To the Wesleyan community,
I want to sincerely thank you all for your tireless efforts toward making Wesleyan a safe place to be this academic year. Because of your care, diligence, and cooperation in following the community guidelines, we have been able to maintain COVID-19 positivity rates well below the level predicted by our modeling. I am pleased to report that we are planning for a return to normal campus operations and residential education in the fall.
Toward that end, I want to share important campus updates from the Pandemic Planning Committee. In the coming months, we will begin to relax some restrictions in preparation for fall. Employees should continue to consult with their Cabinet members on work plans. The following changes will take effect:
Effective immediately: Small gatherings permitted
- Academic and administrative departments are permitted to host meetings and gatherings of 20 people or less. For the remainder of this semester, these gatherings should be outdoors, limited to members of the Wesleyan community and all attendees must wear masks. Limited catering is available from Bon Appetit. Please contact John Kehoe at jkehoe@wesleyan.edu for more information
June 1: Student vaccinations required; some services reopen to campus community
- All students on campus will be required to be vaccinated and staff and faculty are encouraged to be vaccinated. Students must upload their information to the Davison Health Center and faculty and staff should share their information via WesPortal.
- Visitors to campus are permitted in outdoor spaces and will be expected to wear masks. This change allows prospective students and their families to participate in campus tours hosted by the Office of Admission. The size of tour groups may be limited and all activities will be outdoors. Additional details about visitors to campus will be provided as part of the fall operations plan.
- The Olin and Science Libraries will be open daily to the campus community from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Marketplace will be open daily through August 25 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 5 to 7 p.m. for summer meal plans or walk-up traffic. Marketplace will remain cashless. All other dining services on campus will be closed until September 1.
- Usdan will be open Mondays through Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., and weekends from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- WesStation will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mail delivery to departments is still suspended.
July 1: Travel guidance
- University-funded travel for fully vaccinated faculty, staff, and students will be permitted. This includes domestic locations as well as international locations that are considered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to be at COVID risk level 1 (low) or 2 (moderate). If a country rises above risk level 2 before the trip takes place, it should be postponed or cancelled.
Despite these upcoming changes, I want to call your attention to an important policy that has not changed: the wearing of face coverings. While we are aware that the CDC recently eased its guidelines on the wearing of masks outdoors among fully vaccinated individuals in small groups, there is no change to Wesleyan’s policy requiring the wearing of masks and face coverings on campus. As many members of our campus community have yet to complete their vaccinations, the Pandemic Planning Committee believes it is important to maintain this guideline. For more details on this and other safety guidelines that our campus community will continue to follow, please visit Keep Wes Safe and review our Community Agreement (for faculty and staff) and Code of Conduct (for students).
We are very much looking forward to seeing our campus return to its full vibrancy and in the coming months we will share more details about fall operations. Thank you again for your cooperation and patience over the past year, as well as in the coming months. We truly appreciate your efforts.
Sincerely,
Rick Culliton
Dean of Students
Chair, Pandemic Planning Committee