Dear ؾ Students,
We write with an update on the University’s opening and operational plans for the 2021–22 academic year.
Last week, the Task Force for Reopening the ؾ Campus — the group that helped develop ؾ’s plan for opening and operating during this pandemic — submitted its report with a list of recommendations for next fall. You can read it in full on our ؾ Together website. These recommendations have been accepted and will guide our plans for the next academic year.
First, and most importantly, we can announce that ؾ plans to return to fully in-person, residential education in August. We will follow our original 2021–22 academic calendar, with no modification to arrival dates, breaks, recesses, or campus departures. Therefore, we can also announce that fall 2021 classes will begin on Thursday, August 26.
Of course, these plans remain contingent upon New York State and local guidelines and our measurements of health through our internal health metrics. But our plans now assume we will be fully residential, with full in-person classes, though with the expectation that the University may need to adjust as needed based on public health conditions.
It is exciting to contemplate a return to normal campus operations. We should, however, note that “normal” in the fall of 2021 will likely be a new normal. We are likely to see some necessary precautions put into place, based on local and national guidance, pandemic conditions, distribution of vaccines, and other considerations that we cannot yet anticipate. In the short term, our plans could evolve.
As we announce these initial plans for next year, we thank you for the hard work you are doing this semester, for keeping your Commitment to Community Health, and for finishing strong. You have done your best with the situation that the pandemic has presented to you. And the success of the plans that ؾ followed has allowed us to look forward to next year with greater confidence.
Again, thank you for staying vigilant and maintaining your commitment. We appreciate all you have gone through to keep this community safe. Best of luck with these final weeks of the spring semester.
Sincerely,
Brian W. Casey
President
Paul J. McLoughlin II
Vice President and Dean of the College