July 2, 2020
Dear Longhorns,
As you read in a message on Monday from Interim President Jay Hartzell, we are gearing up to safely reopen campus for Fall 2020, where we will “Protect Texas Together.” This framework will help us adapt to the rapid changes with the surge of COVID-19 in Austin, since we share the responsibility for protecting not only ourselves, but all members of our Longhorn family. At a media briefing on Monday, I conveyed that the success of the fall semester relies on student behavior, and I trust that our students will make good choices. Some people were shocked by my reaction. But I believe all of you are deeply committed to taking care of each other, and the faculty and staff who are making the reopening of campus a reality. And if you truly care about each other, and me, you will wear a mask.
Despite the challenges we are all facing, I am optimistic about the future and excited to welcome you back! Whether you are joining us to learn on or away from campus, we want you to feel safe and supported during the fall semester. The university will offer many ways to build community through student life activities, support services and programs, both in person and virtually. We encourage you to stay connected and engaged during the fall semester, while prioritizing your physical health and mental well-being. The university will continually monitor its progress and adjust plans as needed in response to changes in the public health environment.
Your Health and Well-Being
The university has created a plan to keep our Longhorn family healthy on campus. Residence halls, student health centers, and dining and other facilities are being modified to comply with health and safety protocols, and plan to be fully sanitized and operational when students move in on Aug. 20. We have provided personal protective equipment (PPE) for our staff working in our facilities to wear, and will continue to do so. Hand hygiene products and cleaning stations will be readily available across campus.
When you arrive on campus, the university will require you to:
- Wear a cloth mask indoors, with the exception of when you are eating in a campus dining facility, or are alone or with your roommate in your on-campus residence hall room. Masks outdoors are strongly encouraged.
- Avoid touching your face and cloth mask.
- Carry your own cloth masks (wear one, carry a spare), alcohol-based hand sanitizer and surface wipes.
- Keep your hands clean: sneeze and cough into your elbow; open doors without your hands, if possible.
- Wash your hands well and often.
- Keep six feet of distance between yourself and friends, faculty, staff and others whenever possible.
We encourage you to meet up with others either outdoors or in larger common areas (not private rooms), following mask and social distancing guidelines, or to meet up online.
Daily symptom screening with the university’s Protect Texas Together app (available in mid-August) will be expected for all students, faculty and staff. For select campus buildings and units, in-person temperature screening will be required; more information will be available in August. Visitors will be expected to complete a symptom screening to participate in campus meetings or other activities; visitors will not be allowed in the residence halls.
University Health Services (UHS) will continue to offer COVID-19 screening in the newly-established Designated Respiratory Clinic for symptomatic individuals and those with known exposure. They will also do Proactive Community Testing of well individuals with no known exposure. UHS is also offering COVID-19 antibody testing, and will offer vaccine administration when a vaccine becomes available.
If you get sick, stay home and call the UHS Nurse Advice Line at 512-475-6877. Please program your phone with this number before you arrive to campus—it can be used 24/7, 365 days a year. You should also contact Student Emergency Services (SES), who can help meet your basic needs and provide absence notifications for class. If you test positive or have been identified as high risk because of exposure, you will be expected to self-isolate or quarantine, as directed by health care professionals. If you can’t self-isolate or quarantine safely in your residence, UHS and SES will help you access isolation spaces through Austin Public Health at a local hotel at no cost. Medical personnel staff this facility. Individuals will be provided with three meals a day, a late-night snack, unlimited water and free internet.
When we reopen, UHS will also conduct contact tracing for UT students who have tested positive for COVID-19. Contact tracing helps slow the spread of COVID-19 by identifying individuals who have been in close contact with those who test positive, getting them testing and, when necessary, self-quarantining. The university will keep confidential all information voluntarily shared with contact tracers, and use it only for public health purposes.
Students needing ADA accommodations (such as wearing a mask) should contact Services for Students with Disabilities. Students with special circ*mstances (non-ADA), including COVID-19 symptoms, should go to SES and complete the absence notification request form.
