More than two months after President Vincent Price first announced the Duke Compact, the details are here.
As the fall semester begins amid the coronavirus pandemic, members of the Duke community will have to agree to the Duke Compact, the text of which is included in a Monday evening news release. The agreement includes commitments to wear a mask in public and participate in COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and self-reporting of symptoms.
Duke community members will also agree to get a flu shot and follow travel restrictions as part of the Compact, which will will apply to all members of the Duke community, including students, faculty and staff.
President Vincent Price will send out the full Duke Compact to students, faculty and staff in a Tuesday email, per a Monday email to the same group of people from Leigh Goller, Duke’s chief audit, risk and compliance officer. That email from Price will include more details in an attached reference document, per the news release, and details can also be found on the Duke United website that outlines reopening plans.
Community members will have to agree to the Compact via electronic signature, according to Goller’s email. Anyone who does not sign will receive daily email prompts to do so.
While punishments for violating the agreement are not specified—and it is not meant as an enforcement tool, Goller said in the news release—violations may still carry consequences.
“We hope gentle reminders and a little peer pressure enforcement will be all that is ever called for,” Goller said in the release. “If we do have flagrant or repeated disregard for the principle, there will be consequences. It can affect student status. It can affect being able to physically be on campus, and it can affect employment status. These are very serious and very necessary expectations.”
Price first announced the Duke Compact in May as a set of guidelines for living on campus. The final details of the agreement will arrive in inboxes two days before Duke begins undergraduate move-in Aug. 6.
Read the Duke Compact below, as included in the news release:
“THE DUKE COMPACT
As a member of the Duke community, I affirm that our shared values underscore the behaviors that we expect of ourselves and one another. We are, more than ever before, individually and collectively responsible for the health and safety of our fellow students, faculty, staff, families and neighbors.
I acknowledge the trust that others are placing in me, affirm the respect I have for all members of our community, and promise to honor my commitment to them through the decisions I make and the actions I take, whether I am on campus, at home or in my neighborhood.
I recognize that Duke is committed to sustaining a safe and healthy campus, and seeks to minimize the risk to our students, faculty, staff and others who are present on our campus. And in return, I commit to do my part by caring for myself and the community.
To comply with requirements from Duke University, and state and local authorities, I will:
- Wear a mask or face covering in all public spaces.
- Maintain appropriate physical distance.
- Wash my hands often.
- Monitor and report my symptoms through the SymMon app, or approved alternatives, before coming to campus.
- Avoid large gatherings.
- Stay home when I feel ill.
- Know and follow safety plans and additional guidance that are specific to my group, workplace or activity.
- Keep confidential all health information I know or learn about others.
To protect myself and the people around me, I will:
- Participate in required COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and health monitoring.
- If instructed, self-isolate for the required duration.
- Get the flu shot and other required vaccinations by designated deadlines.
- Adhere to all travel conditions and restrictions.
- Consent to the use of institutional data to identify others who have been in proximity or close contact.
- Accept the benefits and consequences for the conditions of this compact.
- Speak up to share suggestions or concerns by calling 800.826.8109 or completing an online form.
Additional information on these expectations can be found in the attached quick reference document and at https://returnto.duke.edu.
I have chosen to be a member of the Duke community for a purpose – to learn, to live, to teach, to work – and I affirm that the Duke Compact connects us all. By agreeing to this Duke Compact, I pledge to be personally responsible and accountable. By signing my name to this pledge, I acknowledge that these are the conditions for being on campus. To be at Duke is to be united for each other.”
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Carter Forinash, Trinity '21, was the news editor for The Chronicle's 116th volume.