Dear UNT community members,
In the weeks since the COVID-19 crisis first appeared, we have taken extraordinary steps to keep our campus community safe, support our students' success through remote learning, and keep all but essential staff at home. As we prepare for a limited return to in-person instruction, these remain our top priorities, and as a caring community, we need to all pull together to ensure a successful semester for our students and minimize the financial impacts of COVID on our community.
One critical step that we have taken to stay safe and ensure a strong return is that Chancellor Roe has issued a memo requiring masks to be worn at all of our campus locations by all students, faculty, staff and visitors, effective immediately. We ask for everyone's commitment and support in these measures, but know that there will be those who aren't always mindful of their social responsibility to our collective safety. We want to ask for your help in keeping everyone on our campus safe. Please encourage those who aren't meeting our expectations for safety, including wearing masks, staying socially distanced, and being considerate of those around them to help. Keeping our community healthy is everyone's job. To help with this, we will provide a guide and tips on how to respond when you observe a community member who is not demonstrating safe behaviors next week.
You will be hearing more about our reopening and safety plans in the coming days and weeks. We are close to finalizing our Return to Campus Guide, as well as the second module of the COVID-19 Safety Training for UNT faculty and staff. I anticipate that both will be shared with you next week as we continue to work together to reopen our campus in the safest way possible. It also is important for you all to understand that this is an evolving situation, and we are committed to flexibly responding to whatever challenges arise.
We pride ourselves on being a caring community, so let's please take care of one another during this pandemic. Wear your face coverings, maintain social distance and frequently wash your hands so we can help keep each other and our community safe.
Stay safe,
Neal Smatresk
UNT President