Month: August 2021

Next week the Class of 2025 will arrive on campus, and although I am always excited about the start of the school year, this year brings a particularly distinctive mix of emotions. With a fully vaccinated campus, I am looking forward to a safer environment in which we can have more interactions with one another than we’d had in the past. But with the more contagious Delta variant, I also know that we must remain vigilant. The COVID-19 operations team, which consults with public health officials and epidemiologists with deep expertise, has developed protocols that should make our campus one of the safest places at which you could live and work.

Being one of the safest places at which you can live and work during a pandemic doesn’t mean the campus is risk-free. There will be some positive cases as we go through the semester, but with careful monitoring and basic preventative measures (like isolating when you’ve been infected and wearing a mask indoors), we will be able to prevent serious illness and widespread outbreaks.

I’m looking forward to seeing students engage in the full range of co-curricular activities, from athletics to theater, from poster sessions to art installations, as we get back in the swing of things. Although I taught in person last year, I so missed celebrating student, staff, and faculty accomplishments in person.

The transmissibility of the Delta variant should make us careful, but we won’t let it rob us of the kind of experiences that make being together on campus so powerful. With the cooperation of everyone, we will make the fall semester safe and joyful.

For Lola, being back on campus is just pure bliss!

Across the country, and in various places around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic is surging again, fueled by the highly contagious Delta variant. This is the bad news. The good news is that people who are vaccinated have excellent protection against the worst disease outcomes. Sure, there are breakthrough infections, some of which are symptomatic. But the vaccines protect almost everyone without co-morbidities from hospitalization or death. This is a great thing!

Last year, thanks to the cooperation of students, staff and faculty, Wesleyan was able to protect against the worst outcomes from COVID-19. And this was prior to the availability of vaccines. This year the University will be a vaccinated community, with very few exceptions for medical or religious reasons. With that in mind, though we will still want to exercise caution—especially in regard to indoor gatherings of large groups—we should be able to enjoy the kinds of social interactions and co-curricular experiences that make a residential education so potent and enjoyable.

The University will do everything possible to keep our community safe, while also recognizing that we will be living with the possibility of contracting the virus. Vaccinations should allow us the kinds of freedoms we have grown to expect while living and working on campus. We will require all visitors to campus to have been vaccinated. Of course, people who venture off campus should exercise caution, which will usually mean wearing masks when indoors, washing hands, etc. We can keep each other safe!

This is the time of year I usually begin to feel a sense of anticipation about the semester ahead. Whether I’m working on a syllabus, talking with advisees and colleagues, or planning events, I grow increasingly eager to be back in Wes mode. Sure, I’m nervous about the variants this year, but given the precautions we’ve taken and the cooperation of campus groups, I await the arrival of students and the start of classes with growing excitement.

So, enjoy the rest of the summer, and get ready for a great year at Wesleyan!