To the UMass Boston Community,
UMass Boston will move to remote operations on Monday, September 12, to accommodate a visit by President Joe Biden to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. This visit was announced yesterday; President Biden will deliver remarks at the library highlighting the “Cancer Moonshot” initiative, an effort to cut the cancer death rate in half over the next quarter century. We are delighted President Biden has chosen Columbia Point to deliver such a historic speech.
The heavy security provided by federal, state, and local law enforcement officials that accompanies a presidential event will necessarily curtail access to certain parts of the peninsula and will disrupt essential campus operations such as shuttle bus service and other commuting to and from campus. For this reason, and to maintain continuity of operations, the university will move to remote operations during the entire day Monday. Note that we have enacted similar remote/closure policies during previous presidential visits.
All classes on campus scheduled for Monday will be moved to remote modality. Students and faculty should avoid coming to campus and should make arrangements to conduct their study, teaching, or work remotely. Dining services located within residential halls will be operating. All other campus dining locations and the library will be closed.
Staff are encouraged to work remotely if possible, but may choose to work on campus. Essential campus personnel will be required to report to campus. All employees coming to campus should be aware of possible major traffic disruptions.
We recognize that this unplanned disruption of the class schedule prior to the add/drop deadline may have an impact on some students as they finalize their course schedules. Therefore, we are also extending the add/drop deadline to September 15.
We thank you in advance for your cooperation and will provide additional information as needed.
Kathleen Kirleis
Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance