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Sept. 2, 2021
Dear UAF staff and faculty,
As we navigate the beginning of the fall semester, I want to underscore the value
of being vaccinated and the importance of attesting to your vaccination status in
our voluntary attestation tool — whether you have received the COVID-19 vaccine or
not. Please note that your personal information is not shared and data is only presented
in aggregate forms. Knowing the percentage of our population that is vaccinated is
important information to inform University decision making.Ìý
If you are not vaccinated, I encourage you to do so by stopping by our
Face coverings are an important mitigation measure and are required in all campus
buildings unless you are in a private office or residence with the door shut or driving
a university vehicle by yourself. Face coverings are also required outdoors when 6
feet of physical distance cannot be maintained. Failure to follow the face coverings
policy has significant consequences, up to and including termination for employees
and expulsion for students.
Because COVID-19 can infect both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals it is imperative
that all employees and students follow the UAF face-covering policy. Even if you are
vaccinated, you can still spread COVID-19.Ìý
The UA system policy remains that COVID-19 vaccination requirements can be made by
exception only. Those exceptions must be requested by the relevant chancellor and
approved by the UA president. In this context, your Operations Support Team is currently
working with university leaders and others to identify areas where we request exceptions
to the UA policy, that is, where we request authority to require COVID-19 vaccination
(or approved waiver).
We have been closely monitoring COVID-19 cases in the Interior and have implemented
some new vaccination requirements. Now, in addition to student athletes and students
living in residence halls, the Rural Human Service and Human Service student cohorts
at the Kuskokwim campus, as well as Summer Sessions and Lifelong Learning international
travel programs require a COVID-19 vaccination or approved waiver.
As we begin to hold more in-person events on campus, we are going to make it possible
for event planners to request that the event require a negative test taken within
72 hours of the event or proof of vaccination be part of their safety mitigation plan.
This will not be required for all events but it does allow some flexibility to add
protective measures to events. The operations support team (OST) is looking into expanding
a testing or vaccination requirement for other large in-person events where necessary.
Please visit the most current events policy and institutional events website to stay current on what things need to be in place to hold an event safely.
continue to be a topic of discussion. Along with encouraging and facilitating vaccination,
the CDC offers a variety of measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 on campuses
where some people are vaccinated and others are not. There will be an upcoming Cornerstone
article discussing CDC guidance, but the most important takeaway is that colleges
and universities are advised to take a layered approach to mitigation measures — something
we are doing across UA and UAF.Ìý
I have received several emails about providing more in-person spacing in certain academic
settings. The Provost sent a message in this regard this morning and I know she has
been actively working to reassign instructional spaces where more space in the classrooms
is desired for students to spread out. I would encourage faculty who have concerns
about spacing to work with their dean and the provost to find a solution, including
but not limited to moving to a larger space, splitting into sections, or in some cases
relying on creative hybrid in-person/on-line options that achieve the student learning
outcomes. If there are specific academic activities that may require consideration
for a vaccination requirement (i.e., an exception to the UA system policy) I ask that
those be routed through your dean to the provost. For community campuses, these requests
should be routed to me through the dean and the vice chancellor for rural, community
and Native education.
Thank you for keeping Nanook Nation healthy. Thank you for choosing UAF.
— Dan White, chancellor
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