Dear Undergraduates
We hope you had a relaxing spring break. We welcome you all back this week to the start of the new spring quarter with signs of hopefulness about our phased campus reopening. Please review this email for important reminders about instruction, health and safety during the spring quarter 2021, particularly for those students who plan to be on campus for modified face-to-face classes. We wish you all an engaging and productive term.
Academic Updates
Academic Calendar: The spring term begins today. To allow students moving to campus to participate in Santa Clara’s testing and quarantine protocols, undergraduate instruction during the first week of the term (March 29-April 3) is taking place online. In-person activities for those students who are on-campus commence on Monday, April 5.
Health & Safety
Classroom Safety: Students are expected to wear face coverings at all times and maintain six feet of social distancing even if vaccinated.
Daily Symptom Checks: All faculty, staff, and students who are on-campus, including those that are vaccinated, are required to complete SCU's symptom checking tool and refrain from coming to campus if they are experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms, even if they are attributed to cold or allergies.
Testing: All faculty, staff, and students who are on-campus are required to participate in SCU’s testing program on a weekly basis. Results are provided to participants within 24 hours. At the institutional level, the Santa Clara Health and Safety team will be monitoring participation and compliance with weekly testing. If you are not planning to be on-campus in the spring 2021 term, please let us know by clicking on this link so that we can remove you from our on-campus testing list. If you are attending class in-person, you must have been tested on-campus within the last 7 days of each classroom session. Your professor may ask for this verification which you can document by showing a text message or email from one of our two testing labs that confirms your testing status.
Vaccination: If you are vaccinated, please visit the on-campus testing site in the Benson Memorial Center, present your original CDC-issued COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card to complete your vaccination confirmation. You will receive an email indicating you are exempt from SCU's COVID-19 testing and quarantine protocols three weeks after your final shot. This email can be used to show proof of vaccination. For those that are vaccinated, it is important to keep in mind: masks are still required indoors and out, 6 feet social distancing is still required, and Daily symptom checks are still required.
Tracing: The University will reach out via SCU’s Case Investigation and Contact Tracing team (CICT) to SCU community members identified as close contacts of a student (symptomatic or not) who has tested positive for COVID-19 to encourage them to quarantine and seek testing. Faculty who are fully vaccinated will not be required to quarantine if potentially exposed to COVID-19 in the classroom and can continue with modified face to face instruction if symptom free.
Use of Charney Hall: Some undergraduate classes will be offered in Charney Hall, which also serves as the home of the School of Law. As you will be sharing the building with Law students who are preparing for exams, please only use the first floor of the building.
Should you have any questions, please let us know. Thank you for your help during this challenging time.
With gratitude,
Ed Ryan
Acting Co-Provost
Kate Morris
Acting Co-Provost