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Mock Scenario Crisis Response: Disease Outbreak

Max Barnes, Sarah Biondo, Sadie Britton, Savannah Clare, & Bailey Durfey

University of Mississippi

EDHE 670

Dr. Richardson

May 3rd, 2023

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The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on our campus community, and

around the world, during the last three years. While many parts of our lives have returned to

normal, this new outbreak on campus has forced us to dust off our action plans for managing

continued operations in the face of this crisis. All decision-making will be guided by

recommendations from public health experts such as the Mississippi State Department of Health

and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This plan focuses on five primary pillars:

health services, housing, academics, campus activities, and communications.

The next forty-eight hours will be critical. Since the modes of transmission appear similar

to previous variants, the campus mask mandate will be re-implemented until further notice.

Health Services will offer free COVID-19 testing, either in-person or at-home tests. Students

living in the dorms who opt to return home will receive prorated refunds of their housing fees;

we anticipate this policy creating space that can be used for quarantine housing. In-person

classes will also be canceled for the next two weeks. The Student Union will close, in line with

previous protocol (Coronavirus, 2021) and in-person campus activities suspended, for that

duration. This information will be communicated to students via an email from the Chancellor

and the communications team. A second email from the Chancellor will inform the community

of the student's death and offer resources for those affected by this tragedy, following private

communications with the student’s family. The communications team will also maintain the call

center, which families can contact for the most up-to-date information. The guiding principles

for communication during this time are Schlossberg’s marginality and mattering theory

(Schlossberg, 1989, and Flett et. al., 2019) and Rendón’s validation model (Linares and Muñoz,

2011).
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In the days and weeks afterwards, the focus will shift to continued operations. The

priorities will be, in order, health, housing, academics, and student activities. Student Health

Services will list the new variant’s known symptoms on their website, provide space for students

to self-report symptoms and positive test results, and maintain an online symptom checker for

those who remain on campus. The communications team will relaunch the pandemic resource

website (Coronavirus disease [COVID-19, 2023, and COVID-19 information, n.d.) with up-to-

date information about this new variant and public health recommendations. Students who stay

on campus will be condensed to dorms on one area of campus to separate healthy students from

quarantine areas. Housing staff and remaining student employees will help students pack and

transfer their belongings, deliver meals to students in quarantine, and host virtual events to boost

morale. To minimize the stress of academics, we will significantly expand pass/fail and

incomplete semester policies and offer students no-questions-asked excused absences for sub-

severe COVID illness. Any student who dies during the outbreak will receive their degree

posthumously during commencement exercises for their class year. Professors will be asked to

give every consideration to their students’ preferences and comfort level when deciding on

course material delivery after that two-week break, in line with the “importance” pillar of

Schlossberg (1989). After the two-week closure of the Union, so that we have time to isolate

tables and social distancing measures, it will reopen during lunchtime for students who remain

on-campus. A longer-term plan to fully reopen the Union and resume in-person activities will be

developed over the course of the semester as the situation evolves.

Non-instructional staff with the ability to work remotely will be asked to; staff who are

unable to telecommute will have staggered schedules to reduce density and limit opportunities

for transmission. These policies will be evaluated every three weeks and adjusted as needed
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based on how the outbreak evolves on campus and in Oxford, guidance from MSDH and the

CDC, and other relevant information. While a disease outbreak is something no one ever wants

to experience, this plan will allow the university to continue essential operations while

minimizing, as much as possible, the amount of stress and anguish for students, staff, and

faculty.
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References

Coronavirus. The Gertrude C. Ford Ole Miss Student Union. (2021, November 29). Retrieved
April 30, 2023, https://union.olemiss.edu/coronavirus/

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Coronavirus Disease COVID19. (2023, April 24).

Retrieved May 1, 2023, https://coronavirus.olemiss.edu/

Covid-19 information. Coronavirus Disease COVID19. (n.d.). Retrieved April 30, 2023,
https://coronavirus.olemiss.edu/2020/08/13/wednesday-august-12-2020-covid-19-update/

Flett, G., Khan, A. & Su, C. Mattering and Psychological Well-being in College and
University Students: Review and Recommendations for Campus-Based Initiatives. Int J
Ment Health Addiction 17, 667–680 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-019-00073-6

Linares, L. I. R., & Muñoz, S. M. (2011). Revisiting validation theory: Theoretical

foundations, applications, and extensions. Enrollment Management Journal, 2(1), 12-33.

Schlossberg, N. (1989). Marginality and mattering: Key issues in building community.

New Directions for Student Services, 1989(48), 5-15. DOI:10.1002/ss.37119894803