April 1, 2021
To: All Students
From: Michele Rasmussen, Dean of Students in the University, and Mike Hayes, Assistant Vice President for Student Life
Subject: Protecting Our Community During Spring Quarter
Date: April 1, 2021
We hope you had a relaxing week off, and you are feeling refreshed as the Spring Quarter gets underway. After starting this academic year with many uncertainties related to the pandemic, we are proud of the sustained efforts of our students to help keep our campus community safe and healthy. By committing to the UChicago Health Pact, we have been largely successful in keeping COVID-19 transmission to a minimum.
As we look forward to warmer temperatures and more members of our campus community being vaccinated, we would like to remind all students of the importance of remaining vigilant. It may be tempting to relax the precautions put in place to mitigate COVID-19. However, we have not yet reached the end of this pandemic, so we all must continue to practice safe behaviors to keep the infection rate on campus low. It is the surest way to permit the University to maintain its plan for a full resumption of campus activities in the 2021 Autumn Quarter.
As you already know, these behaviors include wearing a face covering at all times in University buildings and on campus grounds (when others are within six feet), maintaining a distance of six feet from others when possible, washing hands frequently, adhering to on- and off-campus restrictions on social gatherings, and regularly monitoring your health for symptoms of COVID-19. All students are required to complete the Spring Quarter attestation, which outlines the University’s precautions and asks individuals to commit to acting responsibly and safely to help protect the health of our community.
As we work to keep infections low, we encourage you to have conversations with your friends, peers, and colleagues who are not following COVID-19 precautions. It is important for us all to remind others that we have a responsibility to protect not only ourselves, but also the larger UChicago community and beyond. You can also report any Health Pact violations through the University’s UCAIR system.
We know that many students are eager to return to normalcy. Let’s continue the good work and protect the health and safety of others, so that we can all look forward to a livelier campus in the future.
We wish you a safe, healthy, and productive Spring Quarter.