UMS Community Members,
I'm happy to let you know that we are announcing later this morning that we expect to welcome our students, faculty, and staff back to our university campuses this fall to
safely resume the most traditional in-person college experiences we all took
for granted before the pandemic.
That’s right. We expect to return as normally as possible this coming fall.
We’ve been together safely through this challenging year by following the recommendations of our UMS Scientific Advisory Board, Maine’s public health authorities, and the testing, masking, social distancing, and other public health measures we have in place. Now, with the promise of a Maine spring and summer ahead, with public health restrictions easing, and with new confidence stemming from the growing numbers who can and will receive the pandemic-ending vaccines that are available, it feels like we can finally say that the pandemic’s grip is loosening. So we’re kicking our planning into high gear to provide the most traditional, on-campus college experiences this fall that we can safely manage.
I should be clear, though. Your health and safety, and the health and safety of our university communities, remains our top priority. So does respect for Maine’s public health authorities and their guidance. We’ve been able to limit the spread of COVID in our university communities because of these commitments. We’re going to keep following them. That means social distancing and face coverings everywhere on our campuses will continue to be the rule as we complete the semester and manage university events. And we’ll continue to test everyone in our in-person community every week through commencement. It’s also true that working through the pandemic has shown us new opportunities and, in some cases, new ways of doing business. We intend to learn from these experiences as we work to return to near normalcy this fall.
I owe all of you my thanks. Your discipline and concern for the welfare of everyone in the UMS community and the state has kept us safely together through what has been perhaps the most challenging year in our lifetimes. That same resilience and commitment will make our fall return to normalcy both safe and rewarding.
I’m looking forward to it.
Sincerely,