We will encourage compliance by increasing awareness and fostering a culture of cooperation. On a case-by-case basis, for those who put the community at risk with their behavior, corrective and disciplinary action may be taken in accordance with the university’s guidelines for faculty, staff and students.
The Counseling and Mental Health Center (CMHC) will provide its full array of services to students beginning Fall 2020, and continue telehealth services. They will extend virtual hours and offer evening appointments to students in the fall. CMHC and other facilities are converting rooms for students to use for private teletherapy appointments without having to worry about roommates or family members overhearing their confidential conversations.
UHS, which has continued to care for students since campus closed, will resume all services on campus this fall. UHS will scale on-campus staffing based on social distancing and the ability to provide safe patient care and a safe work environment for staff. Telehealth will continue to be offered as long as insurance carriers continue to reimburse for this service. UHS completed a pilot program of extended hours during the latter part of the spring semester, which is being considered for the fall (currently on hold due to reduced summer staffing).
Longhorn Wellness Center services will be offered virtually, including student organization meetings and trainings, and awareness events. Both in-person and virtual workshops will be offered, with an emphasis on sharing resources and tools that are most relevant to students right now. Students can join Canvas modules that include topics about student well-being, and access information about staying well while staying home.
Living and Dining
All university-owned residence halls plan to open Aug. 20. We have a new process to Mooov-In safely over a period of several days, with extended hours to honor social distancing. We ask students and families to wear a cloth mask during Mooov-In, and follow all signage and staff directions. Please limit the number of accompanying helpers to no more than two or your immediate family members. Helpers will be asked to stay in their car within East Campus Garage while the student picks up their room key.
We are slating most rooms in our residence halls as double occupancy, in addition to a number of single occupancy rooms, with residents following the Guidance for Living in University Residence Halls. After Mooov-In, visitors will not be allowed in the residence halls. Residents will be required to wear cloth masks in common spaces, but not when they are alone or with their roommates in their own rooms, or when eating at an on-campus dining facility. Our staff are cleaning and disinfecting facilities daily, performing enhanced, routine cleaning of common areas, and wearing PPE.
UHD is also preparing community-building and individual opportunities to make sure students in our residence halls feel connected, including assigning a resident assistant to each resident to help them find ways to build community.
University Apartments are operating as usual, and students are being asked to follow university guidelines for personal care and social distancing, including in elevators, laundry rooms, restrooms, lounges and other common areas.
We are also modifying dining options, including ordering, delivery and seating, to follow health behavior guidelines and limit unnecessary interactions. Preparations are underway to reopen dining facilities, including those in the residence halls, for the fall semester. Possibilities include offering to-go meals served by staff, with no self-serve option at multiple locations. During peak periods, additional locations may be opened for packaged hot meal pick-up to reduce the number of diners at any one location. We are looking into increasing outside seating and potentially adding space in the halls for dining, as well as extending evening operating hours at some dining locations. Our staff are cleaning and disinfecting facilities daily, performing enhanced, routine cleaning of common areas, and wearing PPE. Dining halls will accept credit cards and funds on UT IDs such as Bevo Pay, Dine In Dollars and the resident meal plan. We are also exploring mobile apps for placing orders and pick-up.
For more information about university-owned housing and residence hall dining, please click here for up-to-date information and answers to frequently asked questions.
Campus Life and Engagement
Student-focused buildings and spaces, including dining facilities, Recreational Sports facilities, the Student Services Building, the Texas Union and the William C. Powers, Jr. Student Activity Center, are expected to be open, with social distancing and masking requirements in place, when residence halls open to students on Aug. 20. Facility teams are beginning to implement enhanced sanitization and disinfection protocols. They will also modify furniture arrangements and adjust population capacities to follow the university’s social distancing requirements.
We want students, whether learning on or away from campus, to experience campus life and all of its benefits. The university is working on guidelines to ensure that we safely resume in-person events, meetings, student-facing transactions and student gatherings this fall. We will provide student engagement activities fully or partially online, on campus and/or in outdoor spaces. This includes meetings of student organizations, recreational sports activities and other student gatherings of various sizes. The university will institute contactless check-in for UT events and student life activities when those resume, in accordance with university events guidelines. These guidelines will be available when you arrive in August.
