Town Hall Takeaways Housing modifies testing requirements for students arriving from abroad

University reveals new academic, housing and auxiliary policies for upcoming semester

FATIMAH AZEEM Opinion Editor

Following a year of remote learning due to COVID-19, UTD is implementing changes across the University for Comets coming back to campus this fall.

All areas of campus are now open at full capacity, with the Activity Center also open for guests and community members. Vice President for Student Affairs Gene Fitch said events taking place this semester may also occur at full capacity, though event organizers can place attendance restrictions if they choose. Though the University has lifted COVID-19 restrictions from events, UTD is discouraging event organizers from serving food, unless the food is prepackaged, and encouraging Comets to wear masks and maintain six feet social distancing at events and on campus generally.

“We are relying on our student organization leaders to be just that – to be leaders and monitor these recommendations that we have put forth,” Fitch said.

When it comes to classes, traditional and the in-person part of hybrid courses will be held at partial capacity for the first three weeks of the semester at the discretion of professors. Provost Inga Musselman said the University is implementing this classroom de-densification in consideration of the COVID-19 Delta variant and that UTD will re-evaluate the need for de-densification on Sept. 8. Classes that follow de-densification protocols will either allow students one inperson class experience per week or one inperson experience every other week for classes that already only meet once a week. However, if a professor is already comfortable with the density of their class, they may choose not to implement de-densification and keep the original class mode. Class schedules will not change with de-densification – just the mode in which students attend.

“We do have an academic contingency plan in place,” Musselman said. “We worked with this plan last year, so we have another modality of instruction that we call ‘remote’ or ‘virtual’ that we could pull if need be. We really hope that we won’t have to do so, but it is available to us.”

In their classrooms and offices, faculty can request students to wear masks but cannot require them. If a faculty member is uncomfortable holding office hours which typically take place in smaller office spaces with unmasked students, they can choose to host their hours virtually, outside or in a larger room. Musselman said testing options for classes depend on the class mode, and Honorlock is available for Comets in fully online classes and international students who aren’t yet in the United States. For in-person and hybrid classes, faculty can choose for students to take tests or quizzes in the Testing Center, online on eLearning or in class. Faculty can choose but aren’t required to incorporate asynchronous elements into their classes, such as recording lectures for students to view later.

For face-to-face classes, Musselman said UTD is encouraging professors to use seating charts to help with contact tracing efforts. Vice President and Chief of Staff Rafael Martin said the current protocol for contact tracing is that Human Resources or Student Affairs will contact Comets who test positive for COVID-19 and the OEMCP would use professors’ seating charts to identify potential CDC close contacts.

“If a student tests positive for COVID-19 or is determined to be a close contact of someone who tests positive, they will be asked to quarantine by the University,” Musselman said. “Since the University is making that

International arrivals subject to multiple COVID-19 tests request, the University is also responsible for providing the student in quarantine with their educational materials. So, we will ask the faculty instructor to provide those students with the lecture material that they missed during the time they are in quarantine.”

Due to rising COVID-19 cases, students arriving from an international destination and moving into campus housing will be subject to more stringent entry procedures.

University Housing released its protocol in late July for those arriving from abroad, with separate courses of action for both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. All students are required to be tested with a viral test three to five days after arrival to the U.S., with unvaccinated students having the added requirement of isolating for at least seven days, regardless of their test results.

Comets living on campus who test positive or are close contacts can quarantine in one of 38 apartments UTD Housing has set aside for isolation, while commuters are encouraged to stay home for their isolation period. Isolation rooms are also available for students arriving from international locations. Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Matt Grief said unvaccinated international students will quarantine for seven days immediately upon their arrival in the United States. Regardless of vaccination status, all students arriving from overseas will take a COVID-19 test when they arrive to campus and again three to five days later to determine if isolation is necessary.

Also regardless of vaccination status, all Comets are required to fill out the Daily Health Check every day and comply with COVID-19 testing and proactive testing. Dean of Students Amanda Smith said disci-

Associate VP for Student Affairs and Director of Housing Operations Matt Grief said that Housing decided to issue a change through an update to the protocol sent out on Aug. 3 to be proactive and keep everyone safe. The revision included the implementation of an additional viral test right when students arrive on campus, alongside the initial requirement of a test administered three to five days after arrival to the U.S.

“The change in the [policy] came based on the fact that we wanted to be able to test the students prior to checking in,” Grief said. “That way if they are positive, we will find that out within 24 to 48 hours, and we can quickly get them into isolation. The other piece of that is that if we don't and somebody did directly fly here and move in, then it's possible that we could be waiting five days for that, and they could possibly expose other students. So, we are hoping to kind of attack it from both angles to try to test them when they arrive and then find out when they arrived in the U.S., and then see about the timeline for that three to five days.”

Grief is a part of a COVID working group consisting of several individuals from campus who met daily during the height of the pandemic and are going back to doing so in anticipation of a surge in cases.

“It involves individuals from Health Services, the Dean’s office, OEMCP, Director of Human Resources, etc.,” Grief said. “We discuss cases and changes in CDC and Dallas County recommendations and regulations. And that group, we work together to figure out how we were going to respond and how we were going to test, and then we came up with a procedure for that. It’s all those pieces working together to come to a finalized policy.”

Any travel will be self-reported by students on the day of their move-in.

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