Nov. 20, 2020

To All Members of the Campus Community:

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) recently issued a new order that took effect Nov. 18, 2020, and affects some parts of our campus. The order calls for additional safety measures around certain activities and is designed to address the rapidly increasing number of COVID-19 cases throughout the state.

Our campus had already planned to move to fully remote instruction after Friday, so the main change for us will cover the three days before our Thanksgiving break. During this time (Nov. 18-20), all classes must be fully remote, except for those associated with training medical professionals and first responders. Instructors will provide information on the specific arrangements for their courses.

Weekly briefing

Safety measures are in place

The order allows us to continue providing individual access to study spaces, libraries, museums, and exercise at our recreation facilities (CCRB, IMSB, NCRB). We have stringent health and safety measures in place for these facilities already, and will continue to operate them in compliance with the order. Students, faculty, and staff may still come to campus to receive medical care, including COVID-19 testing.

The order does not restrict our research enterprise, but as we experience highly concerning increases in the incidence of COVID-19 locally and statewide, we are adjusting research policies around human subjects to protect the health and safety of our researchers and participants. Those details are available here.

Research laboratories will remain at 60 percent density, and we will continue to monitor virus transmission to determine next steps. At this time, all undergraduate students across our three campuses are eligible to participate in in-person research and scholarship at the discretion of their principal investigator.

Additionally, everyone who can work from home must continue to do so.

We also remind everyone of our safe travel guidelines, our University Human Resources celebrate safely guidance for faculty and staff, and the state’s guide on Holiday Safety for Colleges and Universities.

Over the past several months, we have been asked to continually adjust our activities to help protect the health and safety of the larger community. We know this will cause some disruptions in a few courses and labs that were meeting in person – and we appreciate everyone’s continued diligence and resilience as we work to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Sincerely,

Mark S. Schlissel, MD/PhD
President

Susan M. Collins, PhD
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs