We must maintain the distinctive qualities of our academic community that sustains our approach to education, research, and intellectual life at the University.

A key objective is to protect the health of students, faculty, staff, and visitors to the University. We will rely extensively on guidance from the University of Chicago Medicine (UCM), which has some of the world’s leading experts in infectious disease and maintaining public health. Some of the relevant issues under discussion include the availability of widespread testing and its interpretation, use of face coverings and personal protective equipment (PPE), the level of population density on campus in various campus environments and the relationship to the potential spread of COVID-19, social distancing, quarantine when necessary, protecting vulnerable populations, and building a campus culture in which each individual recognizes our individual and collective responsibility for maintaining a healthy environment.

We will act in accordance with the guidelines of public health agencies at the federal, state, and local levels. This will include alignment with the state’s “Restore Illinois” plan, and Chicago’s framework consistent with that plan. We are closely evaluating these materials and their implications for our campus plans in the coming months.

We will work to mitigate financial risks that the pandemic has caused for all major institutions of higher education, including ours, while offering as much support as possible for University faculty, students and staff, bearing in mind the severe financial impact of the pandemic, globally and at the University.

We will continue to communicate plans and expectations to ensure that we have a common understanding of what is ahead of us, with a decision by the end of June concerning plans for the Autumn Quarter.