100 Sacred Heart Students Suspended For Coronavirus Violations

FAIRFIELD, CT — More than 100 students at Sacred Heart University have been suspended for violating coronavirus safety protocols, a college spokeswoman said Monday.

The school has had 109 virus-related suspensions since the fall term started, according to Executive Director of Communications Deb Noack, who added two students became repeat offenders and were removed from campus for the rest of the semester.

“Violations include not wearing masks and/or not social distancing and having guests from outside the residence halls in their rooms,” Noack said in an email.

Students who are suspended cannot go to campus or participate in any university activities, according to Noack, who said suspensions typically last either 14 days or 30 days, depending on the situation.

As of Sunday, the school had 131 active coronavirus cases, according to university data. Of those, 49 were on-campus residents and 82 were living off-campus. The school had an additional 132 cases involving school community members who contracted the virus and recovered.

The university has had issues with off-campus students failing to wear masks or socially distance when attending house parties or going to restaurants and bars. Students living in Bridgeport were banned from campus last month due to an early spike in cases.

Disciplinary action is one of several tools Sacred Heart is using to try to minimize virus transmission.

Last week, the university randomly tested over 1,200 students and this week, the school plans to test 2,800 students — more than 50 percent of the undergraduate population — using a saliva testing method developed by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health.

“We are one of the first education institutions to use this test — if not the very first,” university officials said in a community message Friday.

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Sacred Heart has also installed 10 “scent tents” with floral arrangements outside various campus buildings to allow students to check their sense of smell. Loss of smell and taste can be an early symptom of the coronavirus.