Provost Patrick Phillips sent the following message to the campus community Nov. 23:

Dear University of Oregon community members,

We want to let you know that all UO classes will be conducted remotely or online for the first week of winter term, from January 4 through January 9. There will be no in-person instruction during this time. We will return to instruction as indicated on the class schedule (in-person, remote, and online) at the start of the second week of winter term.

We are taking this action to enhance public health while being supportive of variations in students’ access to the university and educational resources as they return for winter term. This is driven especially because the start of the term falls so closely to the New Year’s holiday. First, this allows students returning to residence halls to undergo testing upon their return. Second, it allows all returning students extended quarantine time following travel before any in-person classes begin.

This, of course, affects a minority of our course offerings, since many courses are already being offered in remote or online modes throughout the term. We do appreciate that this slight shift will impact those who are offering or taking in-person coursework and other activities this winter. The community very much appreciates the effort that faculty and staff are making in this regard, and that students are being flexible at this time.

Residence halls re-open for winter term at 9:00 a.m., Saturday, January 2. All residence hall students will be tested for COVID-19 between January 2 and January 5. Additional information on the testing schedules will be shared directly with the residence hall students and included on the UO Housing website.

During winter term, including week 1, we intend for UO campus facilities to be open as they were during most of fall term – as allowed by any active executive orders issued by Governor Kate Brown to stop the spread of COVID-19 in the state of Oregon. The campus map is kept updated with building hours. We will continue to update the community of any changes in our operations.

As a reminder, information about operations, remote instruction, resources, and support is available on the UO Coronavirus website, Remote Resources for Students and the Faculty Resources webpage.

Thank you, and please take care.

Patrick Phillips
Provost and Senior Vice President