Mary Pat McMahon and Gary Bennett talk with a student Wednesday in the Brodhead Center during a period of undergraduate students staying in place. The order restricting campus movement was put in place this past weekend to stop the spread of COVID-19 following two weeks of increasing numbers of positive tests among students.
McMahon, vice provost and vice president of student affairs, and Bennett, vice provost of undergraduate education, were among the faculty and administrative leaders who reached out to students to support them during this period.
"The message we've received from students is they are consistently managing their way," Bennett said, "and that they're eager to get through the semester and get back to normal. They’re demonstrating significant resilience in a challenging moment."
Undergraduate students were allowed to go outside to study at a distance from others and for safe recreation and exercise activities in groups of no more than three people.
Throughout the academic year, Duke faculty and administrators have praised the students for their ability to pull together as a community to get through a challenging year. During this week of staying in place, many students sent messages that they were going to finish what started so well.