All student life activities will be closely monitored to follow the health and wellness guidelines, policies and procedures, to enhance the campus experience. Department support services, programs and engagement efforts will be added, removed or adapted, in response to safety protocols and direction from university leadership.
Also, look for Longhorn Connection to launch this summer. This online student portal will deliver innovative options to connect students through activities and events. Another creative outlet is Longhorn Lockbox, a portal that is now available where you can share your stories during these stressful times through poetry, lyrics, prose, music, videos, podcasts, etc.
The Office of the Dean of Students will provide a wide variety of student life activities and support services, in person and remotely. The Leadership and Ethics Institute will offer CoachUT, LEAP, open workshops and Workshops on Demand virtually. ProjectLEAD will begin in the fall semester and will remain an in-person experience to the fullest extent possible.
Sorority and Fraternity Life will continue to offer its services virtually, including programming and regular council and chapter meetings with staff. Student Emergency Services and Student Veteran Services will meet with students over the phone/online as much as possible. There may be situations when a student walks into the office in distress, or there is heightened safety concern, in which an in-person meeting will be appropriate.
Student Conduct and Academic Integrity will hold all meetings and hearings on Zoom. Title IX Training and Investigations will also schedule all meetings on Zoom. A private courtesy computer and phone will be available should a student not have equipment available and need to reach Title IX Training and Investigations.
Students who are interested in programs from New Student Services, such as Longhorn TIES (initiative to help students on the autism spectrum) and Off-Campus Living Resources (resources to help students who live off-campus), can find updated information linked from the homepage here.
University Unions’ Events + Entertainment (E+E), the largest event-planning organization on campus, is developing a variety of social, educational and cultural programs, both virtually and in-person, for the fall.
The Multicultural Engagement Center will provide leadership development opportunities, peer-facilitated social justice and education trainings, and support services to student organizations and its six student agencies. The Gender and Sexuality Center will also continue to support women and the LGBTQIA+ communities through education, outreach and advocacy.
Recreational Sports plans a phased reopening for the fall semester, with some modifications regarding how you experience facilities, programs and services, in order to practice physical distancing, minimize contact, and allow for enhanced cleaning protocols. Staff will implement contactless check-in and virtual customer service options. In addition to operational modifications, there will also be a number of things that we ask you to do as you gear up to return to work out, play and participate in Recreational Sports, to help keep yourself and others safe. Virtual programming options will continue for those who are unable to participate in-person or on-campus.
If you are an incoming first-year or transfer student who was unable to participate in an online orientation session in June or July, please sign up for August Orientation. If you are a new freshman or transfer student, I encourage you to join your official “Class of . . .” Facebook group to get to know other Longhorns before the fall semester. Make plans to participate in Longhorn Welcome. This series of events welcomes new Longhorns to campus and takes place Aug. 18-28. The majority of the events will be virtual, and the details of the events will be sent to students in early August and posted at longhornwelcome.utexas.edu.
Academics
Providing our students a safe, supportive and high-quality learning experience is of the utmost importance. Students may choose to conduct their semester online, in-person or as a hybrid of the two. Not all classes will be available online, so you will need to assess how various choices will best support your path toward graduation. For general information about what learning will look like for you in the fall, please click here. I also encourage you to contact your college or school for more information, as well as the Texas One Stop (registration, financial aid, CARES Act) and Keep Learning (tools and resources for online learning) websites.
Staying Up-to-date on Changes
As I mentioned, many student life activities, support services and programs will be held both in-person and virtually this fall. Since the status of COVID-19 is quickly evolving, many situations may rapidly change, including virtual and in-person events, activities and appointments. I encourage you to email, call or check relevant websites in advance, as some staff members may not always be physically present, facilities may be closed, or activities cancelled.
Please regularly check the university’s Protect Texas Together website, which provides specific and up-to-date guidance for students, and answers many frequently asked questions. You can also email us with questions.
I will provide you more updates in the future. Again, I am very excited to welcome you back this fall no matter where you will be living and learning – and please enjoy the rest of your summer.
Stay safe, stay healthy and Hook ‘em!
Soncia Reagins-Lilly
Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students
