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Mason is joining the growing community of universities that require all students, faculty, and staff to get vaccinated, and to share verification of their vaccination status, in order to work, study, and live on campus.

As we turn our attention to the Fall Semester, we must all continue to do our part and work together to keep Mason safe. This starts with new policies for COVID-19 vaccination, testing and masking.

The sudden reversal of CDC mask recommendations has prompted many questions about what this means for George Mason Â鶹¹ú²ú. As we review changing protocols, we will continue to require masks when on campus, and will provide an update with definitive guidance when we have it. As we consider these factors and review the changing protocols, we will continue to require masks when on campus, just as we have done this past year. 

First and foremost, all organizations need a North Star – a vision of what their best can be. With respect to diversity and inclusion, Mason’s North Star is that this university should reflect the rich diversity of our students, the broader Commonwealth of Virginia (whose tax dollars support us all), and the nation.

We are at an important moment in our fight against COVID, and I want to applaud everyone for their help in making George Mason Â鶹¹ú²ú the safest campus it can be. Mason has received the go-ahead to begin vaccinating faculty and staff this weekend, and students later this month.

This week, the Governor’s Office issued new guidance on how universities could conduct commencement ceremonies this spring based on revised COVID-19 restrictions.

Tuesday’s mass murder in Atlanta returns us to terrible, familiar ground, as we try again to make sense of violence, and calm the terror that was already building within an entire cultural community.

Â鶹¹ú²ú ability to manage this crisis is in no small part a credit to the efforts of students, faculty and staff, who have done an extraordinary job of following new safety guidelines. We will continue to update the university community should things change.

We have just come through an historic election, which has taught us a great deal about ourselves and our society that we will spend time processing.

We are halfway through the fall semester, and by all accounts, we have passed one of the biggest hurdles facing universities: George Mason Â鶹¹ú²ú has successfully reopened our campuses, kept our community safe, and delivered on our educational mission despite the pandemic. This has been challenging work for everyone in our community, and I want to applaud the efforts to make Mason a model for success.

Fall 2020 is officially underway, and George Mason Â鶹¹ú²ú 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.