abundance of caution especially to our beloved Biola grandparents.

Some have asked if they can still come and visit their grandchild on campus. We are not restricting visitors to campus as it remains open to the public, but there will be no official programming for Grandparents Day.

In the coming days we will be in touch with you to refund your registration fee. All guests who were registered for the "meal option" will receive a full refund unless our families notify us otherwise. All registrations not refunded will be considered donations. Please allow 7-10 business days for refunds to be processed.

Again, we are deeply sorry for this news and trust you will understand our reasoning.

Thank you for supporting your grandchild at Biola! If you have any questions, please email parents@biola.edu.

Sincerely,

Lily Tsau
Senior Director of Alumni and Parent Relations

Stephanie Ramirez
Assistant Director of Parent Relations

(the following email was sent out to students on March 6, 2020)

Dear students,

As the news of the Coronavirus, COVID-19, increases and cases in L.A. County and neighboring counties multiply, the Office of Student Health Services and University Travel Safety & Risk Mitigation would like to provide the Biola community with information regarding Coronavirus in order to equip the community with tips and proactive measures to help prevent the spread of the virus. 

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated publicly that community spread of COVID-19 in the United States is likely to occur. On March 4, 2020, the County of Los Angeles declared a state of emergency and confirmed six new cases of COVID-19 in L.A. County, which has increased to 11 as of March 6. The state of emergency was not to cause alarm but was declared in an abundance of caution in order to enhance the county’s preparedness and increase support from the state and federal partners. There are currently no cases in the city of La Mirada and no cases at Biola University.

Preventive Health Measures

Whether you have been on campus this past week, or you have been away, here are some important tips for you to follow.

• Avoid handshakes. Use verbal greetings.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for a minimum of 20 seconds or use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. An additional 22 hand sanitizers have been installed in residence halls, the gymnasium, Sutherland Auditorium and other high traffic buildings.
• Cover your cough with your sleeve, not your hands.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects in your living areas and surfaces using a regular household disinfectant spray or wipe.
• Don’t share food or drinks.
• If you feel sick, stay home and rest.

Travel from Impacted Regions

If you are returning from international regions designated by the CDC as a Level 2 or 3 risk (i.e. Italy, Korea, China, Japan) you will need to complete a clearance process coordinated by the Student Health Center and the University Office of Travel Safety & Risk Mitigation. Please contact the university emergency line 24/7 at (562)777-4000 to initiate this process before returning to campus.

If you are returning from an impacted region from Washington state, have flu-like symptoms or questions, please contact the emergency line at (562)777-4000 before returning to campus.  

If you are returning from international travel from other countries not heavily impacted by the COVID-19, pay attention to your health for 14 days after returning to the U.S. If you get sick with fever, cough or difficulty breathing, stay home and seek medical advice by the emergency line at (562)777-4000 or your personal physician. 

Campus Preparedness Plan

Over the past two months, the university’s Emergency Management Team (EMT) has developed a proactive university-wide plan to address issues related to COVID-19. The plan includes area-specific preparedness and response procedures and the purchase of essential supplies. If the spread of COVID-19 increases in LA County, the ERT will assess if large events on campus will need to be rescheduled or cancelled. Summer international mission trips are being assessed in partnership with SMU leadership and decisions about whether to cancel or redirect trips to other locations will be made by early April. 

Our commitment is to support the Biola community through this rapidly evolving global health situation, and we will continue to provide updates as new information becomes available and if things change. We have a dedicated website that will be updated as soon as we have new information. If you have any questions, please call (562) 906-4501.

Join us in continuing to pray for the areas and individuals impacted by COVID-19. 

Sincerely,

Sarah Templeton
Director, Student Health Services

Chief John Ojeisekhoba
University Emergency Preparedness
Office of University Travel Safety & Risk Mitigation

CARES Act

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act was approved by Congress in late March 2020. The aid included approximately $14 billion for colleges across the nation. The distribution of aid dollars to colleges was determined by the number of Pell Grant recipients at a given college. Biola will receive $3,922,227, 50% of which, $1,961,114 will be given to students in the form of direct aid and the remaining 50% for institutional aid. Read the details on the distribution process and criteria for students here. 

Biola received $1,961,113 from the CARES Act to cover its costs associated with significant changes to the delivery of instruction due to the coronavirus.

• Here is a copy of Biola's first HEERF Institutional Report for the period ending September 30, 2020.
• Here is a copy of Biola's quarterly HEERF Institutional Report for the period October 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020.
• Here is a copy of Biola's quarterly HEERF Institutional Report for the period January 1, 2021 through March 31, 2021.
• Here is a copy of Biola's final quarterly HEERF Institutional Report for the period April 1, 2021 through June 30, 2021.

CRRSAA

In March 2021, Biola received $1,961,114 in federal funds to be distributed to students who demonstrate exceptional financial need. This round of funding is from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II (HEERF II) by the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA). Read the details on the distribution process and criteria for students here. 

Biola also received $4,059,872 from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II (HEERF II) to cover its costs associated with the impact of the coronavirus.

• Here is a copy of Biola's first HEERF II Institutional Report for the period ending March 31, 2021.
• Here is a copy of Biola's quarterly HEERF II Institutional Report for the period April 1, 2021 through June 30, 2021.
• Here is a copy of Biola's quarterly HEERF II Institutional Report for the period July 1, 2021 through September 30, 2021.
• Here is a copy of Biola's quarterly HEERF II Institutional Report for the period September 30, 2021 through December 31, 2021. 

American Rescue Plan

Biola also received $5,297,833 in federal relief funds under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund III (American Rescue Plan) to be distributed to Biola students. Read the details on the distribution process and criteria for students here.

Biola also received $5,237,135 from the HEERF III to cover its costs associated with the impact of the coronavirus on business operations including costs to implement health protocols.

• Here is a copy of Biola's first HEERF III Institutional Report for the period ending June 30, 2021.
• Here is a copy of Biola's HEERF III Institutional Report for the period July 1, 2021 through September 30, 2021.
• Here is a copy of Biola's quarterly HEERF III Institutional Report for the period September 30, 2021 through December 31, 2021. 
• Here is a copy of Biola's quarterly HEERF III Institutional Report for the period January 1, 2022 through March 31, 2022.