Dear Fordham Law Community,
I am delighted to share the news that the University is returning to normal operations this coming fall.
On Friday, June 18, the University announced the policies for the fall semester. For the Law School, these policies mean that we are moving ahead with our plan to hold almost all courses and programming in person. A few courses will be offered online, and some programming will be held virtually, especially on Fridays, but this coming semester will otherwise be back to normal.
As the June 18 email explains, the University is adopting the following policies for the fall semester:
- Vaccines: Beginning August 1, students must be fully vaccinated to enter the Law School building. For international students who cannot be vaccinated in their home countries, the University will offer on-campus vaccinations upon arrival. Additionally, employees teaching and working in person must be fully vaccinated by August 1. There is a very limited exception to the vaccination requirement for medical and religious reasons. To report your vaccination to the University, students should upload their verification of vaccination at my.fordham.edu in the Student Health portal under immunization records. Employees and contractors should send their vaccine verification to [email protected] and [email protected].
- COVID testing: Asymptomatic, fully vaccinated students and employees will not be required to be tested for COVID-19. Unvaccinated students and employees with a Fordham-approved vaccine exemption must complete testing every week.
- Masks: Fully vaccinated students and employees will not be required to wear masks in any location, although anyone may continue to wear masks if they prefer to do so. Unvaccinated students and employees with a Fordham-approved vaccine exemption must continue to wear masks indoors.
- Social distancing: We will return to operations at full capacity.
- Daily screening: Everyone coming onto campus will continue to use the app-based daily screening tool, VitalCheck. Employees and contractors will be set up in VitalCheck after they have submitted their vaccine verification. Students will be activated in Student VitalCheck after submitting their vaccine verification and closer to the start of the fall semester.
For further details on policies for the fall semester, please read the University’s email.
I want to thank all of you—students, faculty, and staff—for your remarkable patience and commitment during the past 15 months. I know that many of you experienced tremendous loss and hardship because of the pandemic, and it presented challenges for all of us. As we emerge together from this difficult time, we will continue to support each other in the months to come.
Warmly,
Matthew Diller
Dean and Paul Fuller Professor of Law
