Good Evening Manor Students and Community,

We hope that you are all doing well and taking every precaution possible to keep yourself and your family safe and healthy. Your wellbeing and safety are most important to us, and we have been doing everything we can with the hopes of opening our doors back up for the remainder of this Spring semester. While we have been praying, deep cleaning, and working diligently with the hope to see you all again back on campus soon – per Governor Wolf’s order that was just issued this evening, unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that we will be able to be back on campus for the remainder of the semester.

Governor Wolf’s order has required the physical closure of all operations at “non life-sustaining businesses” tonight.  Due to this, the remainder of the Manor College Spring 2020 semester will be completed 100% remotely via online learning in Canvas.

Our faculty were prepared for this, are ready to continue excellent instruction, and have been executing this last week of online learning phenomenally. In addition to your regular Canvas courses, we remind you to reference the new course, Manor Resources for Students, for important updates and tips on how to be a successful online learner.

For those of you who are currently in a clinical lab, we will be addressing the next steps in a separate email.

For our soon-to-be graduates, we promise to find a way to recognize your hard work and celebrate your accomplishments. You will not leave Manor without a celebration!

For our Blue Jays who reside on campus in our St. Josaphat Residence Hall, a plan for moving your belongings out will be communicated to you shortly from Resident Director, Shamika Ford.

We know this is sad news. We were looking forward to seeing the flowers bloom on campus, enjoying sunny days together on the front lawn and many more of the joys that Spring brings. However, in a time like this where our entire campus has shifted online, the thing that makes Manor special is our community. The beautiful thing about a community is that it doesn’t just have to be a physical community, it can be a digital one too.  And the beautiful thing about our community is that we have professors and staff members who care about you, and each other.  You Belong Here isn’t just a tagline that symbolizes belonging on our physical campus, it embodies belonging and togetherness in spirit.

Going forward we will continue with morning messages, and we will continue in prayerful hope of an expedient conclusion to the challenges our world faces. This moment in time possibly offers you hours in the day to be filled.  Use some of them to find authentic moments with those you love or haven’t talked to in a while.  It’s always good to catch up and to talk out things on our minds.  Please keep checking your Manor email account, Manor social media pages, and our COVID-19 Information Page for any and all updates (we are posting updates and resources daily).

Remember, Manor College Health Services can help you if you have any questions or concerns. Please contact Jen Winters, Director of Health Services, at jwinters@manor.edu or 215-886-2360 ext. 2241. Christie Prince, Director of Counseling, can be reached at cprince@manor.edu and 215-886-2360 ext. 2258

Thank you and stay healthy Blue Jays,

Doctors Jonathan Peri, President, and Marc Minnick, Provost & Vice President of Academic Affairs