Our Updated Fall Guidebook and Vaccinations
President Capilouto sent the following email to the campus community on August 19, 2021.
Dear Campus Community,
Last Friday, we shared with you an initial draft of our Fall 2021 Guidebook — an overview of policies designed to keep our campus safe and healthy as we provide a residential experience this fall. We detailed more specific guidance on our indoor masking policy, and we asked for you to provide your invaluable feedback.
As of the end of the day on Tuesday, we received anonymous responses from nearly 450 UK community members.
We are grateful to all those who took time to review the Fall Guidebook and send us input. Many of you asked for additional clarification on specific policies, and others asked thoughtful questions. We shared the recurring themes from your comments and questions with the workgroup of elected faculty, staff and student representatives along with administrators and then we returned to the guidebook to incorporate your feedback.
This afternoon, we are sharing an updated version of our Fall Guidebook with you. Of course, we know that we live amid evolving circumstances. We have been committed, since the beginning of this pandemic, to adjusting our policies when science and data signal a need to do so. A good example is our current indoor making policy, which we adjusted due to elevated concerns about the Delta variant.
Another example, based directly upon feedback from our community, was to allow people to unmask while active on workout equipment or in spaces such as basketball courts in one of our campus recreational facilities. At all other times, while in those facilities, masks are required regardless of vaccination status.
We also clarified, for example, in response to questions about the classroom context, that face shields can be used in addition to masks.
The Fall Guidebook, of course, reflects the current recommendations of our team of medical and public health experts, as well as thoughtful feedback we received from you.
View the Updated Fall Guidebook
We continue striving to reach — and to exceed — an 80 percent vaccination rate among our students, faculty and staff. And, we are continuing to make meaningful progress toward that important goal. Just this week, we’ve received thousands of self-reported vaccine documentation from our students.
This is incredibly important, as vaccines remain our best defense against COVID-19. We encourage all members of the UK family to be vaccinated, if you haven’t already.
As a reminder, all unvaccinated students are required to complete a COVID-19 entry test by August 27 and to participate in ongoing testing throughout the semester. This is necessary to remain in compliance with the Code of Student Conduct.
Thank you for everything you are doing to keep our community healthy and safe.
Eli Capilouto