STATEMENT BY
PRESIDENT TIM TOMLINSON
REGARDING NOVEL COVID-19 CONTAINMENT
AT BETHLEHEM COLLEGE & SEMINARY
MARCH 11, 2019
It comes as no secret to you that the whole world is presently responding to a global pandemic of the Novel COVID-19 virus. To date there are only three confirmed cases of the virus in the State of Minnesota, but it seems wise that we take at least some preliminary steps toward containment of the virus in our own community. That being the case, let us assert here that our hope is not in containment but in a sovereign, benevolent God who is himself the hope of the world.
I want to announce to you a decision reached today by our Executive Council.
When we return from spring break on Monday, March 23, we will conduct classes online via an array of Google applications and not gather together for classes, chapel, or anything other than the most essential meetings until at least Monday, April 6. Details on these procedures will soon be forthcoming, such that we might even be able to demonstrate this approach in classes this week. Students and employees, please pay close attention to your bcsmn.edu e-mail addresses as we navigate this period together.
We will be issuing further general instructions regarding the management of your own and others’ health during this containment period.
The larger share of cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in the U.S. to date have been travel-related. As many of you may be traveling over spring break, it seems wise to give ourselves a period thereafter to reconnoiter and reassess. We also want to acknowledge that while many of you may regard yourselves as young, healthy, and sturdy in the face of such health threats, we do our business here amid of a community of others, many of whom are more advanced in age and therefore more vulnerable. Christ’s commandment to love our neighbor obliges us toward such care for them.
We are sure that you will have many questions, as do we. For the while, students and employees should pay close attention to their bcsmn.edu mailboxes and direct any inquiries to Cody Sandidge or Barb Waldemar if you are a student, to Acting Dean Bruno if you are a member of the faculty, and to Jason Abell if you are a member of the administrative staff.
We are trusting God in all of this, praying that the wave of vulnerability sweeping the world might be used to cause many to see and savor Christ for the first time—indeed, that this might even be an outworking of revival throughout the world.
Dr. Tim Tomlinson
President