By Elliott Nguyen
Managing Editor
In an email message to the campus community today, President Foster informed students that the upcoming Spring 2022 semester would remain in person.
Though “there is no change to the academic calendar,” Foster said, the first week of classes will be held virtually in response to the rapid rise in Covid-19 cases across the state and country. More than 23,000 new cases and a daily average exceeding 31,000 cases were reported in New Jersey as of Jan. 10, according to the New York Times.
Once again, the College will require students, staff and faculty without an exemption to have received at least two doses of the vaccine. According to this message, receipt of a booster is not required. However, it is strongly recommended. Foster announced that the College will hold clinics on Feb. 3, March 4 and April 8 where members of the campus community can receive their booster shot.
Additionally, all students, staff and faculty will be required to take a Covid-19 test “within a week of returning to campus” using the Bergen New Bridge testing system, according to Foster’s email. Testing will also be available throughout the semester to members of the campus community whether symptomatic or not.
For now, “students who test positive for the virus, as well as students who are close contacts and have not received a booster shot, will need to isolate or quarantine,” Foster said. Those who live on campus “may be required to quarantine or isolate at home during this period.”
As was the case in the Fall 2021 semester, those with vaccine exemptions must be tested twice each week. Student athletes “in practice or playing season” must also be tested weekly, depending on the type of test they take, according to Foster’s email. They can either take three antigen tests or one PCR test each week, unless they have received the booster, in which case they need only test if they experience symptoms.
Foster urged boosted students to upload proof of their third vaccination to OWL — employees should instead upload their documentation to the Oracle Cloud — and encouraged all members of the campus community to switch to N95 or KN95 masks.
The mask requirement will remain in place with exceptions only “when alone in private space or while actively eating or drinking” as well as when outdoors and physically distanced.
“You will see that many directions for spring 2022 continue practices of fall 2021. We continue to be informed by science, while attending to health, academic, and social factors and tradeoffs,” Foster said. “We remain committed to delivering a quality TCNJ education while managing and normalizing Covid, given our assumption that these viruses are likely to be in our midst for some time to come.”
