Finlandia’s Open Safe Taskforce, in partnership with the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department and the Finlandia Emergency Management Committee, worked diligently over the summer months to prepare campus for the return of students. Across campus, new policies have been implemented to ensure the safety of our students, faculty and staff.
– First and foremost, the health, safety and welfare of students, faculty, staff, and our neighbors in the Hancock community;
– limit and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 throughout our campus and Hancock community;
– providing an excellent Finlandia education to every student; and
– standing by our commitment to being a learning community dedicated to academic excellence, spiritual growth, and service.
Learn more about when and why Finlandia might impose COVID-19 related restrictions or closures here.
Latest Update November 9, 2020: Finlandia to move to remote learning for remainder of semester beginning Monday, November16. Read the full message here.
January 11, 2021
FinnU Nursing students and Upper Great Lakes physicians prepare to baseline test students for the fall 2020 semester.
As was done in August, Finlandia University is again partnering with Upper Great Lakes Family Health Center to conduct free baseline COVID-19 testing for our campus community prior to beginning face-to-face classes. Whether you left the Hancock-Houghton area over winter break or remained local, all students and employees who will be physically on campus are expected to participate in our […] Read More
December 28, 2020
Beginning spring semester 2021, the Finlandia Hall Café will offer more meal options for students. Custom-made speciality salad and wrap options will be available, bringing back some semblance of normalcy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The build-your-own salad and deli bar was removed during the early days of the pandemic in the spring 2020 semester as a way to potentially reduce the spread of COVID-19. “With all the mandated restrictions we must follow to be compliant, we want to offer more […] Read More
December 11, 2020
Enrollment officers, Jason Dart and Lauren Huested are ready to show off campus
Enrollment officers, Lauren Huested and Jason Dart, joined Olivia Myers on Finlandia Fridays this week to discuss why now is the best time to schedule a campus visit. In addition, to the $1,000 Visiting Scholarship students can receive for completing an in-person or virtual visit, Dart and Huested highlighted that there’s never been a safer time during the COVID-19 pandemic to […] Read More
Finlandia is committed to opening safe for all. The systemic racism that contributed to the violent killing of George Floyd and other black Americans in the past weeks calls us to reaffirm Finlandia’s essential commitment to foster enduring positive change in how we think, act, and feel in matters of the self, others, and the wider world.
Finlandia is small. We are multi-colored. We are from various faith traditions and no faith traditions. We are rural and urban. We are gay and straight. We are local. We are from coast to coast and beyond. The common calling of ELCA Lutheran higher education urges the practice of radical hospitality, of service to neighbor, of bold questioning, and to love one another as God has loved us. We welcome all to learn from all so that all may flourish. Finlandia’s spiritual and intellectual tradition calls us to embrace and value each story, in order to more fully understand and celebrate our differentness and work toward a more just and peaceful world. To this we aspire. This is our shared vision. You are welcome here.
Opening safe for all means thoughtfully and deliberately preparing for a year of honest talk, deeper reflection, and sustained action. This work may be unfamiliar and uncomfortable for many. We will not all hold similar convictions or draw the same conclusions. Perhaps the riskiest work of all is the journey inward; exploring and naming one’s own deeply seated motivations, assumptions, and fears. Finlandia is committed to accompanying you in your daring self-examination as well as in your unique self-expression. In all of this, our community’s speech and action will be life-giving, not life-diminishing.
Over the coming weeks I will work and learn with you, our campus pastor, our equity and diversity committee, and other faculty and staff. We will imagine meaningful ways to foster conversations, encourage reflection, and engage in constructive action that leads toward enduring positive change in how we think, act, and feel in such matters. We will be doing this together because Finlandia believes opening safe for all matters as much as a safe open.
The fear and anxiety caused by the COVID-19 outbreak has provoked cognitive bias and discriminatory behaviors against people of certain ethnic backgrounds as well as anyone perceived to have been in contact with the virus. That fear and anxiety can also create a stigma aimed toward specific people, groups of people or places, which can lead to discrimination, labeling or stereotyping. We know that people of all races, ethnicities, religions, genders, sexual orientations, ages, and physical abilities are susceptible to COVID-19.
Finlandia University is committed to creating and maintaining an environment in which all members of the community (students, faculty, and staff) are respected and treated with dignity, free from bias and harassment.
We encourage victims of hate crimes, harassment, or bias to report the incident to the appropriate authorities or use the Maxient reporting form.
Finlandia’s Equity Policy is available here.
It is more important than ever for the Finlandia community to treat one another with kindness and respect.