Expectations and consequences
Dear students,
Our semester has started and we appreciate each of you doing your part to contribute to a safe and healthy campus. Many of our students are doing exactly what we have asked of them to reduce the spread of the COVID-19. These students are engaging in preventative behaviors such as hand washing, wearing face coverings and practicing physical distancing of six feet or more. We are grateful for their efforts to support the collective health of our community both at VCU and locally.
However, not all of our students are engaging in those preventative behaviors. Moving forward with the semester will require everyone’s commitment to the behavior listed above that we know contributes to our collective health.
Students or student organizations hosting gatherings, such as parties or other social gatherings, on or off-campus with more than 10 people, where such gatherings pose a threat to the health or safety of the VCU community, will be subject to interim suspension. The university will continue to monitor and review other violations of university health and safety requirements, including the Return to Campus guidelines, and will issue appropriate sanctions.
Parties and large social gatherings create significant risk for all of us by increasing the spread of COVID-19 and threatening the health and safety of our community. When we returned to campus, we made a commitment not to place ourselves, or others, at risk.
We understand that individuals want to connect with one another and that dealing with the limitations our country and community are facing due to COVID-19 is difficult. However, we have a responsibility to one another for the safety of our community and we cannot tolerate behaviors that place individuals at risk.
The university does acknowledge that students still want the ability to connect socially. To that end, there will be some university sponsored gatherings/events that are allowed to exceed this 10 person rule as indicated by the Public Health Response Team. These events will be held in university facilities where COVID-19 guidelines can be maintained and facilitated by university staff. Additionally, the Cary Street Gym and Larrick Student Center recreational facilities have also been approved to exceed this rule based on their plan submitted to the Public Health Response Team.
We appreciate that this may not be what you envisioned for your fall semester but these steps will help us continue to promote health and safety in our community and around us. Thank you for taking these steps with us.
Regards,
Charles Klink, Ph.D.
Senior Vice Provost
Division of Student Affairs