The U.S. Naval Academy and St. John’s College signed an agreement Aug. 21 for midshipmen to utilize SJC dormitory capacity this fall.
In response to COVID-19, the Naval Academy set aside approximately 130 contingency rooms in its Bancroft Hall dormitory for quarantine and isolation requirements, if needed, creating the need for several hundred midshipmen to reside elsewhere during the fall semester.
Roughly 375 midshipmen will transition from Bancroft Hall to dormitory rooms on St. John’s College campus, just outside the walls of the Academy, in the coming weeks. This allows for additional midshipmen to return to Annapolis for the fall semester. Officer and senior enlisted leadership will also work on site at SJC, as they would in Bancroft Hall. Midshipmen residing on St. John’s campus will adhere to the same health, safety, and security protocols as they would at the Naval Academy.
The contract, which includes housing roughly 375 midshipmen, and use of several offices for leadership along with several study rooms, runs through the end of the fall semester. Further details, such as how the midshipmen will commute to and from the Naval Academy, are still being refined. More information will be released from USNA as it becomes available.
Earlier this summer St. John’s College announced their decision to move to online-only instruction for the fall semester, leaving their campus housing unoccupied. The decision was based exclusively on the health and wellness of its college community and the capacity of a small liberal arts college to safely navigate the rapidly-changing conditions of the pandemic.
St. John’s College, founded in 1696, and the United States Naval Academy, founded in 1845, share a historic relationship as close neighbors in Maryland’s capital.
