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Dear Twin Cities students, faculty, and staff,

With approval from our Board of Regents, we made the decision on Aug. 24 to delay for two weeks the start of most in-person classes and the move-in of students to our residence halls on three of our campuses, including here in the Twin Cities. We knew that taking a brief pause to learn from the challenges of our peers around the country as students returned to their campuses would allow the University to adjust its approach once again to mitigate the transmission of the virus and provide a higher level of safety for our students, faculty, and staff.

Today, we have a way forward that allows us to adapt our extensive plans developed over the summer and offer a return to on-campus life and instruction that prioritizes your safety while mitigating the spread of COVID-19. The Maroon and Gold Sunrise Plan adds a layer to existing plans for Fall 2020, and specifically addresses how we will welcome undergraduate students back to our residence halls.
This plan requires full community participation if we are to be successful. In particular, not only do we need our undergraduate students who live in on-campus housing to participate, we also need partnership off campus in fraternities and sororities, and from students who live close by. It will be difficult and it won’t look like a traditional fall on our campus, but if we all commit to this plan, commit to our health precautions, and fully utilize the MTest plan, we can continue with on-campus courses, active residence halls, and other activities this semester.

The Plan includes the following carefully-designed “steps” for students at the Duluth, Rochester, and Twin Cities campuses:
Step One - Students living in housing will have limited on-campus activities. They will live and learn almost exclusively within residence halls for at least 10 days with some exceptions, such as attending any in-person classes, utilizing dining or campus health facilities, going to work, tending to family emergencies, or being outdoors while physically distancing. Students should not visit other residence halls, nor businesses or residences off campus during this step.
Step Two - Students in University housing will have increased access, including visiting all on-campus locations and the surrounding community. However, students must be “back home” in their room by 9 p.m. Step Two is expected to last two weeks, provided public health guidance indicates good compliance and progress.
Step Three - Students in University housing will have full access to University facilities and communities off campus as they do in Step Two, but they must be “back home” in their room by midnight. This step is also expected to last at least two weeks.
Step Four - As in the other steps, students are asked to wear masks, maintain physical distancing, and avoid large gatherings as they continue to have full access to on- and off-campus locations. But different from Step Three, there are no “back home” time constraints during this step.

For students living off campus who may be taking in-person courses and visiting campus facilities, please limit your on-campus interactions if possible. We encourage you to continue to be safe, wear a mask, maintain physical distancing from those not in your household, avoid large gatherings and get tested if you have COVID-19 symptoms or are instructed to seek testing by a public health or medical official. The MTest program is available to all students regardless of where you live, so please utilize it should you feel sick.

We will also be sharing our plans with officials, business owners, and landlords in the neighborhoods and cities where our campuses are located. We need their partnership to make this a successful semester.
Students, I know this is a lot to ask, especially of the many of you who will be experiencing campus life for the first time. It will be a challenge, but it is worth it. We have such confidence in each of you. Your choices and judgment at each step will play a critical role in allowing us to progress to the final phase, and your work to keep yourself and others safe and healthy will pay off in the opportunity for all students to remain on campus, rather than reverting to distance learning as we did in the spring.

I send you this message with the full conviction that together we can do this and do it well. Our plan allows us to come back, serve our students and our mission, all the while prioritizing health and safety to make our campus environment as safe as the communities in which we exist. We will show our communities, our state, and the country that the University of Minnesota continues to be a leader in COVID-19 research and clinical care, as well as a model for a hybrid approach to teaching this semester. And we will continue to offer the flexibility and options we all need to make the best individual decisions for our health and those around us.

Thank you all for your commitment to a healthy and safe semester. In addition to the plan linked above, remember to visit the Fall 2020 website and watch for additional information to be sent this week specific to your living or learning plans.

With warmest wishes,
Joan Gabel

Hot off the press from Morrill Hall: the Maroon-and-Gold Sunrise Plan, the plan to resume move-in. The following was sent out a few minutes ago to all students and staff of the University:




My money is that the whole thing is blown to hell by September 30.

Well, yeah.  This plan expects on-campus students to abide by a pretty strict quarantine for 10 days, and a 9 PM curfew for almost the first month.  It also doesn't list out any metrics on what is an "acceptable" number or percentage of cases versus what is "unacceptable" which tells me that like every other school out there, the moment ANY cases occur, they're going to rush to shut it all down again.

But hey, they'll get those in-person tuition dollars while offering only online education, so it's totally okay.

can't really bill for room and board if the students don't move into the dorms for a week or two