Dear Members of the Monmouth University Community:
As we near the end of the fall semester and prepare for a well-deserved winter break, I write with reminders and updates on our campus health and safety protocols.
Vaccination
We continue to enforce a COVID-19 vaccine requirement with exemptions permitted for approved medical and religious reasons.
At this time, we also continue to allow a temporary exemption on the basis of current emergency use authorization status for the FDA-approved vaccines. We will carefully monitor any FDA actions on the final approval of vaccines and revisit this temporary exemption category as needed.
All unvaccinated individuals falling into one of the exemption categories must adhere to the heightened health and safety protocols currently in place.
Boosters
We encourage all eligible members of our community to get the COVID-19 vaccine booster to enhance the efficacy of the vaccine and to provide added protection against COVID-19. We will continue to try and offer clinics on campus to make the vaccine and booster as readily available as possible to our community.
Masking
Given the emergence of the Delta and Omicron variants, and the recent and rapid rise in COVID-19 cases across our country and region, the University’s masking requirement remains in place until further notice. Under this requirement, all members of the Monmouth University community and guests to our campus – regardless of vaccination status – are required to wear masks indoors, except when actively eating or drinking and when in their own private office or residence hall room. Masks must be worn properly – with mouth and nose fully covered – at all times indoors.
Social Distancing
The University will continue, when possible, to establish and enforce a social distancing requirement of three-feet wherever any in-person instruction is taking place on campus (e.g., classroom, lab, teaching space, etc.). Individual faculty and staff members may also require visitors to their respective offices to adhere to the 3-feet social distance requirement.
Please be on the lookout for updated guidance in mid-January before the spring semester begins. In the meantime, if you have specific questions on our vaccine requirement or other health and safety protocols, please reach out to Spring2022@monmouth.edu.
Thanks to our individual and collective efforts this fall, we have been able to keep our case count low and return to our fully in-person residential student experience. As we head into winter and a difficult flu season predicted by medical experts, our safety protocols will help to ensure the continued protection of our community. Thank you for your continued cooperation and resolve. I wish you good luck with finals, and continued good health as we approach a new year.
Sincerely,
Dr. Patrick F. Leahy
President