Graduate Student Offices
Dear Graduate Students,
Together, Cornell’s students, faculty and staff have managed to keep the incidence of COVID-19 low on campus, but it remains important for the public health of our community to keep our on-campus spaces de-densified to the extent possible. That said, we recognize the importance of allowing for more campus interaction among graduate research students who are not currently approved to be on campus and who have requested access to their office spaces. In order to meet this need, we are enabling individual departments or graduate fields to submit reactivation plans that, once approved, would provide students who wish to use their office spaces the option of doing so.
Earlier today, Directors of Graduate Studies received information outlining how they can develop plans to provide access to graduate student offices on a limited basis. These reactivation plans must meet relevant occupancy guidelines, ensure adherence to safety and other public health measures and undergo a multi-level approval process before students may return to their office spaces. If you wish to use campus facilities, please speak with your Director of Graduate Studies.
As ever, health and safety are our top priorities. Individuals who believe they are being required to work on campus in unsafe conditions should speak to their supervisor, manager, Graduate School or human resources representative. Such situations can also be reported to the Ethics Point Hotline.
Graduate students who are permitted to access on-campus spaces may be required to undergo more frequent surveillance testing. In order to provide additional testing options for students who live off campus, the university plans to open a new testing center in downtown Ithaca later this month. Details about the testing center will be announced in the coming days, and the new location will be added to the Daily Check portal once available.
Sincerely,
Kathryn Boor
Dean of the Graduate School and Vice Provost for Graduate Education