Holiday Travel and COVID-19 Update
A message from Tokumbo Shobowale, Executive Vice President of Business and Operations
With the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, we want to urge all of our faculty and staff to please enjoy the holiday on a small scale, local, and safe basis. Please heed the extensive guidance from health and government officials to limit travel and minimize indoor gatherings.
Those employees who are working on campus and who do plan to travel outside of New York will need to pay extra close attention to the New York State requirements for testing or quarantining upon return, and to make sure those requirements will not impede your ability to return to work. Supervisors of those teams should have already been in touch to clarify and underscore the expectations.
We are closely monitoring the COVID-19 surge in the City, State, and across the U.S. At this time, our status and operating protocols for the current semester have not changed. These protocols include ongoing testing for all individuals on campus. Should there be a need to change course and/or further reduce on-campus activity in the next couple of months, we will communicate as quickly as possible via university-wide email.
Our plans for Spring 2021 are summarized here. Since nearly all Spring classes will be remote and on-campus activity will remain limited, administrative employees who are currently working remotely can expect to continue to work remotely this Spring. HR will send specific information prior to the beginning of the Spring semester.
We will provide regular updates as we continue to plan for our more fulsome return to campus. For now, please err on the side of caution and let’s all contribute to stemming the tide of this awful pandemic. We are thankful to be part of a group of colleagues who share a sense of personal and community responsibility, and an eagerness to be together as part of our vibrant university.
We wish everyone a restful holiday break.