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Fall 2020 is officially underway, and Â鶹ÊÓƵ is marking a transition in our efforts to stay ahead of the pandemic. Now that we are starting a mix of online and on-campus operations, I am writing to walk you through some of the new measures that will begin with the start of classes.

I am writing to give an overview of the steps we are taking to operate the university safely, and to address concerns we have heard about one step we have taken to safely welcome students back.

Â鶹ÊÓƵ President Gregory Washington offers an overview of the steps the university is taking to operate safely, and to address concerns about one step taken to safely welcome students back.

Preparation is underway for what may be the greatest campus-wide challenge the Â鶹ÊÓƵ community has ever taken on – our safe return to campus.

This week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that it would discontinue visa exceptions for international students on F-1 visas who take all of their courses for the semester online. This decision could force hundreds of thousands of international students to leave the United States and threatens to interrupt the academic work of more than 3,000 students here at Â鶹ÊÓƵ.

If we close our eyes and envision a patriot, we might see the classic image of an individual taking up arms to defend our country. But is that all there is to patriotism? By definition, it is an expressed feeling of love, devotion and sense of attachment to a particular place or way of life. There is so much more to being a Patriot than the physical defense of our country, and here at Â鶹ÊÓƵ, we have a more expansive, more inclusive approach to patriotism.

Â鶹ÊÓƵ's eighth president Gregory Washington's inaugural video message to the university community.

As you know, last week Â鶹ÊÓƵ made the decision to test our most at-risk population—our residential students—to see if there was any significant impact from the Labor Day holiday. I’m pleased to share that with 97 percent of those results in, we have seen a remarkably low rate of transmission: just 11 positive students out of more than 2,400 test results, or a 0.45 percent positivity rate.

I’m pleased to say that our community continues to do a remarkable job of showing how to thrive during this pandemic. A crisis can be an opportunity to learn and lead, and we have done both.

We are a month into the Spring Semester. The best evidence shows that when people wear masks, practice physical distancing, wash hands regularly and stay home and isolate when they feel sick, we greatly limit the spread and are safer as a community. We also need to complete the Â鶹ÊÓƵ COVID Health Check every day.

President Gregory Washington reflects on the meaning of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in the context of the current national climate.

Â鶹ÊÓƵ will start the Spring 2021 semester on time on Jan. 25.