Dear Stern student and parent/guardian,
We hope you are taking good care and finding ways to disconnect and enjoy summertime during this most unusual season for us all. Since our June communication, our transition teams have continued to work on Stern’s return-to-campus planning for the fall. In addition, New York State has released additional guidance for higher education, and you should have received NYU’s email detailing its preliminary public health protocols for the 2020-21 academic year.
Please rest assured that the health, safety and well-being of our community continues to serve as our guideposts for all plans. Equally important is our commitment to work together as a community to keep each other safe. With this as a foundation, we are also looking forward to a productive, albeit markedly different, fall semester ahead as we reimagine what a fulfilling, dynamic academic experience looks like.
In this July touchpoint, we are both recapping some information we already shared and adding newly established protocols so you have them in one place. The guidebook that follows includes the following topics:
Covid-19 Testing
Daily Symptom Check: “The Daily Screener”
Contact Tracing
Protective Equipment
Quarantine and Isolation
Physical Distancing
If You Feel Sick
Building Occupancy
Building Sanitation and Cleaning
HVAC Ventilation Systems
Meetings
Events
Mutual Responsibility
Code of Conduct
Keep Your Contact Information Up to Date
You can also find the latest updates at the Stern Returns website which will house the most up-to-date Stern announcements.
As you are preparing for your fall semester -- whether you plan to study in New York City or remotely from another location -- we encourage you to take the time to familiarize yourself with these protocols and guidelines. If you are participating in NYU Go Local, please continue to also refer to updates on the Go Local website.
Continue to monitor your NYU and personal email for updates on the start of the fall semester. Keep checking the Next Stop NYU and Stern First-Year Student websites. Plus, get ready for Orientation, which will be taking place remotely starting August 24. More information is coming your way soon.
Best wishes,
Raghu Sundaram
Dean, NYU Stern
Robert Whitelaw
Vice Dean, NYU Stern Undergraduate College
Stern Returns Guidebook - July 24, 2020
Covid-19 Testing
NYU is working to finalize the details of our testing program, including resolving issues involving testing availability and locations, and alignment with the latest public health guidance. Our testing strategy will involve multiple components:
- Testing prior to reconvening on campus
- Testing once we have reconvened
- Testing for those who exhibit symptoms
- Testing for the purpose of general disease surveillance
When NYU’s testing program details are finalized, we will follow up with a separate email. In the meantime, any updates can be found here.
Daily Symptom Check: The Daily Screener
The Daily Covid-19 Screener for Campus Access is a requirement to enter an NYU building and is available on the NYU Mobile app (Apple and Android), and you can use your computer. Before you can enter NYU buildings, you must answer all the questions and receive a daily authorization.
Contact Tracing
The NYU Covid-19 Prevention & Response Team will oversee the University’s efforts to identify and isolate members of the NYU community with confirmed cases of Covid-19 and find and quarantine their NYU close contacts. Further information including how to notify the Prevention & Response Team of illness can be found here.
Protective Equipment
All members of the community are required to wear face coverings over both the mouth and nose at all times when they are on the Stern or greater University campus unless you are eating (in which case, keep 6 ft (roughly 2 m) or more between yourself and others) or you are alone in a closed office.
While the University is working to procure a substantial supply of masks for initial distribution, we strongly encourage community members to obtain and use their own face coverings. More information, including where to obtain a mask should you need one, can be found here.
Quarantine and Isolation
If you test positive for Covid-19 or if you have been evaluated as being at risk for contracting Covid-19 because of a close contact with someone who has tested positive, healthcare professionals at the Student Health Center will provide additional guidance. You should attend classes remotely, follow any instructions regarding your housing and situation (if you are in NYU housing), and keep yourself isolated for as long as instructed.
Physical Distancing
All members of the community are expected to maintain a 6 ft (roughly 2 m) distance from others. NYU is reconfiguring classrooms, labs, hallways, and building entrances and exits to help support physical distancing.
If You Feel Sick
Building Occupancy
We are reducing density in Stern's facilities by setting in place building and classroom caps, ensuring 6 feet (2 meters) physical distancing in classrooms, eliminating large events and reducing the number of visitors. We are also modifying traffic flow.
Building Sanitation and Cleaning
Plans for enhanced cleaning, particularly more frequent disinfectant cleaning of high touch surfaces and areas and the placement of additional sanitizing stations, are being put in place.
HVAC Ventilation Systems
The University is taking steps to reduce the likelihood of buildings' heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) air handling systems spreading Covid-19 by increasing fresh air flow and reducing recirculated air.
To achieve more physical distancing in classroom settings (6 ft (roughly 2m) between students, 10 ft (roughly 3m) between students and faculty) and less density, we are reducing the number of people permitted in classrooms.
Here are among the formats that will be available at Stern:
- In Person: Most of the class sessions will meet in person with all of the students (minus any who are 100% remote) present each day.
- Online: All of the class sessions will take place entirely online. This may be a combination of synchronous and asynchronous content and work.
- Blended (two types):
Each class session will meet in person on campus, but in each session half the students will be present in class and half will be online (combination of synchronous and asynchronous).
or
Roughly half of the class sessions will be in person, and roughly half will be online. In each case, all of the students will be in the same format (in person or online) for each class session.
See visuals of classroom set ups
Regardless of modality, every course will make remote attendance possible for the entire semester for students who are studying remotely this fall (such as those confronting travel restrictions or quarantines). However, for multi-section courses, remote students should make sure to register for online sections of the courses they wish to take. Registering for a blended or in person section is a commitment to attend in person when scheduled.
Meetings
Due to the additional need for classroom space, student council and student organizations will host meetings remotely until further notice. We will reassess during the semester the feasibility of convening in-person in accordance with NYC and NYU health and safety guidelines and as/when space becomes available. More information to come from the Office of Student Engagement about best practices and guidance for virtual community engagement.
Events
All non-essential, large, in-person meetings or gatherings are prohibited at this time. The possibility of safely gathering for purposes such as social events or informal get-togethers will be re-assessed regularly throughout the semester. Read More
The University and Stern currently prohibit all non-essential university-related travel until further notice. We also encourage members of the University community to keep personal air travel to a minimum and to pay close attention to conditions prior to travel.
Compliance: Keep Each Other Safe
Mutual Responsibility
The success of NYU's efforts to reconvene will depend on all of us embracing a sense of mutual responsibility: that it is not simply a matter of each of us being responsible for oneself, or the University being responsible, but that we each have a responsibility to one another.
Code of Conduct
We expect students and other members of the NYU community to follow the health guidelines we are setting for the good of everyone in the community. However, there will be updates to the student conduct policy as well as new policies centered on keeping each other safe. This will include mandatory facial coverings, physical distancing, and symptom screening. All students will be required to review and agree to these policies before they begin their fall courses.
Keep Your Contact Information Up to Date
