THE SAMFORD
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The Samford Crimson
Cafeteria adapts to
Samford intramural
Senior art student
Volume 106, Issue 1
COVID-19 guidelines P.l
sports continue P.3
paints mural P.6
September 8, 2020
Westmoreland discusses
‘Bring Back the Bulldogs’ plan
Dr. Westmoreland wears a facemask like students on campus. Photo courtesy of Samford University.
By Katy Beth Boyers
Editor-in-Chief
Over the summer, hundreds of Sam¬
ford University’s faculty7 and staff put
in hours of work to prepare campus
for this fall semester. The resulting
plan became known as “Bring Back
the Bulldogs,” which includes guide¬
lines that students and faculty must
follow if they are on campus, details
Students adapt to a new cafeteria.
Bv Megan Rose Dickey
Staff Writer
Due to COVID-19 safety guide¬
lines, Samford University imple¬
mented several changes in its
cafeteria to keep students and
employees safe this semester.
Some of these changes include re-
COVID-19 testing protocols and out¬
lines the option for professors to have
online, in-person or hybrid classes.
Samford University President An¬
drew Westmoreland said the uni¬
versity will try to have students re¬
main on campus until Thanksgiving.
Westmoreland said that so far, there
are things that have been done well,
and he acknowledged that some ar¬
eas within the Bring Back the Bull-
arranging the layout in order to ac¬
commodate social distancing and en¬
forcing stricter serving and cooking
procedures. The university requires
all students and employees to
wear a facial covering on cam¬
pus. Not only are servers required
to social distance and wear masks,
but the kitchen staff is as well.
dogs plan need some improvement.
“We are doing I think better now
than when we did initially, especially
with all of the masking and distanc¬
ing,” Westmoreland said. “1 began to
be concerned in the first two or three
days after classes began when, even
though I wasn’t seeing it, a lot of peo¬
ple just weren’t wearing masks. This
The university also collaborat¬
ed with the Sodexo Bite and Grub-
Hub apps in order to provide stu¬
dents with a daily7 menu. These
apps allow students to reserve spots
in the Caf or get food delivered.
These changes were developed this
summer. Richard Davis, the Gener¬
al Manager of Samford Dining, and
his team prepared for the students’
return by7 working with an architect
to see how best to keep the student
body safe in the Caf. Davis and the
staff also hold weekly virtual meet¬
ings with the Samford Pandemic Re¬
sponse Team to learn about the ex¬
pectations and plan for adaptability.
When various students were asked
about these changes in the Caf, many
said they appreciated how considerate
the new policies are. Students hope
these guidelines will allow them to
stay on campus the whole semester.
Continued on Page 2
Samford
quarantines
students
By Selah Vetter
News Editor
A semester of college during a glob¬
al pandemic requires numerous
changes in the daily lives of students.
One of those changes is quarantin¬
ing and or isolating at college. With
rising cases of COVID-19 on cam¬
pus, Samford University requires
students who test positive for the
virus to isolate for two weeks in or¬
der to help slow the spread of the
virus. According to the university’s
“Bring Back the Bulldogs” plan, stu¬
dents and employees who reside in
dwellings with a person who tests
positive for COVID-19, or who have
come in close contact with a person
who tests positive for COVID-19,
must quarantine for 14 days be¬
fore they can return to campus.
Originally, the university devel¬
oped a plan to build fifteen modu¬
lar homes, called Lakeshore Village,
to serve as separate quarantine/
isolation dorms. Each unit would
have housed two students for quar¬
antine and isolation purposes and
included separate bedrooms and
bathrooms. The university proposed
this initial plan to Homewood’s
Planning Commission on Aug. 4.
While members of the Homewood
Planning Commission recognized
the need for quarantine and isolation
facilities for the university, many
committee members argued that
the modular homes would not fit the
aesthetic of the city of Homewood.
“[That’s] extremely concerning
for me,” Brady Wilson, a Plan¬
ning Commission member, said
during the recording of the meeting.
While Samford employees argued
the university would be follow¬
ing Homewood guidelines for the
homes, many members were not
convinced that the modular homes
would differ from standard trailers.
“It looks like a glorified dou¬
ble-wide trailer with some skirt¬
ing on it,” Mark Woods, a Plan¬
ning Commission member, said
during the recording of the meeting.
Due to these aesthetic concerns,
the Planning Commission meet¬
ing on Aug. 4 ended with a tie vote
of 4-4. Due to the deadlock vote,
the Commission scheduled a fol¬
low-up meeting on Aug. 11 to revis¬
it the plan. However, due to limited
time before students would move
back onto campus, the universi¬
ty had to change its initial plan.
Continued on Page 2
Continued on Page 3
Cafeteria adapts to COVID-19 guidelines
Megan Rose Dickey, The Samford Crimson
