Dear Marietta College employees,
I truly hope you have enjoyed your summer months and I look forward to seeing our close-knit community come together again over the next few weeks as we begin the 2021-2022 academic year. Members of our COVID-19 Recovery Task Force have worked throughout the summer to monitor best practices set forth by health officials and plan for a safe and successful year.
Our goal will always be to deliver a top-notch liberal arts education and experience to our students while providing a safe and caring environment to our students, faculty and staff. Our best chance to succeed in this endeavor is for every member of our community to receive a full dose of one of the three approved COVID-19 vaccines if they are able and follow the guidance set forth by the CDC and trusted health officials. Another expectation is for employees to communicate that they have received the COVID-19 vaccine with the Office of Human Resources as soon as possible (email Vicki Ford at fordv@marietta.edu). Employees who choose not to receive the vaccine must also contact HR to notify the College of that decision so we can best gauge the percentage of vaccinated and non-vaccinated members of our community. This will also provide us with an expectation of how many employees should be wearing a mask indoors. If it becomes clear the honor code on wearing masks is not working, we will have no choice but to institute a mask mandate for everyone on campus.
As recommended by health officials, anyone who is not vaccinated is expected to properly wear a facemask when indoors on campus, with the exception of being alone in an office or while eating or drinking. The College will also conduct weekly COVID-19 surveillance testing of 10 percent of the non-vaccinated students and employees. We will provide more details on how the random selections will work.
These guidelines are offered on our updated COVID-19 website and will be discussed during an upcoming live Virtual Town Hall event at 6:00 p.m., Thursday, August 12th.
Please remember that as the pandemic continues to evolve, College operations must remain flexible, since new information and best practices may lead to new guidance that we will need to follow. If and when any guidance emerges that requires a change in our operations, we will communicate that information as quickly as possible.
We were fortunate to have successfully completed the 2020-2021 academic year, and with everyone’s best effort to keep our community as healthy as possible, the 2021-2022 year will be even better.
Bring Forth a Pioneer!
Bill Ruud
President and Professor of Management