Dear Monmouth University Community:
Just one year ago, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, and the state of New Jersey announced a public health emergency in response to this growing threat. This has been a year that tested our resolve, but together, we have faced these unexpected challenges with great patience, flexibility, and fortitude.
We are confident that these strengths, coupled with the resilience of the Monmouth spirit, will help us successfully navigate through the next several months and transition into a post-pandemic reality that more closely resembles our pre-pandemic learning environment. Now, as we begin to make plans for the summer and fall, we are encouraged by increased surveillance testing, widespread vaccination efforts, and the overwhelming desire of our students to return more fully to campus.
Summer 2021: Our intention is to offer a predominantly online summer schedule to our students, with approximately a quarter of our courses delivered in hybrid or in-person formats. Even prior to the pandemic, we had been working to increase our summer online offerings in response to student demand. We have found summer online courses to be a very convenient and effective way to serve our students, and we plan to continue to offer a robust selection of online courses in upcoming summers. We encourage you to view this summer’s course schedule at Monmouth.edu/summer.
Fall 2021: Our objective is to resume in-person classes and student activities to the fullest and safest extent possible in the fall. We are planning a fall semester that is primarily in-person and look forward to opening our campus more fully – if not entirely – for the start of the 2021-2022 academic year. We recognize that COVID-19 will present ongoing challenges, but we are preparing for a safe return to in-person activity at Monmouth and are eager to welcome our community back to campus in the fall.
As always, these plans are predicated on current and prevailing public health guidance, and we will continue to make decisions based on recommendations issued by the CDC and state of New Jersey. We hope to have more updated plans about instruction and campus life as we receive those guidelines. If changes to public health restrictions impact our plans for the fall semester, we will immediately share updated information with you.
We understand that there will be many questions about specific living and learning opportunities and restrictions in the fall semester. As we develop more detailed plans in the coming weeks, we will continue to communicate them to you. We have persevered through an unprecedented year in modern history, and if we remain vigilant in our efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19, then we can hope for a safe return to near-normal operations in the fall. I look forward to reuniting and thanking you in person for your ongoing commitment to the health, safety, and general welfare of our exceptional university community.
Sincerely,
Dr. Patrick F. Leahy
President