Greetings and welcome to Temple University. We are grateful that you made the decision to live in the residence halls this year. By living in the halls, you’ll have a unique opportunity to explore and challenge yourself, build your own community, and contribute to our wonderful city. 

In order to engage in these things that are most important to us, we must continue to keep the health, wellness, and safety of ourselves and our community members in the highest priority. In University Housing and Residential Life, this means our primary focus remains ensuring you get fully vaccinated and upload proof of vaccination to Temple’s Patient Health Portal. Vaccination against COVID-19 provides the best chance of protection from serious illness, cuts the risk of transmission, and allows us to be more targeted in our approach to containing the spread of the virus.

Further, as stated in Friday’s message from President Wingard to the Temple community, the Philadelphia Board of Health announced new COVID-19 vaccination requirements for college campuses and healthcare organizations. Under this emergency regulation, all Temple University faculty, staff, students, and contractors will be required to be vaccinated or have a properly registered exemption on file with the university by Friday, Oct. 15, 2021. To meet this deadline, you should have your first dose of a two-shot vaccine by Friday, Sept. 10 and your second dose by Friday, Oct. 1, to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 15. 

You can schedule an appointment to get your vaccine on campus or upload your vaccine information through Temple’s Patient Health Portal. Unvaccinated students and students who submit an exemption are subject to twice weekly COVID-19 testing, as well as additional restrictions like limited opportunities for gathering in groups or partaking in close-quarter university activities. If you are required to test, you will need to schedule your first test within 24 hours of check-in and testing will continue throughout the semester. Failure to provide vaccination information by Oct. 15 may also result in exclusion from university premises, including residence halls, and/or the imposition of university sanctions in accordance with university policy. We strongly encourage you to do your part to keep our community safe and #VaxUpTU!

Additionally, the university recently announced a mask requirement for indoors and enclosed spaces on campus. For residence halls, this means masks must be worn in all communal spaces, including study lounges, lobbies, hallways and common areas. You are not expected to wear a mask within the confines of your own room. Guests, including those assisting with move-in, are expected to adhere to this requirement.

We will continue to maintain residence hall space for anyone that may need to be quarantined or isolated due to a positive COVID-19 test. If isolated or quarantined, you will continue to have meals provided to your space. You will not be charged for additional food purchases; however, if you have a meal plan, meals may be charged up to your meal limit each week. Dining halls are returning to regular service operations, including the ability to dine indoors and regular all-you-can-eat food service operations. Grab-and-go may be offered on a case-by-case basis.

As always, if you would like to change your room for any reason, you will be able to do so during the Room Change Process, which opens at the end of August. As is with all UHRL processes, our staff will never ask you for or manage your vaccination information at any time.

Again, we are excited to have you living in our residence halls for the semester and wish you all the best for a successful and productive school year. However, the pandemic has not left us, and our success is dependent on all of us taking the necessary steps to keep each other healthy and safe. We hope you will do your part to combat the spread of COVID-19.

Sincerely,

Olan Garrett
Interim Associate Vice President, Student Affairs