Letter to faculty and staff: indoor mask mandate effective Aug. 16

Dear faculty and staff,

In accordance with recent CDC and NJ Department of Health guidance and growing concerns related to the Delta variant, effective Monday, August 16, and until further notice, Rider University will mandate all faculty, staff, students, vendors and campus visitors to wear a mask anywhere indoors on campus, regardless of vaccination status and except when eating and drinking. Masks are not required outdoors whether someone is vaccinated or not.

Vaccinated employees are not required to wear masks when alone in their private offices. Cubicles are not considered private offices. Unvaccinated employees must wear masks at all times indoors even in their private offices except when eating and drinking. This guidance applies to student employees as well.

Masks are required in buses, shuttles and other forms of transportation involving students.

Thanks to those of you who have demonstrated proof of vaccination. If you have not done so already, please show proof of vaccination to your supervisor no later than Friday, August 20. Alternatively, faculty may complete the online certification previously sent via email.  If you do not, as per NJ Department of Health guidelines, we will assume that you are unvaccinated and will therefore require that you abide accordingly to our masking policy and submit to regular surveillance testing this fall. We will follow up with more detailed testing information as the semester approaches.  

Please note that there are several exceptions to our masking policy as they pertain to our Division I, club sport and intramural athletes and performing arts students. Athletics, Student Affairs and Westminster College of the Arts faculty and staff will be apprised of these exceptions via their division heads.  

We will update the Resolved and Ready website with this information. For questions, please email [email protected].

We appreciate your cooperation with these updated guidelines as we work toward supporting a more vibrant campus this fall.

Sincerely,

The COVID-19 Implementation Team