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Reopening our campuses will not be a simple binary, like an on/off light switch, but more like a dimmer in which we have the flexibility to scale backwards and forwards to properly respond as the health situation evolves. Throughout our planning, we have used the analogy of a dimmer switch. This schedule will limit the amount of back and forth travel for our students by concentrating the on-campus component of the fall semester to one consecutive segment. Due to our focus on minimizing risk, our undergraduate students will begin the first few weeks of the fall semester online and move onto the campus after the Jewish holidays. Throughout campus everyone will need to adhere to our medical guidelines, including social distancing, wearing facemasks, and our testing and contact tracing policies. Gatherings will be limited, larger courses will move completely online. Many aspects of campus life will change for this coming semester. In bringing our students back to campus, safety is our first priority.

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It also enables students who prefer to not be on campus to have a rich student experience by continuing their studies online and benefitting from a full range of online student services and extracurricular programs. It will allow many students to return in a careful way by incorporating online and virtual learning with on-campus classroom instruction. In concert with the recommendations from our task force, I am announcing today that our fall semester will reflect a hybrid model. I am deeply thankful to our task force members and all who supported them for their tireless work in addressing the myriad details involved in bringing students back to campus and restarting our educational enterprise. Their planning has been guided by the latest medical information, government directives, direct input from our rabbis, faculty and students, and best practices from industry and university leaders across the country. To develop our plans for the fall, we have convened a Scenario Planning Task Force made up of representatives across the major areas of our campus. Our students will be able to work through the difficulties, issues and opportunities posed by our COVID-19 era with our stellar rabbis and faculty, as well as their close friends and peers at Yeshiva. As such, we have developed an educational plan for next year that features a high-quality student experience and prioritizes personal growth during this Coronavirus era.

This is the kind of teachable moment that Yeshiva University was made for. Character is formed and developed in times of deep adversity. Next year’s studies will be especially instrumental in shaping the course of our students’ lives. The mission of Yeshiva University is to enrich the moral, intellectual and spiritual development of each of our students, empowering them with the knowledge and abilities to become people of impact and leaders of tomorrow. But in its very difference rests its enormous power. We will live differently, work differently and learn differently. In form and in content, this coming semester will be like no other. I am pleased to present to you this Guide to our plans for the upcoming fall semester and reopening of our campuses. Dear Students, Faculty, Staff and Friends,

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