University of Redlands
Check-in will begin Friday afternoon at 3:00pm in Holt Lobby. Student volunteers will have packets ready for you with wristbands, maps, links to suggest songs for the porch party Friday night and karaoke Saturday. We’ll also have check-in at each of the planned events beginning at the Cocktail Reception and Kathryn Green Plenary Panel. On Saturday, the Morning Connections will also be a place to check-in for those arriving on the 17th. If you can only make it for dinner Saturday or brunch Sunday, we’ll be able to check you in at those events as well.
At each of the locations with check-in options, as listed above, we’ll be able to register you for events. This includes late additions to the Cocktail Reception, food trucks at the block party, and Brunch on Sunday. Saturday’s dinner is sold out.
Links will be sent to everyone who registered, and to those who reached out seeking the link, on or around Feb 14. For mini-courses, we’ll have one virtual class per session, and the link will remain the same for each of the courses. All in all, there will be six sessions streamed throughout the weekend.
The current community has undertaken a long conversation across many community meetings about how to welcome you back and share the space, but also to ensure that their rooms and other spaces are still available to them for sleep, studying, and other needs. During the Friday check-in, we’ll give tours of the buildings. From there, students may choose to host you inside but generally we will not leave the buildings open during Renewal. More detailed points about our consensus will be posted on all doors throughout the weekend.
To get around during Renewal, we have a group of dedicated staff, faculty, and students who can drive you to and from different events. These Cart Captains will be wearing captain’s hats and will take you to and from various locations indicated on the map, and with decorations at each stop. Throughout the weekend, portable toilets, including ADA accessible options, will be located between Bekins and Holt. Mini-courses are, to the extent possible, scheduled for rooms on the first floors of Hall of Letters and Duke, allowing for ease of access and additional restroom facilities. We will use sound amplification for each event with planned remarks to assist those with hearing needs.
A great deal of our events are indoors. For those outdoors, we either have rain tents and heaters (Cocktail Reception) or alternative spaces planned (Porch Party.) If it rains during the block party on Saturday, we’ll be able to eat indoors. But as of this writing, the weather looks good for the weekend, and we hope that some of the recent snow is still on the mountain peaks to frame our celebration.
At all events with food options, there will be non-alcoholic beverages, including water and other drinks for the Porch Party and the Dance Party. On Saturday from 2:30-5 p.m., the Doug Bowman Meditation Room (Bekins Basement) will be available for those interested in having a sober meeting in a quiet and respectful space. It will also be available throughout the weekend if one or a group of individuals would like additional time.
We have reserved the University Labyrinth for the entirety of Renewal 55 for use by our community for contemplative activities, including reminiscences. Located behind the Memorial Chapel, you may use the space at any time that works for you.
For those on social media, we’ll use the hashtag #JohnstonRenewal55. Documentation by current students will become the basis of our next issue of the CozMcNooz, which will be issued during May 2024.
